FEATURE: SPORT SAVED SPORTS BETTING
SAME GAME, DIFFERENT ARENA
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Internet play saved sports betting during the Great Shutdown by David McKee
ports bettors gotta bet. Yes, even during a pandemic. The latter was one of the best things that could have happened for online sports betting, as quarantined punters placed wagers from the comfort of home. Nor has the pace slowed in the U.S. as casinos have opened, especially with four major leagues—the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League—all in play simultaneously, thanks to a hiatus in the seasons of all but the NFL (which did skip pre-season games in a concession to Covid-19). 22
“It came right as March Madness was going on. We were doing conference tournaments that were getting cancelled minute by minute, hour by hour,” Jessica Welman, PlayUSA.com analyst said of the cascade of closures. But, as time wore on, she and her colleagues found that, cooped up at home, people wanted some form of sporting entertainment. Even in April, with college basketball, the NBA, MLB and NHL all down for the count, sports betting managed to eke out $140 million (down from March’s $607.5 million). Sports book operators managed, through a mix of desperation and creativity, to create betting excitement around sports as sportsbettingoperator.com
