YouGov, a live consumer intelligence research and data analytics firm based in the United Kingdom, has released a study on sportsbook preferences and demographics.
By surveying more than 2,000 registered or prospective sports bettors physically located in the United States from Jan. 5-18, YouGov’s study reveals a lot of interesting information regarding sports bettor demographics and their preferred online sportsbooks to wager on.
Roughly 71% of respondents in the survey are current sports bettors who have placed at least one wager within the past 12 months, while the other 29% have never wagered on a sportsbook but would consider signing up within the next year.
Sportsbook demographics
YouGov’s study shows that 65% of sportsbook customers in the last 12 months are aged 25-44. Meanwhile, the majority of current and prospective sports bettors are male.
Roughly 28% of sports bettors are female, with 43% ranking as prospective sports bettors. Conversely, a whopping 72% of males are currently sports bettors, with 57% identifying as prospective.
The study found 73% of sports bettors used more than one mobile sportsbook app last month, while only 43% of punters have a registered account at three or more online sportsbooks. The primary age demographic of current sports bettors, aged 25-44, averages three different sports betting apps and sites. Older bettors, aged 45-55+ tend to stick with just one or a maximum of two online sportsbooks.
DraftKings, FanDuel, and bet365 are the most used online sportsbooks in the current marketplace in legal sports betting states. Younger age demographics are more active on newer online sportsbooks, such as ESPN BET, which launched its online sports betting platform on Nov. 14. DraftKings and FanDuel are the most popular online sportsbooks for the 45-55+ age groups surveyed.
Sportsbook usage trends
Currently, bet365 is the most popular sportsbook amongst young adults aged 25-34, garnering 40% of sports bettors in this age demographic.
The operator ranked first across all age demographics for overall sportsbook usage at 60%, with bettors saying that they use bet365 more now than they did when they first started sports betting.
In fact, bet365 has overtaken DraftKings as the top online sportsbook app and site across the two youngest age demographics, 21-24 and 25-34. DraftKings and FanDuel dominate the other three age demographic markets, aged 35-55+. Both online sportsbooks draw at least 33% of usage from these age groups, with DraftKings maintaining a slight lead over FanDuel.
Despite not ranking atop these final three age demographics, bet365 remains third amongst aged 35-44 sports bettors at 30%, while it falls to the fourth most used online sportsbook in the aged 45-54 market at 12%.
ESPN BET, despite its recent launch, has gained momentum over other prominent online sportsbooks like BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook. In the 21-24 age demographic, ESPN BET's usage was tapped at 18%, making it the fourth most popular online sportsbook, higher than BetMGM (11%) and Caesars Sportsbook (6%).
Most popular sportsbooks in the U.S.
YouGov combined all of the data across these five age demographics and DraftKings emerged as the overall leader, drawing 35% of U.S. sports bettors. This is primarily due to its popularity as the top online sportsbook in the 35-44, 45-54, and 55+ age demographic markets.
FanDuel is second at 32% despite not ranking as the most popular online sportsbook in any of these five age demographics surveyed by YouGov. Meanwhile, bet365 averages the third-highest percentage of users at 28%.
Out of the other seven online sportsbooks included in YouGov’s survey, only BetMGM and ESPN BET finished above 15%. 888 Sport drew 10% of U.S. sports bettors, while Caesars Sportsbook, BetRivers, WynnBET, and Fanatics Sportsbook all fell to 9% or less.
