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How Much Do Americans Bet on Sports? (2026 Data)
Americans now bet an astonishing amount on sports. In 2025, legal U.S. sportsbooks took a record $165.58 billion in total handle — the amount wagered — and kept $16.80 billion in gross gaming revenue at a national hold of 10.15%, according to RG.org's tracker. That is more than triple the handle of just four years earlier. But the number that actually matters is buried underneath it: sportsbooks are quietly keeping a bigger slice of every dollar wagered each year. We pulled the year-by-year series, ran the growth maths, and found that revenue is now growing about 2× faster than handle — the house is winning a rising share, and bettors are losing it.
US sports betting statistics 2026: key insights
- Americans wagered a record $165.58 billion on sports in 2025, producing $16.80 billion in gross gaming revenue (RG.org / AGA).
- Q1 2026 already hit $40.5 billion in handle and $3.82 billion in revenue — record pace.
- Legal in 39 states + Washington D.C. (and Puerto Rico) since the 2018 PASPA repeal, up from just Nevada.
- The national hold rate climbed from 9.1% (2023) to 10.15% (2025) — the house is keeping more per dollar (16Best analysis).
- Revenue grew ~23% a year from 2023–25 while handle grew ~17% — GGR is compounding 1.38× faster than the money wagered (16Best analysis).
- That works out to about $632 of handle per U.S. adult and a $64 net loss per adult in 2025 (16Best analysis).
- Handle has grown from $13B (2019) to $165.6B (2025) — a 52.8% compound annual rate over six years (16Best analysis).
- Sportsbooks paid $3.66 billion in state taxes in 2025 — a 21.8% effective rate on revenue (16Best analysis).
- FanDuel + DraftKings hold a combined 74.9% of U.S. handle; mobile is 80%+ of all wagers.
- Roughly 1 in 5 American adults (~55 million) placed a legal sports bet in 2025.
How much do Americans bet on sports?
In 2025, regulated U.S. sportsbooks processed $165.58 billion in handle and kept $16.80 billion in gross gaming revenue, a national hold of 10.15%. Handle is the headline number, but it recycles — the vast majority is paid straight back to winners, so revenue (the sportsbooks' actual take) is roughly a tenth of it. At a 10.15% hold, bettors got back about $148.8 billion in winnings and lost a net $16.80 billion (16Best analysis). The same handle-vs-revenue distinction trips people up across the industry, from esports betting to crypto casinos.
The momentum is still accelerating. Through Q1 2026, sportsbooks had already taken $40.5 billion in handle and $3.82 billion in revenue — a record pace. For how this fits into the wider gambling economy, see our data on how much money casinos make.
Americans wagered a record $165.58 billion on sports in 2025 and lost a net $16.80 billion to the books.
16Best analysis: "handle" is every dollar wagered; "revenue" (GGR) is what the sportsbook keeps after paying winners. A $165.58 billion handle at a 10.15% hold means $16.80 billion in revenue — the other $148.8 billion cycles back to bettors as winnings and gets re-wagered. Any figure quoting "$165 billion" as sportsbook income is off by a factor of ten. This single confusion is why published "sports betting market" numbers vary so wildly — see the methodology section below.
How has the sports betting handle grown since 2018?
Explosively — U.S. handle has grown from about $13 billion in 2019 to $165.58 billion in 2025, a compound annual rate of 52.8% over six years (16Best analysis). Since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban (PASPA) in May 2018, Americans have wagered a cumulative $600 billion-plus at legal sportsbooks. Our year-by-year sum for 2019–2025 alone comes to $620 billion (16Best analysis), consistent with that headline.
* projected by 16Best applying Grand View Research 10.9% market CAGR to the 2025 handle. Actuals: AGA State of the States, RG.org, Legal Sports Report.
