U.S. betting operators are expecting a massive surge in betting numbers during the new NFL season. The 2021 NFL season started on Sep 09 and will run till 13 Feb 2022. The multi-billion dollar sports betting industry in America is expected to be bigger and more competitive than ever this season.
This is because more states have legalized sports betting and more operators have entered the market. One of the ways that betting operators will look to stand out from their competitors is through heavy advertising during the NFL Season.
The NFL season is expected to bring in 45.2 million bets in total based on a report from the American Gaming Association (AGA). Most of those bets are going to be taken up by the seven NFL recognized betting operators which include DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, FoxBet, WynnBet, Caesars and PointsBet.
CNBC Television
Each of these 7 recognized NFL sports betting operators will have the option of running up to 6 ads per game. Veteran sports marketing analyst Bob Dorfman expects betting operators to spend close to $1 billion in ad revenue during the NFL season.
Kantar Media reports that $84.1 million was spent in ads during the 2019 football season. This increased to $314.6 million during the 2020 football season. The ad spend for the 2021 football season will definitely cross $500 million and could go close to the $1 billion mark.
PlayUSA claims that college and pro football combined could attract a total of $20 billion in overall bets.
While these numbers are a big positive for sports betting operators and states that have legalized sports betting, there are negative repercussions that are coming to the fore as sports betting gets bigger and more popular in America.
Players across different sports in America and around the world have complained that the level of abuse and online hate has increased. They believe one of the reasons for this is due to the pressure of sports betting. A lot of them have been getting death threats when they lose or their team loses because of a poor performance.
A number of MMA open mike interviews will see fans ask the fighter if they can bet on them. When they end up losing, the same fans attack them on social media and let them know how much they lost because they bet on them. As the sports betting market gets bigger, more will have to be done to protect players from this pressure.
About The Author
