Will the US sports betting market be worth $8 billion in five years?

How much will the US regulated sports betting industry be worth in five years? At the recently held NYC sports Betting Investor Summit in New York, a representative of Morgan Stanley suggested that the entire market could be pulling in around $7-$8 billion in revenue a year by 2025. It’s a massive number that’s dwarfed by the $150 billion that it was once suspected that the illicit US sports betting market was bringing in prior to legalization.
So how does the US market go from $833 million a year like it is now to $8 billion a year? For starters, there’s going to be a massive influx of new players to the market in the next year alone. Nineteen states have already legalized sports betting, but not all of them are on line yet. They’re certain to be joined by other states next fall, when the US has its next bit election.
If current trends hold, all those new players are going to be bringing in a lot more revenue than was originally predicted. After all, original estimates of the early years of regulated sports betting were put squarely in the $5 billion range. That number is more like $8 billion, so anything can happen.
The idea that anything can happen is one that is not entirely unfamiliar to the gaming industry professionals who were on hand at the event. MGM’s president of interactive gaming, Scott Butera described the current market saying, ” It is a growing market here in terms of revenue but it’s a very tough market. Everybody wants to be here. Ultimately I think we’ll see some shaking out.”