While sports betting growth has definitely gone down from the 2021 peak, when revenue jumped by 25% in a single year, the market has once again surprised sceptics. The latest market forecasts show the industry is set on track to hit a major new milestone, and it will happen much faster than was thought before.
According to data presented by Betideas.com, sports betting is expected to become a $100 billion industry by 2029, two years ahead of earlier forecasts.
Roughly $8 Billion Higher Annual Revenue
Although some might think sports betting has slowed, the market has actually moved into a more mature phase, with growth now driven by regulation, consolidation, and higher spending per user. Improved user experience has played a major role in this shift, with millions of sports fans spending more on wagers thanks to new features such as in-play betting, AI predictions, and digital sportsbooks. Moreover, higher spending per user will help the market not only overcome the first-ever user drop, expected to happen in 2026, but also hit a new major milestone much sooner.
According to Statista’s 2024 market forecast, the sports betting industry was set to reach $77.1 billion in 2025, up $7 billion from last year. At that time, Statista expected market revenue to grow by roughly $5 billion annually, reaching $91 billion by 2028, and then eventually hit a $101 billion valuation in 2031.
However, in December 2025, Statista changed its forecast, and the new figures showed the sports betting industry will hit that milestone even sooner. According to the updated outlook, sports betting will become a $100 billion industry in 2029, or two years earlier than thought before. This new forecast also showed roughly $8 billion in additional annual revenue through the end of the decade, pushing the market value to $106.2 billion in 2030, up from the previous estimates of $98.2 billion.
Average Revenue Per User to Grow by 18%
The Statista data also shows that increased spending per user is the key driver behind this growth. According to the latest projections, the sports betting industry is facing a massive 30 million user drop in 2026, the first one in its history, and the user count won`t recover to 2025 levels for the next four years. However, during that same time, average spending per user will jump by 18%, with bettors spending an average of $334 on wagers in 2029 instead of $285 how much they spend now.
But there are huge differences between countries in average spending per user, even among the largest markets. In fact, five of the six major sports betting markets will see much higher per-user spending than the global average.
Take Americans, for example, Â the largest sports bettors by total revenue. Statista data show U.S. bettors will spend an average of $443 on wagers in 2029, up $109 from the global average. Italians, Britons, and Brazilians will dig even deeper into their pockets, cashing out $485, $502, and $733 annually. Still, none of them comes close to Aussies, the biggest spenders with an average of $948 per user, or roughly $600 more than the rest of the world. On the other hand, India is the only major market below the average, with an average $142 spending per user.