I think this discussion is a lot about the ones who are more interested on playing for fun and enjoyment and those who are mainly focusing on extracting what they can from the house and putting in their pockets (a different way to play), no judgements about it after all but for me it looks like a different way to see the games, gambling and sports.
one is interested in sports
the other one is interested in gambling or finding an edge to make more money.
I think that there are far fewer people and players who view sports competitions solely as a means to place bets and possibly earn some money than there are just sports fans. But you are certainly right that these are two different approaches to the perception of sports in general. For fans and fans of the game, this is of course just interest and pleasure from watching the game. For players, it is more likely just waiting for the results of the match and just waiting for a win, if you are lucky, of course.
you are correct, there are way more sports fans, but the thing is that many of these aren't interested in betting at all
so we are looking for the interested in betting and for the intersection between those who are interested + are fans
at the end of the day, there'll be a big amount that are interested in betting only but it's hard to know for sure what is the percentage
I still think that such players among fans of some teams and specific sports competitions are still relatively few.
It's just that the main pleasure fans get from watching the game or, especially, when the team wins. And this holiday of life for some time gives a person a fair dose of adrenaline.
In my opinion, these emotions are much stronger than the emotions of just a winning bet and that's what all real fans want to get.