For many betting has always seemed a bit of a science, an insider trade as those with the knowledge can be successful and newcomers can struggle with the many nuances – understanding the teams and their history of play, the many advantages one may have over another for a variety of reasons such as time of year, or homefield advantage, and being able to make an informed decision is a great benefit. Whilst using sports odds and the information at hand is prudent, it seems many punters are starting to change their approach from the typical odds as COVID-19 has become an important factor in sports betting.
Previously mentioned factors such as home field advantage are starting to be weighted less when considering a bet – if the stadium is empty of fans and all the noise and distraction they bring, home field advantage in this example no longer really exists. Similar has been seen in other disciplines such as combat sports, where some fighters may thrive off of a live crowd and all the excitement they bring, others may be a little more measured in this approach and would greatly benefit from the lack of the crowd distraction. It’s certainly an interesting angle for many to take, and then when looking at the layoff periods and the lack of pre-season or smaller training camps for a number of sporting events too, there’s a lot of information that deviates quite widely from the norm and has had quite a huge impact.
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The uncertainty has led others to try something a little different too for scratch the itch – with sports betting being largely unavailable at the start of the year through event cancellations and postponements and now the difficulty with accurately predicting results, some are turning to gambling alternatives – online casinos have certainly been the most popular option here as operators are registering new games on a regular basis as initiatives such as Gamstop have made participation for some difficult, many are highly praised such as this review of red lion and serve some punters as a great alternative.
It is all good news for the betting companies however as many have stated just how good this period could be – with the increasing viewership at home many suspect that sports betting as a whole will see a marked increase as fans hope to get involved in the game a little more if they’re unable to actually attend the events – Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US said “People are spending more time at home because of the virus. There is less to do. They are not going to concerts, they are not going to sporting events, they are not going to the movies. They are watching sports on TV and betting on them” showing a lot of confidence in the upcoming seasons particularly in US Sporting and suggesting that many of them could see record numbers being broken for these very same reasons – and it’s not too difficult to believe when similar had been true across Europe once football got back underway in June.
