With the belated 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to begin this week, the American Gaming Association (AGA) has compiled a number of statistics indicating that interest in the event among American bettors is high.
AGA has stated that 54% of Americans are interested in the Olympic Games and 20.1m, or 8% of the nation's adult population, plan to wager on the global sporting event.
Of the Americans who plan to place bets, basketball is the most popular, with 45% of bettors planning to wager on a game. Soccer follows closely behind at 34%, and gymnastics at 28%. Track and field and swimming both sit at 27%.
Betting is most popular among casual players. According to the AGA, 47% of those who plan to wager will do so casually with friends, and 43% of bets will be placed online, while only 16% of people plan to visit a physical sportsbook. Furthermore, 13% of those who said they would wager on the Olympics say they will visit a bookie.
In addition, 10% of Americans who don’t currently live in a state with a legal and regulated sports betting market said they would be interested in wagering should their states legalize the activity.
AGA collected this data from July 9-12, 2021 among a sample size of 2,200 adults.
On how the data was collected, AGA said: “The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/- 2%.”
Since 2018, when legal sports betting was only available in Nevada, 21 new states, as well as Washington, DC, have launched regulated betting markets.
