[Infographics] Does Football Betting Pay Off?

[Wapfika]

This chart shows the share of football fans in selected countries that place bets on matches, and how many of them say they make money from it in 2021.

*Respondents who say that they win money overall in the course of an average season.
n=13,300 adults (16+) interested in football. Conducted in May 2021

Source:https://www.statista.com/chart/26706/share-placing-bets-on-football-matches/

[Oshosondy]

Anyone that wants to gamble should know they should not use more than the amount of money they can not afford to lose. That is what most matters that gamblers should always keep in mind and always abide too. If there is fun been around friends and gambling with the amount you can afford to lose, there is nothing bad there. I do not care if gambling is profitable for me as long as I see it entertaining. Using less than 5% of my monthly income has make it not of stress or of depression for me.

[jackg]

There's probably an issue in relying on people to answer honestly (and know) whether they've actually made money on it or not.

I guess a lot of them with higher profit chances probably bet on fewer games (maybe just a final/semi) while those with a higher majority making a loss would be more likely to bet on more games (some might also watch matches and factor a bet into their ticket cost).

You get better odds if you bet against your own country too (that's probably why France and the UK are high ).

[Slow death]

I am surprised with the results in Italy, that means that more than half of those who bet are losing money, really this is not a good thing for bettors in Italy, but I wonder why they are losing so much when they can only be betting on Serie A and as they are from italy would easily have a lot of information about the teams and make it easier for them to make good bets

Anyone that wants to gamble should know they should not use more than the amount of money they can not afford to lose.

everyone knows this, but when a person is losing they forget about it and fight to regain everything they lost.

[Beparanf]

There's probably an issue in relying on people to answer honestly (and know) whether they've actually made money on it or not.

I guess a lot of them with higher profit chances probably bet on fewer games (maybe just a final/semi) while those with a higher majority making a loss would be more likely to bet on more games (some might also watch matches and factor a bet into their ticket cost).

You get better odds if you bet against your own country too (that's probably why France and the UK are high ).

Trust is always the issue with this kind of survey but since this just an anonymous activity, Most of them will be honest because they have nothing to lose if they lie about there loss or winnings.

I can vouch about the chance of having profit on betting fewer games because you have less room for mistakes unlike betting many times on sports which will give you a compouded loss overtime if impatience kicks in.

[nullama]

There's probably an issue in relying on people to answer honestly (and know) whether they've actually made money on it or not.

I guess a lot of them with higher profit chances probably bet on fewer games (maybe just a final/semi) while those with a higher majority making a loss would be more likely to bet on more games (some might also watch matches and factor a bet into their ticket cost).

You get better odds if you bet against your own country too (that's probably why France and the UK are high ).

Absolutely.

That's usually the case in gambling. People will always tell the stories about when they won, but forget to tell about all the times they lost money.

Some people seem to simply forget the times they lost, and celebrate the times they won. It's funny how the brain works. And casinos try their best to make gamblers continue to play for a long time, so that they win a few times, but in the end they lose money if you actually count the money in and out.

[Wexnident]

I'd probably take the results with a grain of salt tbh, I'd consider most people would've only lost or broke even at most with their bets. Or even if they did win, wouldn't really consider the money they won as worth it to be called as "paying off". I myself have won and lost my fair share but I've never really considered it to have payed off, it's just a process now that adds to the enjoyment.

Some people seem to simply forget the times they lost, and celebrate the times they won. It's funny how the brain works. And casinos try their best to make gamblers continue to play for a long time, so that they win a few times, but in the end they lose money if you actually count the money in and out.

Can't blame them, I myself would choose to forget the times I lost if possible, not just in gambling. Data might honestly be more accurate if they were obtained from sportsbooks or something (if possible). Bigger respondent base and a lot more factors could be added in to consider.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

What the OP has posted is useless:

This chart shows the share of football fans in selected countries that place bets on matches, and how many of them say they make money from it in 2021.

This is a complete departure from what would be a scientific study, as people tend to exaggerate their winnings and minimize or hide gambling losses, which means that these data are not reliable.

*Respondents who say that they win money overall in the course of an average season.
n=13,300 adults (16+) interested in football. Conducted in May 2021

Source:https://www.statista.com/chart/26706/share-placing-bets-on-football-matches/

With respect to this data, assuming it is reliable, which we have already seen that it is not, we would have to take into account how many of those who win bet that money again, so that the probability of net profit is reduced the more bets they make.

[Oshosondy]

I am surprised with the results in Italy, that means that more than half of those who bet are losing money

Not only in Italy that half of those who gamble are losing, other countries too, but just that more than 80% of the gamblers are lose money to gambling in Italy.

really this is not a good thing for bettors in Italy, but I wonder why they are losing so much when they can only be betting on Serie A and as they are from italy would easily have a lot of information about the teams and make it easier for them to make good bets

Are you sure Italians can only bet on Seria A? I haven't heard about this before and I see nothing related to it while I used search engine.

The reason gamblers lose is because they gamble more frequently. Those that gamble infrequently win than those that gambling daily or almost daily.

This is a complete departure from what would be a scientific study, as people tend to exaggerate their winnings and minimize or hide gambling losses, which means that these data are not reliable.

How is it not reliable? I can easily know if I my net profit is positive or negative. I do not see anything wrong about it and people will have to have it in mind that this is just a poll from people. There are many researches or findings like this.

But the best and the most accurate information about this can only be from the betting companies though because they have the betting history of their customers and they know the numbers and percentage of those than win or lose.

[Yaunfitda]

I guess it's obvious that those countries are really crazy about their football and serious on making money on their favorite sports.

