Note: This article is based on Variety Intelligence Platform’s special report “Sports Gambling & Media,” available exclusively to subscribers.

One of the most critical findings from Variety Intelligence Platform’s new report on sports gambling is that betting on a sport ramps up consumer engagement with that sport. 

For sports rights holders, this is manna from heaven. An activity that can lead to an increased audience and thus more exposure to ads, with said activity also a healthy market with multiple companies all looking to pay for sponsorships, ads and integrations to boost their own customer bases? It sounds too good to be true. 

For the results excerpted from VIP+’s special report, we partnered with market research firm CRG Global, which worked with us to design and field a survey among mobile sports gamblers in the U.S. 

CRG Global found that two-thirds of those who bet on NFL games say they watch more than usual when gambling, and that is the sport with the greatest proportion of sports bettors watching more when they have a bet. The NBA also sees a strong proportion of gamblers saying they’re more likely to watch when placing a bet. 

(Note this data is also broken down by demographics in the full report available to VIP+ subscribers.) 

A key finding from the CRG Global/VIP+ study is how sports betting has led gamblers to adopt new teams as a result of emotional relationships built from…