The Coronavirus pandemic changed the lives of Americans, and pretty much everyone else around the world. And as in every other aspect that was affected by COVID-19, professional sports and everything that has to do with the sports industry, including sports betting, suffered a major setback with leagues being shut down. Players, staff and fans sit at home with competitions being held, no games played and not even televised sports events to follow.

The shutdown of major sports leagues is of course taking its toll on all markets and businesses that rely on sports, including broadcasting rights, ticket sales and of course sports betting. This, resulting in a massive loss of revenues to the leagues themselves and the community and economy at large. However there are also many that are looking at these difficult times as an opportunity to innovate and prepare for what the future holds.

Sports will return to our lives sooner or later, however things may look very different once leagues resume play. There are already talks in many of America’s major sports leagues on how to go back to business, and many of these plans involve a shorter season and playing at empty stadiums at initial stages. But what’s going to happen with sports-betting? And how is the sportsbook industry in the US and around the world going to resume activity when sports come back?

State Legislation

Since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) that banned sports betting anywhere outside of Nevada was deemed unconstitutional in May 2018, over 20 states have already signed legal bills that allow sports betting. Many others are in advanced stages of legislation and are expected to launch sports betting soon. Currently sports betting is legal in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Indiana, Delaware and beyond.

Safety, Security and Trust

As sportsbook operators are fully licenced and regulated by the state, gambling and sports-betting is no longer run by an offshore, illegal syndicates. So punters can go online, or install a legal sports-betting app on their mobile device, allowing them to enter details, deposit funs and place bets in safe and secure settings. Safety also extends to betting limits and problem-gambling support and policies, and of course there’s the trust factor, where players always know that they are always paid their winnings.

Online and Mobile Sports Betting

Online gambling is already seeing a huge growth, and it’s expected to grow even bigger. Social distancing is making more people turn to mobile sports-betting apps and online sports-betting websites. These are perfectly safe and legal, and allow punters to place bets from anywhere, at any time. So be it watching a game live at the stadium when it’s possible again, or at home in front of the TV, the next bet is as far as the mobile phone. This convenience is becoming a norm during these days of social distancing, and thus it will affect the way brick-and-mortar sportsbooks will return to operate as they did before the pandemic. Many sportsbooks will rely more on technology moving forward.

Big Brands Going Online and Mobile

The online and mobile revolution that sports-betting is undergoing these days in the US has also captured the attention of huge hospitality and gambling brands that we are synonymous with land-based casinos and hotels. And thus, beside the famous online sports-fantasy brands like FanDual and DraftKings which offer legal sportsbook mobile apps and websites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and many other states; there are also sports-betting apps powered by Caesars, MGM, Borgata, Mohegan Sun, Hard Rock and other big entertainment giants.

Esports may be a nascent industry, but it’s growing incredibly fast. More and more games are popping up with esports contingents; from hero shooters like Overwatch and Apex Legends to battle royale contenders like Call of Duty: Warzone and MOBAs like League of Legends, esports is huge, and now’s the time to start taking an interest. We think that esports is going to dominate the landscape of sport in the future, perhaps even taking over traditional sport in terms of fan interest and dedication. Here are just some of the reasons for that.

Esports is more accessible

Unfortunately, many sports simply aren’t set up to accommodate those with different physical needs. While there are some very admirable initiatives in the world of sport to help folks get out and try playing, the world of sport at large is yet to adopt many of these initiatives, which can make traditional sport feel off-putting for a lot of people. That’s where esports come in. All you need to play esports is a keyboard, a mouse, and a PC. This opens up the discipline massively to more people and means that esports is significantly more accessible than many of its more physical counterparts.

The esports betting industry is growing

There are simply hundreds of esports betting sites out there that can provide great odds and a chance to win real cash by betting on your favourite esport. While the traditional sports betting industry is of course still completely operational and doing a roaring trade, the esports betting industry is growing exponentially, just as the actual discipline of esports is. The more events created by organisers and attended by fans, the more chances there are for you to place bets and win some money. Everyone's a winner when it comes to esports betting.

Esports fans are spoiled for choice

The amount of games vying for your attention as an esports fan is simply staggering. As we mentioned earlier, MOBAs, battle royale games, and first-person hero shooters are all incredibly popular titles, but there are also classic sports sims like FIFA and even racing games like Forza or Gran Turismo aiming for esports top spots. No matter what kind of game you’re into, you’ll be able to find an esports event that caters to your tastes, so you’ll never get tired of esports. Almost every genre is represented at competition standard; even single-player games can become esports titles.

The world of esports moves very fast

A game that’s massively popular in the world of esports today can become yesterday’s news extremely quickly. As a result, the esports industry is very fast-moving. If you like to keep track of lots of different games and your attention span doesn’t necessarily accommodate learning one game massively in-depth, then esports is absolutely for you. Unlike traditional sport, esports fluctuates; the hot new game could be a first-person shooter today, a MOBA tomorrow, and a sports sim next week. That’s why esports is perfect for you if you like to move with trends.

