Sport is one of the biggest entertainment arenas in the world, especially those sports that are broadcast live to people all around the planet. Some of the largest audiences include:

• NBA Finals (USA) – 29 million viewers

• NBA series (USA) – 155 million viewers

• Tour De France – 3.5 billion viewers across 190 countries

• Wimbledon Tennis Championships – 1 billion viewers in 200 countries

• The NFL Super-Bowl – 111.3 million USA viewers

• The UEFA Champions League – 400 million viewers in 200 countries (over a 9-month period)

The attention that sports grab is, in some instances, literally mind-boggling. It’s no wonder that it’s also something that people like to place a little wager on too.

A potted history of gambling on sport

Betting on sport has a long and chequered history . At its most basic, putting a wager on a specific, local event has been going on for thousands of years. Roman emperors used to bet on the outcome of chariot races.

The roots of modern gambling here in the UK were formed in the early nineteenth century and hinged upon Pedestrianism – a type of race walking. It was a national sport and one which attracted gambling. Such was the activity and skulduggery, that in 1880, the Amateur Athletic Association was formed to help to put a stop to race-fixing and other practices that were used in order to influence the result of this and other variants of sport, where bets were levied.

What the sports betting industry is worth today

When the internet exploded on the scene from a commercial point of view, it was the single biggest impetus that would expand sports betting to what it has become today. Reckoned today to be an industry worth approximately 47.1 billion US dollars, websites like the MrGreen Sports Book will take the value of betting up to a staggering 59.79 billion US dollars by the year 2020. You can check the statistics out here on the Statista.com website.

Another explosion has recently been set-off in the world on sports-betting, this time in the form of mobile betting. All of the top online casinos have now launched their apps for both Android and iOS devices, making it even more accessible and convenient to place your bets while you are out and about.

Betting on sport is socially acceptable

Whether you are at a sports venue as a spectator, or out for a drink with your pals, or even travelling to or from work, you can now place a bet when the mood takes you. The whole betting-ethos has changed, thanks in part to the introduction of mobile sports betting.

Once upon a time, some people felt awkward about being seen going into a High Street betting shop. Now you don’t have to worry, because betting on sports is so much more socially acceptable and is practiced by millions.

The online betting community is growing all the time. It has also fostered a number of start-ups who are there for the express purpose of providing the betting public with free tips across a wide range of sporting activities. You no longer have to bet purely on your instinct or your own biases; you can take professional opinion on board too.