But the growth rate is decelerating sharply. Splitting the series into two halves shows the slowdown the blended figure hides:
| Period | Handle | Total growth | Compound annual rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 → 2022 | $13B → $91.7B | +605% | ~91.8% / yr (16Best) |
| 2022 → 2025 | $91.7B → $165.6B | +81% | ~21.8% / yr (16Best) |
| 2024 → 2025 | $149.9B → $165.6B | +10.5% | ~10.5% / yr (16Best) |
| 2019 → 2025 (full) | $13B → $165.6B | +1,174% | ~52.8% / yr (16Best) |
16Best analysis: handle growth has collapsed from roughly 92% a year (2019–22) to about 22% a year (2022–25), and the most recent single-year jump was just 10.5%. The early explosion was almost entirely new states switching on — a one-time expansion effect. Now that the biggest populations (New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) are already live, growth is reverting toward organic per-bettor increases. Anyone modelling the future off the 2019–22 rate will overshoot badly.
Is the sports betting industry getting better at winning?
Yes — the national hold rate has risen every year, from 9.1% in 2023 to 9.2% in 2024 to 10.15% in 2025. Hold is the share of handle that sportsbooks keep (GGR ÷ handle), and a rising hold means the house is winning a bigger cut of every dollar wagered. We computed it directly from the sourced handle and GGR each year:
16Best analysis: hold = GGR divided by handle. 2023: 11.04/121.1. 2024: 13.78/149.9. 2025: 16.80/165.58. Sources: AGA, RG.org.
| Year | Handle | Revenue (GGR) | Hold rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $57.5B | — | — |
| 2022 | $91.7B | — | — |
| 2023 | $121.1B | $11.04B | 9.1% (16Best) |
| 2024 | $149.9B | $13.78B | 9.2% (16Best) |
| 2025 | $165.58B | $16.80B | 10.15% (RG.org) |
The house edge is widening: national hold rose from 9.1% in 2023 to 10.15% in 2025.
16Best analysis: here is the number nobody else is computing. From 2023 to 2025, revenue grew at about 23.4% a year — (16.80/11.04)^(1/2)−1 — while handle grew only 16.9% a year. Revenue is compounding 1.38× faster than the money wagered, and in the single year 2024→2025 revenue jumped 21.9% against handle's 10.5% — roughly 2× faster. That gap is the rising hold. Two forces drive it: bettors piling into same-game parlays (which carry a far higher built-in margin than straight bets) and sportsbooks trimming promotional credits. In plain terms, Americans are betting more, but losing a bigger share of every dollar they bet. For why the math always favours the book, see RTP and house edge and our house edge by game data.
How much does that work out to per adult?
About $632 wagered and $64 lost per U.S. adult in 2025. Spread across the roughly 262 million adults in the country, 2025's $165.58 billion handle equals $632 per adult, and the $16.80 billion the books kept equals a $64 net loss per adult (16Best analysis). But betting isn't spread evenly — only about 1 in 5 adults actually bets.
Concentrating the same money on the ~55 million adults who actually placed a bet (21% of 262M) changes the picture dramatically: that is roughly $3,011 wagered and $305 lost per active bettor per year (16Best analysis). The heavy concentration is also a responsible-gambling flashpoint; see our data on gambling addiction worldwide and losses by country.
| Per-capita measure (2025) | Handle | House win (loss to bettor) |
|---|---|---|
| Per U.S. adult (~262M) | $632 (16Best) | $64 (16Best) |
| Per active bettor (~55M) | $3,011 (16Best) | $305 (16Best) |
Which states bet the most?
New York is the runaway leader, with more than $26 billion wagered in 2025 — nearly 16% of the entire U.S. handle. Illinois ($15.5B) and New Jersey ($12.2B) follow, and together those three states account for roughly one-third of all sports betting in the country. Just ten states made up more than $113.87 billion — about 69% of the national handle.
2025 annual handle. Source: RG.org 10 Largest Markets, Legal Sports Report.
| State | 2025 handle | Share of US | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $26.0B | ~15.7% | 51% tax rate; mobile-first |
| Illinois | $15.5B | ~9.5% | 2nd-largest market |
| New Jersey | $12.2B | ~7.4% | The original post-PASPA hub |
| Pennsylvania | $8.86B | ~5.4% | 13.2M residents |
| North Carolina | $7.27B | ~4.4% | Launched 2024, already top 10 |
16Best analysis: New York's dominance is even starker on a per-person basis. Its $26 billion handle across ~19.6 million residents is about $1,327 wagered per resident — versus a national average of roughly $494 per resident ($165.58B ÷ ~335M). New Yorkers bet at 2.7× the national per-capita rate. Density, a mature mobile market, and heavy operator marketing compound into a market that punches far above its population share.