Regardless of the numbers, I think it just represent how big football is, money is flowing in this sports and we even heard of match fixing specially from the lower league because people are willing to bet big on this sports. And again, if it is paying off for some then good, but there could be losing millions as well.

[dimonstration]

I rarely bet on Football matches but my summary on betting with this sports is in profit because I just bet on match winner or total goals which is very easy to predict when you are only betting on dominant teams based on odds offered. Football is one of the game that is very profitable if you will just bet on teams that has high probability of winning and up against the underdog teams.

Like basketball, Team that has a good statistics always win on this game so sport bettors that has a good analytical skills about football team has a high chance of winning same as the graph shown which most country is a football fan. Even that percentage seems small for normal viewers, Having a double digit percentage is still a good result to see the numbers of person winning.

[passwordnow]

That chart won't be enough but looking at it at first glance will make you think that football betting is profitable. But that's not the whole point of it, there should be like +/- stats from those people that have been part of the survey. Just like the usual survey that we see on different industries that they're including the margin of losses and points which is part of statistics that must be done.

[Eternad]

That chart won't be enough but looking at it at first glance will make you think that football betting is profitable. But that's not the whole point of it, there should be like +/- stats from those people that have been part of the survey. Just like the usual survey that we see on different industries that they're including the margin of losses and points which is part of statistics that must be done.

For survey done by private company and do it in public I think this data is already sufficient because no one will be interested on answering the survey with a question like IRS is interviewing them about the complete details of there gambling stats.

This is just a survey to see the overview about how profitable all those who interviewed. The point is getting the percentage of winning out of the total participants.

[tokeweed]

That chart won't be enough but looking at it at first glance will make you think that football betting is profitable. But that's not the whole point of it, there should be like +/- stats from those people that have been part of the survey. Just like the usual survey that we see on different industries that they're including the margin of losses and points which is part of statistics that must be done.

From personal experience I think betting on football matches especially the EPL is really tough.  I've only had one great season in betting football and the rest are a mixed bag of results but leaning towards negative.  Lol.  It's because the lines are way more efficient than say a sport like MMA where the books get it wrong more often.  And the draw is a real factor in football which makes predictng an outcome a tad harder.  Not so in MMA.

[Pierre 2]

It is no surprise to me that mediterrenean countries have the most passionate and even bet loving fans. Especially Italian betting must be big business. But other data where they asked people if they think they won a money seems biased to me as well. People would love exaggerate their wins, and generally ignore their losses. Those stats are like "who are the biggest liars?" in my opinion. I personally love to bet on football although I generally target low scoring teams to get better/surprising odds.

[Rruchi man]

This is a complete departure from what would be a scientific study, as people tend to exaggerate their winnings and minimize or hide gambling losses, which means that these data are not reliable.

I also find this data unreliable and with the potential to be misleading, because if people say betting has paid them that is they have made profit from it, how much really have they made? Can they really beta their chest and say the amount altogether is substantial enough to say that they are making profit or the winnings they have made are just little little compensations for the massive losses they have made. IMO this data should have included benchmark amount that can be generally accepted as profitable.

I didn't see any African country on the selected list however I'd like to say that my country has a very high interest in football and roughly I can say majority of sports bettors bet on it. There are regular and many stories of how people have earned substantial sums from it, hence many people around me including myself bet regularly/occasionally... So yes football betting can pay off.

[Fortify]

This chart shows the share of football fans in selected countries that place bets on matches, and how many of them say they make money from it in 2021.

*Respondents who say that they win money overall in the course of an average season.
n=13,300 adults (16+) interested in football. Conducted in May 2021

The trouble with these sorts of data and graphing is it doesn't really represent an accurate figure. Unless you're getting the raw data from a reliable selection of sportbooks (who would most likely never share what could be perceived as valuable information) then it can end up with all kinds of discrepancies. It can even be a cultural thing, where Italians are very macho and it is not macho to be a loser - so they might decide to lie even if it is an obscure anonymized survey. There could be other things going on like slight differences in translations which encourage people to pick different answers, or even where the data is gathered - if your respondents from a particular country are more clustered around the best performing team then they might genuinely win more.

[swogerino]

Those are some nice stats but I think as with all statistics we miss the real big picture of sport betting in the whole world.A lot more people than the pic here bet on sport betting,however it is a good measurement of the countries who play better and win more in sport betting from such statistics.

I think that football betting pays off only when you are patient enough to not get mad even when you lose a couple of bets but you see the overall picture in the long term and you are able to pick the right games.Nowadays betting on single events is the best option to win at sport betting as we have seen as soon as we make 2 or more games in a parlay chances to win the ticket reduces in a drastic way.

[jaberwock]

This chart shows the share of football fans in selected countries that place bets on matches, and how many of them say they make money from it in 2021.

*Respondents who say that they win money overall in the course of an average season.
n=13,300 adults (16+) interested in football. Conducted in May 2021

Source:https://www.statista.com/chart/26706/share-placing-bets-on-football-matches/

Football is the main sport on those selected countries right? But I was surprised to see that under 50% of their population who place bets on this game. I was expecting more than that. 4 out of 5 country plays better. I think that was acceptable somehow? Maybe people on Italy doesn't have a nice luck when it comes to betting.

Football betting pays off the most if you can produce more wins over your losses. If not then I think many are still going to do it only for the sake of being entertained. I know that watching the sport alone is entertaining already but that feeling can increase dramatically if there was a money at stake and you put it in your favorite teams.

[Doell]

Italian gamblers bet more on football game I think "Yes", at there is a lot of football game for betting there in Italy, Serie A, B, C or D then also women league etc. So the chart may have a little some truth, Few gamblers who win only 17% does't prove the chart is entirely truth, because not a few gamblers are able speak to publicly about their winnings, I think more to privacy.