For the past year or so, the worlds of sports betting and the casino have been colliding in a way that has benefited neither sector. It’s the perfect marriage of something people love doing together – sports betting – and an opportunity for the casino to make some money. The catch is that a casino and a sportsbook cannot be located in the same place. One must be online or on a mobile device. Thus, the combination of the convenience of online betting and the opportunity to place bets on sporting events is proving to be so popular that a large number of brick-and-mortar casinos have felt the need to respond with mobile betting apps of their own.
The Growth Of Online Sports Betting
To begin with, let’s take a look at the growth of online sports betting. Statista reports that there were 144 million US sports bettors in 2018. That’s up from 127 million a year earlier. Moreover, the proportion of sports bettors to the population is likely to increase. According to a 2019 Harris Poll, 46% of US adults are frequent or serious sports bettors, up from 35% in 2018.
In addition, we’re likely to see more and more people wager on sporting events. The global sports betting market was valued at US$16.9 billion in 2018 and is predicted to increase by 5% year-on-year to $18.9 billion by 2023.
These are definitely encouraging figures for the sports betting industry, especially when one considers that they came as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent worldwide lockdown. People had to find a way to entertain themselves during the prolonged lockdown, and sports betting emerged as the most popular activity.
Why Traditional Casinos Can’t Afford To Compete
The reasons behind traditional casinos’ inability to compete with online betting and the rise of mobile sports betting apps are numerous. To begin with, not all traditional casinos are created equal. Some are absolutely magnificent, offering world-class games, entertainment, and luxurious accommodations. Others are pretty poor, offering little more than slot machines and table games that anyone could play for free on their phone. So the key question is, how does a casino earn money?
The answer is they don’t. It’s a simple as that. Casinos don’t make money; people do. They bring their own money and expect the casino to reward them for their business. The business of a traditional casino is simply to take as much money as they can get, keep a close eye on how much is left, and then do their best to persuade people to spend more. The problem for traditional casinos is that they haven’t evolved with the times. They’ve clung on to their tried and tested ways of making money and the advent of online betting has presented them with a genuine threat to their very existence.
The Perfect Platform For Betting Sports
To begin with, none of the major online betting platforms allow you to place bets on traditional sports. For example, the NBA and the MLB allow betting with various online sports books, but none of them allow you to place bets on individual basketball or baseball games. That’s a restriction that the majority of the platforms’ users aren’t aware of, but it certainly exists.
What’s more, not all of them want to. The majority of the online betting platforms are operated by firms that also operate casinos, and they don’t want to risk giving up any of their customer base by taking on sportsbooks. In other words, if a customer on an online betting platform has visited a casino before, they’re likely to return and continue betting online, even if they visit another casino later in the day. The perfect platform for betting sports would be one that’s focused on casino customers and doesn’t offer any form of competition against traditional sportsbooks.
The Growth Of eSports Betting
Now let’s take a quick look at the growth of eSports betting. Think of eSports as the next step in evolution for traditional sports. It’s a way for fans to bet on their favorite games instead of simply following the outcomes, which is all you can do with traditional sports. For example, if you love football, you can either follow the score of the game or you can bet on which team will win.
The reason why eSports is popular is that it offers an alternative to people who don’t want to bet on traditional sports but still want to engage in some form of wagering. If you’ve ever tried placing bets on eSports, you’ll know that there’s a lot more involved than just picking the winner. You have to understand the rules and know how to place your bets. Moreover, you have to do all of this while watching gameplay and keeping up with the latest news stories. It can be a bit like being a sports commentator, but without all the boring parts.
To begin with, the scope of eSports is vast. There are hundreds of video games that people bet on, with thousands of different tournament standings that you can follow. You’ll never get bored of choosing which team to support.
The Rise Of Mobile Gaming
Let’s now take a look at the rise of mobile gaming. When people think of mobile gaming, they usually think of mobile phone games. However, the scope of mobile gaming extends far beyond mobile phone gaming. It includes tablet games, as well as PC and laptop games. In some cases, mobile gaming is even more convenient than playing on a console or a dedicated PC due to its mobile nature. Thus, if you want to play a game on the go, you’ll usually find that it’s best to download the mobile version.
The advantage of mobile gaming is that it’s accessible wherever you are. You don’t have to be in front of a console to play. You simply need to have access to the internet and a way to play. Moreover, you can play games on the go, even when you don’t have a stable WiFi connection or when you’re on the move. This is vital for people who love to travel. Being able to play a game on the move is also great for people with limited mobility, especially ones who rely on battery-operated wheelchairs, as it reduces the amount of times that they have to find a place to charge up their device.
The above points about mobile gaming highlight why it’s popular. People want to be able to play games on the go. Moreover, they want to be able to play them when and where they want. Lastly, they want to be able to engage in some form of gambling, whether it’s a quick game or a longer tournament. Some games charge you to play, some don’t, but most of them require you to have money deposited in your account before you can play. If you want to play on the go, most mobile gaming platforms are accessible without needing to pay upfront. Just make sure that you’re aware of the rules and understand how to use the platform.
The Future Of Sports Betting
To wrap up this article, let’s take a quick look at the future of sports betting. The above points are a small snapshot of the past year and a half and can give you a good indication of the direction that sports betting is taking. However, the future of sports betting is unpredictable, as we’ve never seen anything like it before. It would be a mistake to assume that what we’ve seen in the past will repeat itself. Sports betting is no longer a niche market. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry and it continues to grow at a remarkable pace.