LSB Feature: Can Sports Betting Be A Legitimate Side Hustle?

According to a survey run by Whistle Wise Quantitative Research, 76% of young sports betting fans view legal sports betting as a form of entrepreneurship.
Americans bet billions on sports every year.
Many prominent figures have made a living off of sports betting.

LAS VEGAS – When it comes to betting on sports it is usually viewed as a hobby by fans and in many cases is not taken as a legitimate source of income.

However, as sports betting becomes more popular, especially among younger fans, this viewpoint has begun to change.

With the continued expansion of the legal sports betting market, many young fans have begun using the practice as a legitimate side hustle. Looking closer, how valuable can that be?

Sports Betting As A Side Hustle

Whistle Wise Quantitative Research did a survey with 470 sports betting fans between the ages of 21 and 24. The resulting survey showed that 76% of young betting fans view sports betting as a legit form of entrepreneurship.

While this is a small sample size, it is interesting to see how these young betting fans look at sports betting.

While players can win money betting on sports, it is not as lucrative as a business as other things. A bet can go either way, so the risk of losing is too high for many people to be professional sports bettors and make a living off of it.

For example, legendary NBA bettor Bob Voulgaris is said to have a 57% winning percentage, and he is a professional. There is no such thing as a sure bet, so realistically no one should be quitting their day job to bet on sports full time.

But what about as a side hustle? While the sports betting world is consistently unpredictable, many forms of investments have similar levels of risks.

For example, the stock market is where 55% of working-class Americans invest their money, but there are no guarantees when it comes to Wall Street. Even billion-dollar corporations take big risks with short-selling stocks, which could either result in a big payday or a major bill for the company.

The risk/reward game has always been a part of investing, so based on that aspect it’s understandable why millennials and gen-z betting fans can look at sports betting in the same light.

But How Profitable Can It Be?

America wagered approximately $21.5 billion on sports in 2020 across 20 states, with sportsbooks seeing $1.5 billion in revenue and states collecting $244 million in taxes.

What this shows is that not only are a lot of Americans betting a lot of money on sports but also since sportsbooks yield rate is under 6%, a lot of Americans are winning as well. During the NFL betting season, gamblers have big games every week they can wager on to turn a profit. With NBA betting there are games practically every day.

If one were to bet on every major game each week, using Bob Voulgaris win rate of 57%, one could genuinely turn a steady profit weekly. The way to do it would be to wager a little bit on multiple different games, similar to diversifying one’s stock portfolio.

The same way investors research companies by review their earning reports and industry news when looking to invest on the stock market, players would do the same with teams; looking up trends, future schedules, and matchups to better their wagers.

Many prominent names have made a living betting on sports betting, so it is feasible to assume betting fans could have a legitimate side hustle with sports betting.

The Draw Backs

Unlike stocks and bonds, however, sports betting can lead to major losses more often, as players’ luck could consistently be bad, leading to them losing more often than winning.

Even if players were to only wager on favorites, upsets happen all the time, which could put any player in a whole depending on how much they wager.

Caution is advised for anyone who is looking to make legal sports betting a legit source of added income. But for those who wish to put caution to the wind, there are examples of people using sports betting as a side hustle successfully.

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Giovanni Shorter

Coming from a background in narrative-based writing, Giovanni strives to write stories that will keep the reader engaged. Although he does pride himself in being accurate, how the story is told is also very important to him. When he’s not keeping readers up to date on sports betting laws and legislation, you can find him writing and recording music, playing videogames, or engaged in heated sports debates with his friends.