Americans Spent More Than $164B on Sports Betting in 2025 as the Post-Legalization Boom Kept Accelerating
March 10 2026, Updated 1:01 p.m. ET
A new Playerstime report shows just how quickly sports betting has moved from a niche activity to a mass-market consumer spend in the United States. Americans wagered more than $164 billion on sports in 2025, according to the report, up from just $6.61 billion in 2018. That amounts to a 2 387% jump since the market began expanding after the repeal of the federal ban, turning legal sports betting into one of the fastest-growing gambling segments in the country.
The scale of that rise is the clearest headline in the report. What was still a relatively small legal market in 2018 is now handling well over $100 billion annually, with the national total crossing $164 billion in just seven years. Playerstime links that growth to rapid legislative expansion across the country and the spread of mobile betting apps, which the report says now account for about 90% of all wagers.
That same broad trajectory is also reflected in the American Gaming Association’s latest 2025 commercial gaming tracker. The AGA says Americans legally wagered $166.94 billion on sports in 2025, up 11,0% year on year, while sports betting revenue rose to $16.96 billion. The tracker also notes that online sports betting represented 96,5% of the market’s revenue share in 2025, underlining how much of the industry’s growth is now tied to digital channels rather than physical sportsbooks.
Playerstime points to the biggest market expansions arriving when large-population states came online, naming New York and Ohio as major catalysts. That matters because it shows the growth story is not only about wider legalization in theory, but about the arrival of heavyweight states that can move national figures on their own. Once those states launched, the total handle curve steepened further.
New York illustrates the scale of that impact. Since launching mobile sports betting in early 2022, the state has quickly become the largest sports betting market in the country. In 2025 alone, bettors in New York wagered more than $22 billion, generating over $2 billion in gross gaming revenue and hundreds of millions in tax receipts for the state budget. Ohio, which launched in 2023, also delivered an immediate surge, with more than $11 billion wagered in its first full year of operation.
The report also notes how the number of regulated markets has expanded alongside the betting volume. In 2018, legal sports betting was limited to just a handful of jurisdictions. By 2025, sports betting was legal in 38 states and Washington, DC, with more than 30 of those allowing online wagering. That broad national footprint has been central to the industry’s growth, as each new launch brings millions of additional potential bettors into the regulated system.
Major sporting events continue to drive spikes in activity. The American Gaming Association estimated that more than $23 billion was wagered on the 2025 NFL season alone, while the Super Bowl consistently ranks as the single largest betting event of the year. March Madness and the NBA playoffs also generate billions in wagers annually, reinforcing how deeply sports betting has become embedded in the wider sports economy.
Taken together, the figures show a market that has expanded at extraordinary speed. In just seven years, legal sports betting in the United States has moved from a fragmented niche into a nationwide digital industry handling well over $160 billion annually, with mobile platforms and newly regulated states continuing to push the market higher.
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The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only. Gamble or play responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. If you’re in the U.K. and need help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites. We disclaim any liability for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on, the information presented.
