Leveraging Sports Betting as a Bar Owner

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Over the past 5-10 years, sports betting in the US has really begun to take off.  Sports betting has always been around, but now that it is live in 28 states, and has been passed, but not yet operational in another 4, the industry is really starting to boom.  People all over the country are finding new ways to get engaged with sports games, and sports betting is one of the main ways people do that.  

One of the biggest industries that can also benefit from this is the restaurant industry.  Simply put, when someone makes a sports bet, it gives them something to root for.  It could be a Tuesday night with not many big games on, but if you put some amount of money on a team that you typically wouldn’t have interest in, you’re gonna want to watch that team and cheer them on as if they were your hometown team.  As a restaurant or sports bar, if you’re able to offer whatever game it is your customer wants to watch, they’ll be much more likely to come to your business to watch the game if the place down the street doesn’t have that game available.  That’s why all of these TV sports packages are so important to own as a restaurant owner.  It gives you the ability to watch any game at any time and ensure your customers' satisfaction.

Sports betting often goes hand in hand with fantasy sports as well.  As of 2018, the numbers for people who bet on sports, and play fantasy sports were nearly identical according the the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, ““78% of fantasy sports players bet on sports in 2018. And 75% of sports bettors played fantasy sports in 2018”.  Take a look at some other strikingly similar numbers from the FSGA regarding the demographics of both sports bettors and fantasy sports players:

Fantasy players

• 81% male, 19% female
• 50% are between the ages of 18 -34 (average age is 37.7)
• 67% are employed full-time
• 47% make more than $75,000 (national average is 34%)

Sports bettors

• 80% male, 20% female
• 50% are between the ages of 18-34 (average age is 38.1)
• 67% are employed full-time
• 45% make more than $75,000 (national average is 34%)

By using this information, it should highly encourage sports bars to continue to use sports related promotions, and offer as many sports TV packages they can to help interact and engage with their customers.  Sports betting and fantasy sports will not be going away any time soon, and it will just increase the attraction of sports fans to your bars.  Finding marketing strategies that are appealing to these demographics can do big things for your business when it comes to acquiring new customers, so get ahead of the curve while you can!

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