Americans are expected to place an estimated $30 billion in legal sports bets on the upcoming 2025 NFL season through U.S. sportsbooks, according to a forecast from the American Gaming Association. That tally would be an 8.5% increase over last season’s revised estimated handle of $27.6 billion on NFL games. The estimate includes preseason games, futures booked as early as March, the playoffs, and Super Bowl LX in February of 2026.
As of the 2025 NFL season kickoff, legal sports betting is available in 38 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Missouri is the only new state approved for legal sports betting compared to a year ago, but its launch date of December 1 is well after the NFL season starts. The roughly direct comparison to a year ago means most of the growth in the U.S. sports betting market will be organic.
The NFL season begins on September 4 with a Thursday night match-up between the defending Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.
In July, FanDuel (NYSE:FLUT) claimed 39.0% of the U.S. online sports betting market, and DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) had 34.4%. Fanatics/PointsBet was third with 7.9% market share, and Bet MGM (NYSE:MGM) (OTCPK:GMVHF) was fourth with 7.0% market share. Caesars Sportsbook (CZR), Bet365, and ESPN Bet (PENN) were the only other sportsbook operators with more than 2% market share. Notably, online sports betting operators have increased their hold rates recently. For the NFL, sportsbooks typically have higher margins on parlays and prop bets, and lower margins when heavy favorites win due to their unbalanced books.
Total legal sports betting handle in the U.S. is on pace for approximately $164 billion across all sports in 2025, up 9.5% from 2024, with football (NFL and college) remaining the most dominant driver of wagering activity.