Which sports do Britons who bet on sports follow? Data from YouGov Profiles allows us to dive deep into the mindset of sports fans – and sports bettors (here defined as those Britons who have placed a bet on an event in the past 12 months).  

Although commonly associated with betting, horse racing doesn’t feature in the top 10. Football dominates the top two spots, with the men’s game (78%) taking first place and the women’s taking second (37%).  In both cases, bettors are more likely to follow either game than sports fans in general. 

Boxing comes in third (30% vs. 22%), followed by cricket (29% vs. 13%), with rugby union  rounding out the top five (27% vs. 17%). In the bottom half of table are golf (25% vs. 9%), motorsport (21% vs. 15%) and athletics (21% vs. 13%), with men’s tennis (27% vs. 17%) and women’s tennis rounding out the top ten. 

Want to find out if bettors are more likely to have a punt on any of these sports – or want to find out more about sports fans in general? Get in touch with one of our researchers today. 

Methodology

YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data through rolling surveys, rather than a single limited questionnaire. Data is nationally representative of adults (18+) in Great Britain and weighted by age, gender, region, education, and social grade.