In-play bets account for 90% of Entain’s tennis bets, coming second in volume to football in the UK.
Key Points:
- Entain has noted tennis as its fifth most popular betting sport.
- It is also the second highest in-play betting sport in the UK and US.
- The Australian Open was noted as the most popular tour, despite time zone differences.
Entain has released its latest trend report, in which it pointed to tennis betting as a potential market for operators to keep an eye on.
Popularity of Tennis Events
According to the report, over a million spectators attended last year’s Australian Open; the highest-attended Tennis Grand Slam in its history. This continued interest has carried into 2025, with the event being dubbed the ‘Happy Slam’ in the report.
The sport is now the fifth most popular among Entain’s global brands, which includes operations in the UK, US, Spain, and Brazil.
The Australian Open was noted as being the most popular event on the tour from an attendance perspective. The US Open, meanwhile, is the most popular from a betting perspective, with other popular tours including the French Open—a tour even more popular than Wimbledon due to clay games taking longer than grass, allowing for further betting opportunities. Indeed, longer matches and deeper betting pools have been key to the sport’s success.
The Dominance of In-Play Betting
In-play bets are the most popular way through which tennis bets are placed, with 90% of Entain’s tennis bets being in-play. It is now the second most bet-on sport in the UK and US when it comes to in-play bets, falling just behind football and basketball, respectively. Furthermore, Entain data shows that tennis has outperformed football in the US for three years.
Entain pins this appeal on momentum swings, with players attempting to use their knowledge of the game so far to predict its outcome. “Momentum is about which player is in control at any point of the match,” the report explains, with “the mentally draining aspect of the sport” being a key component in match outcomes.
Growth Potential in Women’s Tennis
Further stats note that 60% of Entain’s tennis bets are on men’s sports, in part due to the longer games played by men (best-of-five compared to women’s best-of-three). However, with notable tennis stars like Roger Federer and Andy Murray retiring, and rising interest in female players across the globe—including Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Świątek at the Australian Open 2025, as well as US players Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula—there is potential for this statistic to change.
To accommodate this, Entain intends to develop more in-play options for its tennis bettors.
