The US$260 billion handle (or US$10.4bn GGR) calculated for 2016 in H2’s “deep dive analysis” is substantially higher than the widely publicised US$150 billion figure previously published by the American Gaming Association.
The 97% figure produced by iGaming Business’ principal data partner also far outstrips recent International Centre for Sport Security/University of Sorbonne Paris estimates that 80% of global bets are made illegally.
H2’s figures serve to confirm the scale of the black market enabled by 1992’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the subject of a landmark Supreme Court hearing this December.
The US$196 billion figure is also more than 47 times the handle of the currently legal US legal sports betting activity which took place on the Nevada Las Vegas Strip in 2016.
Source: GMB / iGaming Business