Who bets on sports?
About 20–22% of U.S. adults — roughly 1 in 5, or 55 million people — placed a legal sports bet in 2025, up from just 12% in 2023. That is a near-doubling of participation in two years. It skews young and male: roughly 31% of adults aged 18–29 bet on sports, versus about 12% of those 65 and over. But the gap is narrowing — participation among adults 45+ has roughly doubled since 2022, and female participation has risen every year since legalization.
| Group | Share who bet on sports (2025) |
|---|---|
| Ages 18–29 | ~31% |
| All adults | ~21% |
| Ages 65+ | ~12% |
| All adults (2023, for comparison) | 12% |
This rapid uptake among young adults is a growing responsible-gambling concern. North of the border, single-event betting only became legal in 2021 — see gambling laws in Canada — and country rules vary widely in our gambling laws guide.
How much tax does sports betting generate?
Sportsbooks paid about $3.66 billion in state taxes in 2025 — an effective rate of roughly 21.8% on their $16.80 billion in revenue (16Best analysis). Headline tax rates vary enormously by state, from the mid-teens to over 50% of revenue, which is a big reason states keep legalizing it. New York alone collected about $1.3 billion in sports-betting tax in 2025 — more than the next four largest states combined — off its 51% rate.
States collected about $3.66 billion in sports-betting tax in 2025 — $1.3 billion of it in New York alone.
Who dominates — FanDuel or DraftKings?
Two operators run the market: FanDuel holds about 39.6% of U.S. handle and DraftKings about 35.3%, a combined 74.9% duopoly. That leaves barely a quarter of the market for everyone else — BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN Bet and Fanatics split most of the rest. FanDuel's lead over DraftKings is a modest 1.12× (12% larger) (16Best analysis), but the gap between the top two and the field is enormous.
| Operator | Share of US handle (early 2026) |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | ~39.6% |
| DraftKings | ~35.3% |
| FanDuel + DraftKings | ~74.9% (16Best) |
| Everyone else (BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN Bet, Fanatics…) | ~25.1% |
That concentration gives the top two enormous pricing power and marketing reach — and, as the rising hold shows, the ability to lean on higher-margin bet types without losing share.
How much is bet on phones?
Overwhelmingly — more than 80% of all legal wagers are placed on mobile apps, and about 97% of 2025's handle came through online channels overall. The shift to in-app, in-play betting — where you can bet on the next pitch or possession — has removed nearly every barrier between the impulse and the wager, which is a large part of why handle keeps climbing even as new-state expansion slows.
How big will sports betting get by 2030?
Published forecasts point to a U.S. market of roughly $33 billion in revenue by 2030, which on our math implies a handle approaching $280–300 billion. Grand View Research projects the U.S. sports betting market growing at a 10.9% CAGR to about $33.18 billion by 2030 (from a $17.94 billion 2024 base). Applying that same 10.9% rate to 2025's handle gives a projected ~$278 billion handle by 2030 (16Best analysis) — the dashed tail on our chart above.
16Best analysis — stress-testing the forecast. The $33.18 billion revenue target only holds together under one of two assumptions. At today's 10.15% hold, $33.18B of revenue would require a handle of about $327 billion by 2030 — a 14.6% annual handle growth from 2025, well above the observed 10.5% most recent rate. That re-acceleration is unlikely with the big states already live. The alternative: handle grows at a more realistic ~11% while hold keeps climbing toward 12%, in which case ~$278 billion of handle × 12% ≈ $33 billion of revenue. In other words, the consensus 2030 revenue forecast quietly depends on the house keeping an even larger cut than it does today — not on Americans betting proportionally more. That is the story hiding inside the projection.
Why do the sources disagree?
