A number of online sports betting services have reported a strong growth in consumer interest as a result of the National Football League starting, with football remaining to be the most popular sport to place a wager.
Comparing its figures to the same day last year, FanDuel Group reported a 12 times increase in the amount of money spent by its users online, compared to when its mobile betting app had launched.
Meanwhile DraftKings had seen the amount of money bet by punters almost double on Sunday, compared to the same day last year.
Both sportsbooks saw their traffic peak on September 5, the first day of the NFL season, with FanDuel recording 524,416 visits on Sept 5. and DraftKings had 306,681 visits that day according to analytics firm SimilarWeb. In both cases, there has been approximately 65% higher traffic compared to the days previous, the researcher said.
Reported by Reuters, Jamie Shea, head of sportsbook digital for DraftKings, explained that the growth in traffic and money spent reflects how fans have embraced the chance to put money on outcomes.
“Over time, people have been finding out how much more fun it is, how much more exciting the game is to have a bet on it,” she said.
FanDuel Chief Marketing Officer Mike Raffensperger added that the NFL boasts a fan base of approximately 100 million across the U.S. “There’s no week of the year we can acquire new customers like we can in the first week of the NFL season,” he said.
