While I have no doubt sports betting is much more popular now, I presume the $5 billion figure does not capture the considerable amount of illegal betting that happened previously.
"Estimates of the scope of illegal sports betting in the United States range anywhere from $80 billion to $380 billion annually, making sports betting the most widespread and popular form of gambling in America."
which seems surprising even at the low end.
similarly from https://www.americangaming.org/new-aga-report-shows-american... in 2022
"AGA’s report estimates that Americans wager $63.8 billion with illegal bookies and offshore sites at a cost of $3.8 billion in gaming revenue and $700 million in state taxes. With Americans projected to place $100 billion in legal sports bets this year, these findings imply that illegal sportsbook operators are capturing nearly 40 percent of the U.S. sports betting market."
I think what would be more interesting to me is estimates on the unique number of citizens betting. Is it up? If so, how appreciably?
He could not advertise. He could not send you push notifications or run AB tests on millions of users.