Because "how much Americans bet on sports" has two legitimate answers — handle and revenue — and they differ by roughly 10×. This is the single most common error in sports-betting coverage, and it is worth spelling out.
| Figure you will see (2025) | What it measures | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| "$165.58B wagered" | Handle — every dollar staked, most of it recycled back to winners and re-bet | $165.58B |
| "$16.80B revenue" | GGR — what sportsbooks keep after paying winners | $16.80B |
| "$33.18B market by 2030" | Market-size forecast — a revenue projection, not handle | forecast |
| "$3.66B in taxes" | Tax — a slice of GGR, not of handle | $3.66B |
Why even the "official" numbers vary by a few percent. Different trackers close their books on different calendars and treat promotional credits differently. RG.org reports 2025 handle at $165.58B and GGR at $16.80B; the AGA and ESPN report a 2025 revenue figure closer to $16.96B; some 2024 handle figures range from $147.9B to $149.9B depending on whether all late-launching states are included. These are rounding-and-timing differences of 1–2%, not real disagreements — unlike the 10× handle-vs-revenue gap, which is a units problem. When a headline seems off by an order of magnitude, it is almost always quoting handle as if it were revenue.
Key takeaways
- Americans wagered $165.58B in 2025 and lost a net $16.80B — handle is ~10× revenue.
- The house is winning a bigger share every year: national hold rose from 9.1% (2023) to 10.15% (2025).
- Revenue is compounding ~1.38× faster than handle (23.4% vs 16.9% a year, 2023–25) — the rising-hold signal.
- Growth is decelerating hard: from ~92%/yr (2019–22) to ~22%/yr (2022–25) to 10.5% in the latest year.
- $632 of handle and a $64 loss per U.S. adult in 2025 — or ~$305 lost per active bettor.
- New York alone is ~16% of the market and bets at 2.7× the national per-capita rate.
- FanDuel + DraftKings control 74.9% of U.S. handle; mobile is 80%+ of wagers.
- The 2030 forecast of ~$33B revenue quietly assumes hold keeps rising, not that Americans bet proportionally more.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Americans bet on sports each year?
In 2025, legal U.S. sportsbooks took a record $165.58 billion in handle (total wagered) and kept $16.80 billion in revenue at a 10.15% hold. Q1 2026 alone saw $40.5 billion wagered — a record pace.
Is the sports betting industry getting better at winning?
Yes. The national hold rate — the share of handle sportsbooks keep — rose from 9.1% in 2023 to 9.2% in 2024 to 10.15% in 2025. Revenue grew about 23% a year over that span while handle grew about 17%, meaning the house keeps a bigger cut of every dollar wagered, driven largely by high-margin same-game parlays.
How many states have legal sports betting?
39 states plus Washington D.C. (and Puerto Rico) as of 2026, up from just Nevada before the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban (PASPA) in 2018. New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are among the biggest markets.
What percentage of Americans bet on sports?
About 20% to 22% of U.S. adults — roughly 55 million people — placed a legal sports bet in 2025, up from 12% in 2023. Participation is highest among 18–29 year-olds (~31%) and lowest among those 65+ (~12%).
Which sportsbook is the biggest?
FanDuel is the largest with about 39.6% of U.S. handle, followed by DraftKings at about 35.3% — together a combined 74.9% of the regulated market as of early 2026.
How much does the average American lose betting on sports?
Across all U.S. adults, sportsbooks kept about $64 per adult in 2025. Concentrated on the roughly 55 million adults who actually bet, that is about $305 lost per active bettor for the year, on about $3,011 wagered each.
How big will U.S. sports betting be by 2030?
Forecasters project a U.S. market of roughly $33 billion in revenue by 2030 at about an 11% annual growth rate, which implies a handle approaching $280–300 billion. Reaching that revenue level likely depends on the national hold continuing to rise, not just on more money being wagered.
Sources
- RG.org — U.S. Sports Betting Statistics 2026: Handle, Revenue & Tax
- American Gaming Association — Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker & State of the States 2025
- ESPN — Sports betting hits record $16.96 billion in revenue in 2025
- Legal Sports Report — Sports Betting Revenue Tracker by State
- Sportshandle — US Sports Betting in 2025: Record Handle and Revenue
- Grand View Research — U.S. Sports Betting Market Size & Forecast to 2030
- Statista — Sports betting in the United States