Who Bets on Sports? Characteristics of Sports Bettors and the Consequences of Expanding Sports Betting Opportunities

Currently, several proposed changes in sports betting laws are being debated in the United States and the European Union. This article examines the characteristics of sports bettors in three countries, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom, to determine who bets on sports in environments where this activity is both legal and popular. Unconditional and conditional analyses find that annual participation rates in sport betting are low, and that sport bettors tend to be young males with relatively high incomes. Sports bettors stand to gain the most from an expansion of legal sports betting opportunities, while the negative impacts of increased access to sports betting are expected to be minimal in the United States and difficult to assess in the European Union.