Global sports betting was dominated for a long while by soccer, or football to the rest of the world. It still is, to some extent, especially with the upcoming 2026 World Cup. But the rise of legal sports betting in the US and, interestingly, the massive gain in popularity of esports, have recently changed things up somewhat in this $100 billion-plus yearly market.


From the NFL's dominance in America to the smaller Canadian sports betting scene, to the massive cricket betting markets on the IPL in Asia and Europe's soccer-focused scene - these are the sports drawing new betting audiences around the world today.

Football Still Dominates in the US, Basketball Catching Up and Esports Growing


Legal NFL betting reached a new high of $30 billion in the US across 2025. And that total was up 8% on 2024's numbers. Other sports, even fast growing ones, will have some way to go to match that.


Basketball betting is growing, especially the WNBA, but it isn't gaining fast enough to topple the NFL. Between the two NBA leagues and the NCAA, they accounted for 32% of total US betting handle in 2025.


For another example, esports betting has seen massive growth of 10% to 20% a year globally in the past five years - but in the US it has yet to reach a billion dollar year.


An interesting case is pickleball. The sport has grown hugely popular in the US in recent years, but that on court popularity has not really translated to being popular with betting markets.


One thing capping the growth of new sports in US markets is the patchwork regulation between states. In many cases new sports have to be approved by each state regulator separately and some are stricter than others. and in the case of new sports that means they often fly under the radar until they become nationally popular.

Sports Betting in Canada Dominated by the NHL but MMA and Esports Growing


Canadians actually prefer online casino gambling to sports betting on the whole. But bettors in Ontario still put down billions of CAD per month and operators make hundreds of millions in revenues.


Although Canadian provinces and offshore sites don't break down revenues by sports like US regulators often do, it is well known the most popular sport for betting on in Canada is the NHL. Estimates from available data seem to suggest the NBA and then soccer are the next two most popular.


You only need to look at a betting resource like a comprehensive overview of Canada sportsbook promos compiled by Oddspedia, to see that NHL offers are all over the listings. When potential customers can compare everything about a sportsbook in one place - from welcome promos to payment speeds of odds available - operators often turn to regional specific promos to stand out.

Europe is Dominated by Soccer, But Esports is Also on the Rise


Europe is one of the world's longest established sports betting markets, and many of the world's biggest operators either started there or are still based on the continent.


Its home sports betting market was worth some $47 billion in wagers in 2025, which almost rivals the US market - but not quite. That's despite being around in a widely regulated form for almost two decades longer.


The biggest sport driving handle for operators in Europe is most definitely soccer. The English Premier League is one of the biggest sports leagues in the world, and the Champions League is the elite competition of club soccer.


Some $200 billion is bet globally on European soccer according to estimates, although a lot of that is driven through offshore sportsbooks in Asian markets so it is hard to tell exactly.


In Europe the fastest growing sector of the betting market is definitely esports. Counter Strike is arguably the biggest esport in the world, and unlike in many esports it is dominated by European teams. Therefore, very popular for betting.


Although esports' $3.5 billion estimated global betting handle in 2025 is far off that of soccer, the NFL and other big sports, it is growing at a rate of around 20% a year.

Asian Markets Drive Huge Betting Markets on Cricket


Indian Premier League cricket matches are now regularly some of the biggest betting events in the world. And among the most viewed too. The IPL is second behind only the NFL as the world's most valuable sports league.


Betting is not regulated as widely in Asian markets, but offshore operations thrive and are huge business. Nevertheless, it is known that the IPL is a massive betting draw internationally.


$100 billion was wagered within India alone during the 60 day season in 2025, according to some estimates. More conservative assessments of legal and regulated markets put that at around $4 billion.


Nevertheless, UK cricket betting is worth around £50 million a year in comparison. Although the IPL is not a new league, it has only become popular for online betting in the past decade or so. It was even more recently that it hit the top of the global betting activity charts.