In a new research paper released by Morgan Stanley this week, the financial services company reports that, compared with last September, sports betting app downloads grew by 183%, most likely a seasonal trend due to the start of the 2021 NFL season on September 9.
That growth makes sense given that over half the states in the U.S. have now legalized some form of sports gambling, either in person at retail sportsbooks located in casinos or online using one of the many apps now available to punters.
The recent growth, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Allen, is also fueled by the uptick of marketing now being done by various sports betting operators.
The excitement around several new states launching online sports betting [Arizona, Wyoming, Connecticut, Louisiana], along with a noticeable increase in marketing dollars (i.e. TV ads) from betting operators, were likely key contributors to outsized growth.
The lion’s share of the recent growth was mostly felt by the top three operators in the industry.
Top-3 Operators with Highest Market Share were DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM
It comes as no surprise that leading this surge of sports betting app downloads are the top three operators in the gambling industry: DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM.
Top of the list is American daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting operator DraftKings, who enjoyed a healthy 32% app download market share in September, up from the 30% app download market share they enjoyed in August.
Next on the list is Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel who ended September with a 27% app download market share, up a whole 7% from their August when they recorded a 20% share of that same market.
BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook were next, the pair of operators snagging 12% of the market share, with Barstool Sports dropping to just 7% after grabbing 12% of it in August and WynnBET owning about 3% of that market.
In a separate report released on Monday by GeoComply, a company that provides fraud prevention and cybersecurity solutions, there has reportedly been 330 million geolocation transactions for the first month of NFL action.
In GeoComply’s year-on-year comparison, they report a significant growth in sports betting volume, 122% at this point, a similar increase to the one that we initially reported on in our story entitled NFL Season Start Leads to 126% Increase in Online Betting Transactions.
All this the result of the US Supreme Court striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) about three years ago in 2018, a move that then allowed individual states to decide whether they want to legalize, regulate, and tax sports betting.
To get a big picture view of this ongoing movement, be sure to check out our coverage of each state’s journey in Where Is Online Sports Betting Legal in the USA?
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