As more states begin to open up to legalized sports betting, a number of comparisons have been drawn between the US sports betting market and those across Europe.

Speaking to Philip Canavan, Director and Founder of SEM, he highlighted some of the key differences between punters in the US and the UK, including average bet size and punter value.

He explained: “There will be more similarities in two or three years time than there are now. There is obviously a novelty factor in the US market. I think that when we were in New Jersey for SBC’s Betting on Sports America, one of the Las Vegas sportsbooks were saying that their average stake is something like $83, which is phenomenally high compared to the UK where the average bet in a land-based sports betting shop would probably be close to £3 or £4.

“That will begin to level off as legislation becomes more widespread across the US and more states become regulated.

“The value of customers in the US is higher quite frankly, because there is less competition between operators. So in terms of marketing and sponsorship campaigns, we may have what we consider to be a strong cost-per-acquisition on a sponsorship deal with a Premier League football team.

“In the US, the model would be different because there is much less competition. If you consider a customer in New Jersey for example, there is competition from less than 20 operators. The likelihood is that the customer is going to stay with you, and there’s less chance for bonuses to draw punters away. And so the value of the punter over their life cycle is going to be much higher.

“I think that this will level off over time, but for now I think that those are the key differences. Engagement with sports is different in terms of how we consume it, the value of the US customer is probably higher right now than it would be on a marketing campaign in the UK or Europe.”