The Global Landscape of Sports Betting Operators: Key Market Trends

The sports betting industry is a behemoth, shaped by tech innovation, regulatory shifts, and consumer appetites that show no sign of slowing down. Operators range from billion-dollar brands to scrappy upstarts trying to elbow their way into the game. But who’s winning? And where’s the real opportunity hiding?

A look at the numbers paints a clear picture: the industry isn’t just growing; it’s consolidating, with a few dominant players and a long tail of hopefuls. Global sports betting revenue was estimated at $92.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to hit $145.6 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 9.4%. If you’re an investor, affiliate, or regulator, understanding the tiers of sports betting operators is key to spotting who’s rising, who’s treading water, and who’s dead in the water.

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The Four-Tier League of Sports Betting Operators

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The market isn’t one-size-fits-all. Instead, it’s broken down into four clear tiers:

• Tier 1 – The Titans: 7% (59 operators). Think household names with deep pockets and global reach.
• Tier 2 – Regional Heavyweights: 10% (81 operators). These guys dominate local markets but struggle to punch above their weight internationally.
• Tier 3 – Mid-Size Contenders: 29% (233 operators). Growing fast but facing an uphill battle against bigger budgets and established brands.
• Tier 4 – The Underdogs: 54% (434 operators). Small operators, niche players, and new entrants trying to find daylight in a crowded field.

Even beyond Tier 4, countless micro-operators exist, but they barely move the needle. For now, let’s focus on the players that matter.

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The Licensing Game: Compliance or Die

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Regulation is the tax of legitimacy. No license? No business. Here’s how compliance shakes out across the tiers:

• Tier 1: 100% licensed (if you’re big and unlicensed, you’re already in court).
• Tier 2: 100% licensed (regional kings play by the rules).
• Tier 3: 92% licensed (most are serious about scaling and know they need to play nice with regulators).
• Tier 4: 83% licensed (some are rolling the dice, but most see compliance as a must-have, not a nice-to-have).

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For operators on the lower end of town, black-hat marketing and aggressive affiliate strategies can seem like a viable workaround, but it’s murky territory. Without a licence, many rely almost entirely on affiliates to drive traffic, creating an unpredictable and often inefficient funnel. Affiliates are a strong channel, but real scale demands a multichannel approach that blends paid, organic, and direct acquisition. As compliance tightens and ad platforms restrict access, unlicensed operators will struggle to grow beyond their affiliate dependency, while legitimate brands cement their market position with a diversified acquisition strategy.

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Market Influence: Who’s Really Pulling Traffic?

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Website traffic tells you who’s winning the eyeballs—and, more importantly, who’s converting them.

• Tier 1: 1.17 billion total visitors, 261.9 million unique
• Tier 2: 342.5 million total visitors, 85 million unique
• Tier 3: 295.7 million total visitors, 70.3 million unique
• Tier 4: 74.9 million total visitors, 21.1 million unique

Tier 1 is eating the internet. Meanwhile, Tier 4 operators are fighting for scraps. The game isn’t just about attracting traffic; it’s about keeping it. Invalid traffic in sports betting ads remains a challenge, making sports betting ad fraud detection essential.

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The Retention Problem: Betting on the Same Customers

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A telling stat: 76.8% of total traffic comes from returning users. Translation? The industry is hooked on repeat customers.

Tier 1: 78% returning traffic (loyalty is strong, but is growth stagnating?)
Tier 4: Lowest retention—either struggling to keep customers or constantly churning through the market.

For operators, this raises a key question: Where’s the next wave of customers coming from? If new user acquisition isn’t prioritised, growth stalls, and market share calcifies. Complicating matters, brand campaigns often see existing customers chewing up clicks just to log in, padding media spend without driving fresh acquisition.

Meanwhile, bots designed for bonus abuse may be stopped at signup, but they still drain ad budgets by inflating click volumes. Filtering out this noise is critical to ensuring that paid campaigns are actually working to bring in new bettors, not just recycling existing navigational traffic.

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Advertising Spend: Why Aren’t Operators Spending More?

