Sports gambling leading to higher TV ratings is not exactly earth-shattering news. When you have a financial stake in the outcomes of the results, chances are you’re more likely to watch that game.

At the same time, in this current viewing and betting climate, it is easy to see why sports gambling is becoming more valuable than ever to media companies across the landscape.

In this day and age with more and more people unplugging from traditional TV and media and with more viewing choices than ever, anything that gets a large mass of people watching something at the same time is of greater importance to big advertisers.

A new market research study by the company Prodege reveals in states where gambling is legal, but also in non-gambling states, people who are interested in gambling will likely watch more sports.

In fact, in the non-legal states, interested bettors said they are 88% more likely to watch the event. That is compared to 54% of bettors more interested in watching sports in states where gambling is legal.

79% of gamblers said they are first and foremost interested in betting on championship games. That would include events like the Super Bowl.

62% of bettors put money on their favorite teams.

48% will bet on tournaments.

46% will bet generally on their favorite sport or league.

19% of bettors put money on teams they don’t follow.

Finally 10% are betting on leagues and sports they don’t follow.

The study also showed that football is the sport that is likely to benefit most as more and more states legalize sports gambling.

A full on 9 in 10 interested or active gamblers say they would vote on football. Just over 50% of potential gamblers are interested in betting on basketball and just under 50% picked baseball.

7 out of 10 basketball bettors are most interested in betting on tournaments, so the NCAA March Madness tournament has room to keep growing in popularity as states allow legalized betting on amateur sports.

For football that number is 5 in 10 and baseball stands at 6 in 10.

At this point 17 states and jurisdictions have legalized gambling, but only seven are currently active. The rest will launch in the fall or in early 2020. As that momentum continues look for viewing choices, and the accompanying fees that are involved with watching those sports to keep skyrocketing.

And as the kinds of bets that can be made continue to diversify, it’s safe to say that engagement in sports will only continue to grow for the long haul.\