It’s pretty easy to assume there would be a link between betting on sports and watching sports. It’s much better to be able to prove it with numbers.

Deloitte Insights, a research and analysis firm that provides insights for business and governments, has published its Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions 2019. In it, Deloitte researchers dive deep into the relationship between sports betting and TV sports viewership, with valuable insights into what this could mean for both industries.

Although live TV viewership as a whole continues to decline, Deloitte notes that sports viewership is declining at a much slower pace. Furthermore, if a person watches more sports, they are more likely to be affluent, and thus attractive to TV advertisers.

Sports betting, a $169 billion a year industry in the U.S., is seen as the cure to declining TV sports viewership. The study notes that of the 1,063 people surveyed, those who bet on sports were much more likely to watch sporting events, with those betting at least once a week watching more than twice as much sports than those who don’t bet at all.