Why NFL Betting Is Bigger Than Every Other US Sport Combined

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Boy do Americans love to gamble! In 2025 alone they dropped $166.94 billion on their favorite sports teams, a 22.8% jump from 2024. Of that massive pie, the NFL accounted for roughly $30 billion in wagered handle at licensed sportsbook brands. Don’t expect that figure to slow down anytime soon, as it’s already up 8.5% YoY ^[1]. 

One league is pulling in roughly one-fifth of all legal US sports betting handle despite playing fewer than 300 regular-season games per year. Major League Baseball features over 2,430 matches, while the NBA plays nearly 1,230 games. And yet, at DraftKings, the second-largest sportsbook in the country, more bets were placed on the NFL than on any other league.

Credit: DraftKings Sportsbook – Screenshot captured by Felix Dubler on May 9

Take the 2024-25 NFL season; where over 76 million Americans wagered on games, and for Super Bowl LIX 68 million people placed a bet ^[2]. 60% of US bettors place wagers on football, the NBA attracts about 58%, and MLB pulls in around 53% ^[3]. 

Betting on the NFL Is a Weekly Ritual

The NFL schedule is built to fuel betting interest, as each team plays just once a week. By the time kickoff rolls around, you've had six days to research and debate your picks with your coworkers. But if you miss an NBA game on a Tuesday, there are probably five more on the slate anyway.

Credit: BetMGM Sportsbook – Screenshot captured by Felix Dubler on May 9

According to the Optimove 2025-26 Consumer Report on NFL Wagering Intentions, 63% of NFL bettors plan to bet on one or more games per week throughout the season, and 82% say they'll keep wagering regardless of how their favorite team is doing ^[4]. Other leagues just don’t breed this same level of fan loyalty.

What NFL Markets Catch Americans’ Eyes

Point spreads remain king, preferred by 61% of NFL bettors, followed by moneylines at 52% and over/unders at 47% ^[5]. 

But the real growth story is player props, which are no longer considered novelty wagers. At BetMGM, one of the leading NFL sportsbook platform, the anytime touchdown scorer market is the single most-bet player prop by handle, with receiving yards and first touchdown scorer rounding out the top three .

The football segment holds a 37.2% share of the entire US sports betting market, and the average American is betting $335 per season ^[3]!

The TV Ratings Make Everything Else Look Small

The 2025 NFL regular season averaged 18.7 million viewers per game, the second-highest season average ever recorded, just barely below the all-time record set in 1989 [8]. Of the top 100 most-watched TV programs in 2025, 89 were NFL games ^[6].

CBS's Sunday afternoon window was the single most-watched program on all of television, averaging 25.8 million viewers. The Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving game hit 57.2 million viewers, the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.

Research shows that people who bet on NFL games watch significantly more football than non-bettors. In states with legal betting, bettors watch roughly 19 more games per season than non-bettors ^[7]. Also two-thirds of people who bet on NFL games say they watch more than usual when they have a wager.