The regulated U.S. sports betting market has hit another all-time high in 2024, according to the latest analysis from the industry’s top trade group.
Americans wagered roughly $150 billion with legal sportsbooks in 2024, per findings from the American Gaming Association (AGA). The $150 billion in handle smashed 2023’s record of just over $121 billion in bets placed.
In 2019, the first full year of legal single-game sports betting outside Nevada, regulated books accepted $13 billion in bets.
The legal sports betting industry’s continued growth has been fueled by new state launches in the years since the Supreme Court struck down the federal wagering ban in 2018. Thirty-nine states have approved sports betting with 31 permitting mobile wagers statewide.
North Carolina and Vermont's mobile betting launches boosted 2024’s record total. Missouri is currently the only state set to begin legal sports betting in 2025.
Revenues also mark all-time highs
Nationwide sports betting revenue reached $13.71 billion, a 25.4% increase from 2023’s record of just over $11 billion. The fall sports calendar propelled legal sportsbooks to their most lucrative quarter on record for the sixth year in a row, earning $3.66 billion, up 7.3% from the previous record set in Q4 of 2023, per the AGA.
The heavy betting helped sportsbooks overcome one of the best NFL seasons for bettors in at least 40 years. NFL favorites covered games in October and December at a rate not seen in decades, helping parlay bettors cash in on big wins.
Parlays were a big reason sportsbooks hit another record hold percentage, improving from a 9.1% rate to 9.3%. Bettors have increasingly flocked to multi-leg parlay and single-game parlay bets, long-shot wagers that have more favorable outcomes for the books.
The online betting growth has come despite and at the expense of in-person betting. Financial reporting shows mobile apps account for around 95% of all legal bets placed.
State-level growth shows changes
Wednesday’s report also reaffirmed the changing hierarchy of legal sports betting markets.
Illinois has eclipsed New Jersey as the nation’s second-largest legal sports betting market. In 2018, New Jersey became the third state (after Nevada and Delaware) to take a legal single-game sports bet and quickly eclipsed Nevada for the No. 1 market.
U.S. commercial gaming revenue reached an annual record of $72 billion in 2024, according to the American Gaming Association; The total surpasses 2023’s previous high of $66.5 billion by 7.5% and marks the industry’s fourth-straight record revenue year since the Pandemic
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) February 19, 2025
That lead was lost after New York launched its mobile sports betting market in 2022 and it has remained the No. 1 market. New York is the most populated state to publicly report legal sports betting revenue totals.
Despite its later start, New York eclipsed New Jersey last year for all-time handle and revenue totals.
Overall figures
The record-setting sports betting totals come as the gaming industry as a whole set another all-time high in 2024.
The combined legal sports betting, iGaming, and brick-and-mortar casino industry generated $77 billion in revenue last year. That included a single-quarter revenue record of $18.6 billion in the fourth quarter.
The overall revenue total was a 7.5% increase compared to 2023. This was the fourth consecutive year the industry set an all-time high, hitting that mark each year since the onset of COVID-19 Pandemic shutdowns in 2020.
Traditional in-person casino gambling continued to take the lion’s share of revenue, generating nearly $50 billion in 2024. This was an 0.8% increase from the year prior.
Online casino gaming continued its growth streak, generating $8.4 billion in 2024, a nearly 29% increase from 2023. Though legal real money online slots and table games are only available in seven states, these offerings generated 60% of the revenue created by the 38 states that accepted a legal sports bet in 2024.
