Expanding Landscape Of Emerging Sports Betting Markets

When images of sports betting come to mind, there’s a good chance you’re going to think about one of the most popular sports in the region where you live, something like football, soccer, basketball or baseball.

As the industry continues to boom, though, we’re seeing it expand at a rapid pace, whether that means legalization in new states or countries, or simply more sports that are offered to bet on. Here’s a look at the new battlefronts in the still-emerging industry, so that you can stay up to date on the world of sports betting.

IMAGE: PEXELS

Esports

For me, video games and esports are one of the most exciting emerging markets for sports bettors. That’s because of the simple volumes of games played, with dozens (if not hundreds, or even thousands) of ranked matches taking place in games like Madden or Call of Duty at any given time.

With the ranking system already in place, the framework is there for betting platforms to assign probabilities to a given outcome: if a CoD player is ranked No. 252 in the world, they’re less likely to win than a player ranked No. 76, for instance, and exact probabilities can be assigned from there.

In recent years, it has become evident that people are willing to wager on a wide array of events when provided with the opportunity, be it Australian horse racing or Lithuanian women’s basketball. However, the world of video games, already a familiar and captivating arena, is poised to attract millions of new customers to some of the best sports betting apps in the market.

Even better is the fact that the world of video games is always adapting. A new Call of Duty comes out practically every year, drawing renewed interest in the game, and that’s before you even take into account novel brands like Fortnite or Overwatch.

While everybody loves football, it’s been more than a century and we still haven’t seen “football 2” come out… the ever-changing market for video games means that there will always be a new hit ready to bring in more excited customers.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

That’s how the old adage goes, and we’ve started to see that happen with sports betting. The pastime was illegal in much of the United States from 1992 until 2018, but betting on horse races was one of the few activities that remained legal in that time, given its historical basis — and the fact that a horse isn’t going to be impacted by sports betting like a human football player would: horses aren’t going to throw games.

In the past few years, it’s remained a protected category, where people have to go to a retail betting location in order to place a wager, but that’s starting to change. Popular fantasy and sports betting platform DraftKings is debuting DK: Horse, a new app that focuses specifically on horse races.

It’s sort of funny that horse racing is the oldest sport that people have bet on consistently in the United States, dating back to the initial running of the Kentucky Derby and beyond, but that in 2023 it’s the hot new thing on the sports betting market.

Just like mom jeans, denim jackets, and bodysuits are back in style, making one feel like it’s 1983 again, so too is betting on the horse races being promoted as a brand new venture, making one feel like it’s 1883 again.

Diverse Offerings

Another big asset for sports betting is the wide number of outcomes one can place a wager on, even within already existing markets. A few years ago, you might have only been able to bet on the outcomes of NFL games and who would win the Super Bowl at the end of the year.

Now you can bet on what coach will be fired next, how many receiving yards a player will have each week and any number of other outcomes. As I said, people will bet on anything if they’re given the chance to do so, and the many different betting lines one sees when they open their favorite sports betting app make it that much easier for them to find something they’re interested in.