Sports betting highlight events

When the ball rolls at a World Cup, the world watches spellbound. 1.1 billion people watched on their TV sets during the 2018 World Cup. And that was also due to countless sports bets: According to FIFA, an average of 2 billion euros was bet per match during that year's World Cup - a total of 136 billion euros. On the final between France and Croatia alone, bets of 7.2 billion euros were placed worldwide.

Not even included in all these figures: All the private bets between sports fans among themselves. Here, everyone can even do good with their bet, for example by agreeing to make donations to charitable organizations as bets.

The annual finale of the American Football League NFL is a phenomenon. The Super Bowl, which always takes place on the first Sunday in February, generates almost eight billion euros in bets. Of this, six billion euros come from the USA alone. The figure is likely to increase in the coming years: Only in recent years have more and more US states legalized sports betting alongside Nevada, state of the gambling metropolis Las Vegas. The number of bets is therefore likely to increase further in the coming years. Worldwide, more than 110 million people watched the 2022 Super Bowl live.

Even though the fat years of heavyweight boxing in the 1990s are over, heavyweight stars like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk still provide good TV ratings and betting. The show fight between Floyd Mayweather and UFC fighter Conor McGregor in 2017, for example, generated the most bets in history away from the Super Bowl in Nevada. Currently, however, boxing is fighting for one thing above all: credibility. The Olympic future is shaky after governance problems at the World Boxing Association (IBA) and investigations into possibly manipulated boxing fights at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

In Europe, March Madness is probably only known to die-hard basketball fans. In the USA, the college basketball tournament in March Madness is one of the annual sports highlights. The college finals tournament, which comprises a total of 67 games, generates higher betting stakes in the USA than the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals. It is said to have generated 8.5 billion euros in 2022.

Horse racing is perhaps the most traditional sports betting event. And one of the most renowned horse races is the Kentucky Derby, which has been held annually since 1875 and is the kick-off of the Three Crowns tournament series. With 273.8 million in wagering, the 2022 Kentucky Derby set a new event record. Over the complete Derby week, even 391.8 million euros were wagered.

The biggest European horse race is The Grand National, which has been held annually in Liverpool, UK, since 1839. Compared to the Kentucky Derby, the stakes here are somewhat more manageable: in 2021, a total of 137.4 million euros were wagered.

As the national soccer league, the English Premier League is the El Dorado for sports betting providers. According to statistics, in 2020 alone, the Premier League attracted bets of over 68 billion euros worldwide. This means that sports fans bet more money on the Premier League than on the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga combined.

It is not only in India that the Cricket World Cup is a crowd puller. The 2019 World Cup in England and Wales was watched by 1.6 billion people on TV or stream. For the betting market, however, it is difficult to accurately record the stakes. That's because in cricket-mad India alone, 150 billion euros were invested in illegal betting - per year! according to the International Centre for Sports Security. One legal, English betting provider calculated stakes of around 58 million euros per match for games involving England, India or Australia at the 2019 World Cup.