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For an industry that thrives on user acquisition, operators aren’t spending as aggressively as you’d think. While exact ad budgets are tough to pin down, here’s what we do know: the average Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) for a sports betting operator sits between $250 and $500 per user. Meanwhile, the lifetime value (LTV) of a bettor can range from $2,000 to $5,000, meaning acquisition costs are justified—but only if inefficiencies and invalid traffic are eliminated.

A significant chunk of paid traffic doesn’t come from genuine new users. Bots and returning users navigating directly back to the platform often inflate click volumes, skewing performance metrics and draining budgets. Every dollar wasted on clicks that have no chance of leading to a first-time depositor is a dollar that isn’t bringing in real bettors. With invalid traffic rates in paid acquisition campaigns reaching as high as 40%, operators need to optimise their ad spend with rigorous fraud detection and verification to ensure their budget is fuelling real growth—not redundant traffic.

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Where’s the Action? Top Traffic Sources

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Geographically, sports betting traffic is concentrated in three key regions:

• Brazil – Dominates all tiers. If you’re not looking at Latin America, you’re missing out.
• United States – A Tier 1 stronghold, but regulatory barriers still complicate growth.
• United Kingdom – A mature market, but mid-tier operators thrive here.

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Brazil’s growing dominance across all tiers signals a clear opportunity: Latin America is the next big battleground. With Brazil recently launching its licensing framework and hundreds of applications already live or in motion, the market is poised for a surge in regulated operators. With an estimated $10 billion in annual betting revenue and a mobile-first audience, the region presents a prime expansion opportunity, but competition will be fierce as new entrants flood the space.

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Mobile is King (But Not Everyone Got the Memo)

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84% of studied operators have a mobile app. But not all apps are created equal:

• Tier 1: 91.5% have an app (if they didn’t, it’d be malpractice).
• Tier 4: 79.9% have an app (opportunity alert: mobile is their best shot at relevance).

Mobile adoption is nearly universal, but the gaps at the bottom hint at a missed opportunity. The average bettor places 75% of wagers via mobile devices, yet invalid traffic detection in fantasy sports ads remains an issue for smaller operators.

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The Takeaways: Where the Smart Money Goes

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1. Market dominance is top-heavy. The industry is consolidating around a few major players, leaving smaller operators to fight over scraps.
2. Licensing isn’t a differentiator. It’s a requirement. The real edge comes from execution, user experience, and ad fraud prevention for sports betting.
3. New user growth is a problem. Betting platforms need to get more aggressive about attracting fresh users, not just recycling old ones.
4. Invalid traffic protection is mission-critical. Every ad dollar wasted on existing customers and fraudulent clicks in online betting is a hit to profitability.
5. Brazil is the market to watch. If you’re expanding internationally, start there.
6. Mobile is table stakes. Operators without a seamless mobile experience will struggle to compete.
7. Acquisition costs are rising. Operators need to optimise CPA and improve fraud prevention to protect margins.
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The sports betting market is at a tipping point, with major players solidifying their dominance, while smaller operators scramble for scraps. As the industry matures, the key differentiator won’t be licensing, it's execution. Operators who excel will be those who innovate in user experience, optimise their acquisition strategies, and master fraud prevention to ensure every dollar spent works harder.  

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In this highly competitive environment, invalid traffic protection is more than a nice-to-have; it’s mission-critical. The challenge of acquiring new users without draining budgets on returning customers or fraudulently inflated clicks is real, and those who don’t adapt will see their margins erode. With acquisition costs continuing to rise, success will hinge on the ability to optimise CPA and protect the bottom line through smarter, more effective campaigns.  

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For operators looking beyond their borders, Brazil stands out as the next frontier, presenting both a significant opportunity and a challenge. The market is ripe for expansion, but only for those who can execute at scale and deliver a seamless mobile experience. In this rapidly evolving landscape, the operators that can master the balance of aggressive growth with sustainable practices will be the ones to lead the charge.

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Footnote: These statistics are based on TrafficGuard research

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