Sports Betting Beat - June 3, 2021
This is your sports betting industry news for Thursday June 3, 2021.
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Arizona
Arizona gamblers can place bets on sports at state-licensed websites and retail books starting Sept. 9.
The Gaming Department will regulate sportsbooks run by professional sports teams and tribes.
The department anticipates releasing draft rules on June 14, leaving more than two months to license sportsbooks.
The Phoenix Suns announced FanDuel Group will be the team's partner with a retail sportsbook in the arena planned for the 2021-22 NBA season.
The PGA Tour plans a sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale run by DraftKings Inc.
And the Arizona Diamondbacks are planning a sportsbook in the plaza next to Chase Field to be run by Caesars Entertainment.
By September, there may be additional books. The legislation allows for as many as 10 operated by sports franchises and 10 run by tribes.
Gamblers will have the ability to place bets on mobile devices without physically entering a sportsbook to register or place wagers.
Colorado
Yahoo Sports Canada has a story on Colorado sports bettors infatuation with table tennis (otherwise known as pingpong).
In Colorado, $8.8 million was bet on table tennis in March, more than double what was bet on MMA. Back in January, the figure was $11.8 million, more than was bet on college football bowl games that month and more than was bet on the NHL. Colorado is home to the Avalanche, the current Stanley Cup favorite.
Long after sports returned from a COVID-19 hiatus, table tennis continued to be a weird phenomenon in Colorado. It was the fourth-most bet sport in the state in January, sixth in February and March and back to fourth in April.
"I'm probably as shocked as the rest of the gambling community," said Jason Scott, vice president of trading at BetMGM. "Once sports came back, I thought it would disappear off the map. It's crazy."
Table tennis was one of the few things to bet on during the early onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and this happened in conjunction with sports betting becoming legalized in Colorado.
That first month in Colorado, $6.6 million was bet on table tennis. MMA was the second-most popular sport among bettors at $1.7 million.
Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports Canada writes:
The one thing table tennis had that was unique in sports was its pace. Matches start about every 15 minutes, and there are a ton of them every day. Lines change fast, so there are plenty of chances to bet on a big underdog. In-game betting lines move so fast it can be hard to get wagers in before the odds change again. Matches don't take long and if you want to speed it up, you can bet on sets. Because of the time difference to Russia it was happening during the morning, and what else was going to fill the time during a pandemic?
The fact that nobody knew anything about table tennis actually became part of the draw. With the wild odds shifts and nobody really knowing what's going on, bettors found that table tennis underdogs were cashing more often than big underdogs do in other sports. Instead of studying lines and teams, you just bet.
"You play the slots, it's purely a game of chance," said Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, who writes for Denver Westword. "Sports betting can be a game of skill to a point. With table tennis, you can play it like you're rolling the dice or pulling a slot lever. You're betting on some random Russian dude."
And that's how table tennis became a big deal in Colorado, even though you wouldn't know it because hardly anyone talks about it.
He adds that wagering on table tennis is a bit like fight club. Nobody talks about it.
And despite the potential irregularities that could affect table tennis, sportsbooks in Colorado are yet to have lost any money on it.
Louisiana
Appropriations bill SB 142 passed the Senate on Wednesday. Meanwhile, regulatory bill SB 247 is scheduled for a third and final reading in the House on Thursday. Tax bill HB 697 is all the way through both chambers. Then all the sports betting measure needs is Gov. John Bel Edwards‘ signature. All three bills are to enact sports betting in Louisiana, which proponents hope to have up and running at some point during the upcoming NFL season. One of the obstacles standing in the way will be effectively preventing mobile bets from occurring in 14 parishes that voted against wagering on sports.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
