Sports wagering in the United States is set to hit $8bn, Morgan Stanley said during the NYC Sports Betting Investor Summit on Monday, confirming the forecasts of a number of industry leaders.
Sports Betting in the US to Hit $8bn
On Monday, industry experts met in New York City for the NYC Sports Betting Investor Summit. Morgan Stanley was among the attendees that had a lot to share about the outlook on sports betting across the country.
With 13 states now having fully legalized sports betting and New Hampshire, Washington, DC, and Montana coming very close to, the bank published some exciting data, that intrigued business and industry personalities at the meeting.
According to Morgan Stanley researchers, the betting revenue will reach the eye-popping $7-$8 billion by 2025. This applied only to online sports betting revenue, which is expected to be the main industry driver in the next decade.
Morgan Stanley further added that estimated 36 states are expected to have sports betting in place by 2025 and that spending per adult will go up to $52 per year.
Meanwhile, the analysts expected sports fans in Australia and the United Kingdom to start paying more attention to American sports, a move that has been already ongoing with the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL continuous efforts to host more games overseas and bring in more viewership.
To put things in perspective, the US market as of 2019 is estimated to bring in $833 million in total revenue, and pushing that number up to $8 billion would be a multiple-fold increase.
While the analyst definitely caught headlines, it’s not the first such prediction that has been made. Several companies have theorized about the future of sports betting and precisely how lucrative the industry would become.
MGM Resorts International, Mohegan Sun and Hard Rock International have all agreed with the forecasts, confirming that the industry is only about to continue growing.
Companies Set Up for Disaster
While $8 billion may seem like a big enough market, it’s certainly not going to be. PointsBet Chief Information Officer Seth Young described the situation quite aptly calling it an ‘all-out war,’ and that the potential for success was limited.
Commenting on these developments, MGM President for Interactive Gaming, Scott Butera, also pitched in that the market has its own challenges and a successful business model would be quite challenging to begin with.
More brands are pushing rapidly to break into the online betting space, and as many as a dozen new brands can actually arrive within a few years’ time. This has similarly emboldened more states to seek realization in the sector, including Michigan which recently passed a bill, but still hasn’t got the official approval of the governor.
In the meantime, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Illinois are also working towards hoping on the bandwagon with the ultimate goal to guarantee a fair share of the revenue to their own coffers.
It’s indeed a war out there.