While every part of our lives has changed with the advance of technology, there are some areas which bear no resemblance to life even as recently as a decade ago. Smartphones are the biggest example of this, and they have had a huge impact on our lives. Instant and sustained connectivity has its pros and cons, but one sector which has arguably benefited from this is the online gambling sector.
Historically, sports betting used to only be possible at the venue of a sports event itself, where bets were taken in real-time, with odds being updated based on the action on the ground or pitch. While this is still how a lot of betting takes place in many sports, such as horse racing for example, people can now place a bet on any sporting event anywhere in the world, with just a few taps of their phone screens, or a few clicks on their computers.
70% of punters bet using their mobile phone
This is all down to the improvement in internet speeds, as well as the spread of cheap internet all over the world. It is estimated that over 70% of sports bettors do their betting from mobile phones, which is a stunning percentage and shows just how integral they have become to online sports betting.
Some of the biggest online sports betting providers were quick to recognize this shift, and adapted their offering so that they are also big in the mobile betting space today. The convenience of being able to place a bet from anywhere along with the simplicity of in-play betting from a phone are the main reasons why mobile sports betting is so popular.
Money transfers using phones are also quite simple, which has made it easier for people to load their accounts and transfer their winnings, with increasingly secure transactions making it easy to play sports betting without risking money.
The UK’s love for betting
Sports betting has long been one of the most popular activities in many parts of the world, with the United Kingdom perhaps being the country where betting, especially on sports, is part of the mainstream conversation. Advertisements promoting sports betting are regularly seen during sports broadcasts, and a number of sports teams, especially football teams in the UK, have betting companies as their primary sponsors.
Even if they do not have a betting firm on the front of their shirt, most of the Premier League teams do have a partnership with some betting company or the other, while there are also sports events which are sponsored by betting companies. All of this means that the UK is a fairly saturated market as far as sports betting is concerned, but there are a number of other countries and markets where there is a lot of growth potential.
US legalizes sports betting
There is another huge growth surge in the pipeline, as the United States has legalized sports betting. The US Supreme Court removed the ban on sports betting in 2018, and since then, individual states have been making their own laws to deal with sports betting. While this is happening on a state-by-state basis, there are some states where it is legal already, including Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
These states are the ones where full or partial forms of mobile sports betting are allowed, while other states have only allowed physical sports betting, at sports venues, and some have still not legalized sports betting at all. Nevertheless, the trend is quickly moving towards an increasing number of states where sports betting is legal, and there could soon come a time when the activity is legal across the USA. That will open up a huge market for sportsbook operators, as Americans are huge fans of sports, as well as of betting on sports, and the availability of this activity on mobile phones will only make it more popular.
