A new report finds that legalized sports gambling could bring a $4.2 billion dollar windfall to the various professional sports leagues.
The four major sports leagues (NFL, MBA, NHL, and NBA) could see a huge boost in revenue, but mostly in indirect earnings as fan engagement increases with the gambling, according to wire service Reuters citing a Nielsen Sports survey.
The study claims that up to $3.3 billion in revenue could be seen due to increased fan participation with just about a billion in fees paid by the gambling agencies for licensing, advertising, merchandising, and media rights.
Pro football is likely to see the largest windfall from betting with the report finding that the NFL could realize up to $2.33 billion annually in new revenue. The study also noted that a national betting market would have to engage about one hundred million betters to benefit the leagues.
The Supreme Court recently struck down a federal law banning sports betting nationally leaving it to the individual states to determine if sports betting should be legalized in their jurisdictions. So far, only a few states have taken action to legalize sports betting, but most are studying the issue.
The study polled one thousand adult sports fans and had a margin of error of 3 points.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.