The Gambling Commission has released statistics looking into consumer behaviour surrounding the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship back in the summer.
The regulator has previously looked into behaviour and attitudes in the light of major football tournaments, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and for Euro 2024 it used cross-sectional tracking using the consultancy Yonder’s omnibus survey to ask a series of questions to a total of 6,237 people.
There were over 2,000 people participating in each of the three waves of the survey, with one taking place a week before the tournament, the next between the group stage and the knockout stages, and the final one a week after the tournament came to an end.
Looking closer at the data, the participation rate differences between male and female bettors actually went down as the tournament went on. For example, among those who reported betting on the Euros mid-tournament, for male it was 27% and for female it was 9.6%, but the participation rate shifted post-tournament with the male rate valued at 27.3% and the female rate valued at 13.3%.
For this same parameter, it showed that those respondents aged 18 to 24 who reported betting on the Euros pre-tournament was 14%, but a week after Spain’s win over England it was up to 36%.
The most common reasons for gambling on the tournament were said to be to win money, make the game more interesting or owing to a promotional offer and/or free bet.
England going far in the tournament clearly had an effect on people’s motivation to bet by the third wave as there was an increase in respondents who said they had placed a bet because England or the country they support were playing.
Respondents said advertising actually had limited impact on their motivation to place a bet during Euro 2024 and most who took part in the survey set themselves a fixed budget for betting and felt in control of their spending.
While a decent number of those who bet on the Euros said they planned to bet on sporting events in the future such as the 2026 World Cup (67%) or the Premier League (52%), these figures didn’t increase from the first wave to the third.
In relation to this, our recent issue of Sports betting Focus saw sports betting supplier Betby provide exclusive data from its operator network looking into betting data for Euro 2024 as well as the 2024 Copa América.
