A DraftKings image on a mobile phone. A Men’s Health survey says millennials bet on sports more than other age groups. (Image: Crain’s New York Business)
A DraftKings image on a mobile phone. A Men’s Health survey says millennials bet on sports more than other age groups. (Image: Crain’s New York Business)
That’s according to a survey by Men’s Health that served as the foundation for a sweeping, multi-article series on the state of regulated sports wagering in the US. The magazine polled 3,800 men, of which 1,500 acknowledged that they placed at least one sports bet in the past year.
The notion that millennials place more sports bets than other age cohorts jibes with previous research from other sources. While other surveys have examined the sports wagering habits of men and women, few have drilled down on racial data. The Men’s Health survey notes “more millennial Black men bet frequently than millennial white men,” but doesn’t mention other groups such as Asian-Americans or Latinos.
Still, the “typical” sports bettor is a white male between the ages of 25 and 34, according to the magazine. Eighty percent of them are devoting up to six hours a day to betting.
Millennials’ proclivity for elevated sports betting frequency may be partially attributable to that generation’s comfort with technology. Seventy-six of the men polled by Men’s Health say they place their bets via a mobile application or on a computer, and two-thirds said their betting frequency has increased due to the evolution of app-based wagering.
The queried males noted that the sports they bet on the most are football, basketball, and baseball, in that order. That meshes with long-term data. Interestingly, 61% of respondents said DraftKings is their sportsbook of choice, while 56% said the same of FanDuel.
FanDuel is by far the largest online sportsbook operator in the US. Nearly a third of respondents said they prefer BetMGM.
Another interesting discovery by Men’s Health is that 56% of the males who responded noted they prefer wagering on professional sports over college athletics. In comparison, just 39% acknowledged placing bets on college and pro games.
While sports betting has certainly come “out of the shadows” since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), 34% of men believe commercials run during games by sportsbook companies are annoying, and 38% say broadcasters shouldn’t make betting references while on the air.
Today, some form of sports wagering is allowed in 34 states and Washington, DC, with Kentucky poised to take that number to 35 in the coming weeks. Some of the largest online sportsbook operators currently reach about 40% or more of the US adult population.
However, the Men’s Health survey could signal that black market betting remains elevated. In addition to the typical bettor being a white man between 25 and 34 years old, he lives in California, Florida, New York, or Pennsylvania, according to the magazine.
Of that quartet of states, only New York and Pennsylvania permit mobile sports wagering. At this point, Florida’s sports betting fate is in the hands of the courts, and it could be several years before California gets around to reconsidering the issue.
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