AGA uses new Nielsen figures to promote legalised sports betting

The American Gaming Association has used social media and other channels to urge US media to “jump on board” its drive to legalise sports betting in the United States, highlighting a Neilsen study that suggests that if sports betting was legalised the number of regular season viewers of NFL events would jump by 17 million (from 40 million to 57 million, or 36 percent of the total NFL audience).

The Neilsen figures also indicate that adults who bet on NFL watched 19 more games in the 2015 regular season than adults who didn’t bet at all.

Yahoo Finance reported that the study surveyed 1,500 American adults, 500 of whom were “pre-qualified NFL bettors.”

The highlights from the report include the claim that those who placed a bet more than doubled the TV ratings of average viewers, and bettors make up just 25 percent of the NFL audience, but watch nearly 50 percent of all NFL regular season game minutes.

The AGA and Nielsen conclude that if sports betting were legalized, the number of fans betting on games would jump significantly, and those bettors would be more engaged. Another example beyond the NFL is NCAA March Madness: those who fill out brackets watch, on average, 20 percent more of the games.

65 percent of sports viewers said in the survey that they are more likely to talk about a game on social media if they have placed a bet on it…and the chances are that they might relate to an advertisement that they had seen as well.

AGA CEO Geoff Freeman commented on the Neilsen statistics, saying:

“The thought in passing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992 was that if we ban sports betting, we protect the integrity of the game.

“What we now know is that we have access to more data than ever before that can help us detect the bad behavior… and the public attitude toward gaming has improved. I’ve never been more confident that PASPA will be repealed and states will be empowered to regulate sports betting if they so choose.”

Freeman observed that 90 percent of Americans now have a positive attitude about regulated gambling.