The most effective tactic often changes within games

Even if a game is a perennial esports favourite – League of Legends, for example – the most effective tactic available (or “meta”) shifts regularly. That means that even if you’ve learned the basic rules of a game, the actual way in which professionals are playing it can be different from moment to moment. There was a time during League of Legends’ Season 8 when changes Riot made to the game meant the ADC role was completely dead. In its place arose new champions with completely different strategies and play styles. This can happen frequently in the world of esports, but not trad sports.

Right now, you can watch esports for free

The world of esports is nowhere near as riddled with pay-per-view events and paywalls as the world of traditional sport. There’s no corporate monopoly on the vast majority of esports events; while physical attendance is, of course, going to cost you, watching events on Twitch is easy and won’t set you back a single penny (in most cases). This means that not only is esports more accessible from the perspective of those with different requirements, it’s also more accessible to those who may not quite have the income to subscribe to expensive pay-per-view TV or on-demand services.

Esports teams break down boundaries

While many esports teams are represented in terms of nations, a lot of them bring together people from various walks of life, be that gender, race, or sexuality. While there certainly is prejudice in esports, for the most part, the kind of tribalism and social comparison engaged in by some traditional sports fans is largely absent from esports. There’s a lot of work to do in order to make the industry a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone, but we’re already a lot further along in this when it comes to the world of esports than we are for traditional sports.

Anyone can, in theory, become a pro

Becoming a professional sports star is very difficult indeed. You need to hone your body to be razor-sharp, and even then, you’re not necessarily guaranteed a place on a professional athletic team. Of course, that’s also true of esports, but it’s much easier to become a professional. The avenues for making your way to the pro sphere in esports are, for the most part, visible and accessible to everyone. Esports will dominate the sport world because it’s open to everyone regardless of origin; it doesn’t have the elitist, off-putting feel of a lot of traditional professional athletic disciplines.

Attention bookies, do you want to know what other bookies are looking for in a great online service? Look no further than right here because we have the answers. We have been bookies ourselves and to boot, we all started as gamblers. The bookie business is probably the one business, where the business owners understand their clients better than any other business in the world.

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We all started out doing exactly what our client does – gamble. You can empathize with the gambler; you know what they want, and you know what their patterns and behaviors are. What you may not understand is how other bookies think or what they are looking for. We know one thing; you are looking for the best way in which to make a great income. You want quick, and you want it easy. The rule of thumb when opening any new business is that you probably won’t see much profit in the first couple of years. This is not true in the gambling business. It’s the complete opposite. You will see a profit immediately. In the gambling business, results are instantaneous. Now is the time to take advantage of the many gamblers at home that want a great online casino to gamble in. Open it and it’s guaranteed they will come.

· Bookies are looking for an easy way to retain clients. There is a reason beyond the obvious for this. As a bookie, you have more than a few daily concerns, but your number one concern is to keep your clients off the hook. You must have them coming back for more and in today’s market, this is not an easy task. You may have the idea that your clients are loyal to you, think again, they are not. You must keep one thing in mind, your clients want to gamble at all hours of the day and night. How do you accept a wager from your client? They either text or call you. Are you available at all hours? Likely, you are not. There is one easy way to be available to anybody that wants to gamble, at any time – a PPH.

· The PPH gives you an immediate online presence and you have to do nothing other than integrate your clients. The PPH builds your sportsbook, casino, and racebook. You are charged nothing for this service and right now, during the CV-19 shutdown, you will not be charged the PPH fee. You have the best of both worlds, now you can set up your online bookmaking account for free and not get charged a dime.

· There may not be many sporting events to bet on at this time, however, this doesn’t mean that players are not playing in the casino. The players have doubled down in the casino and we all know the casino is where the money is. The casino is your guaranteed cash cow and you will earn huge profits. You MUST take full advantage of this unique opportunity.

· With a PPH you will get a turnkey operation that’s set up totally by the use of a bookie software program. The software is operated by an app on your desktop or mobile device. The software is easy to run, and you do nothing. What you have in front of you now are the tools to follow your players and read reports. You can budget your players, limit them and know exactly where every dollar is going. No longer will you be guessing about your financials.

No matter what you want to do as a bookie, the PPH offers you support. No longer will you have to set the daily odds or the events or make sure that bet slips are graded and adjust client accounts. This will all be done for you. Once the sporting world opens back up, you will love the smoothness and the flow. You will love the freedom. Call the PPH and ask them for a free trial. Tell them what you want to accomplish, and they will work with you. They will not charge you one penny to build a great website and you will be on your way to financial freedom in 2020.