Like many of the United Kingdom’s national pastimes, sports betting has transformed in recent years from a weekend recreation to a full-blown extension of one’s personality.
The digitisation of the industry has dramatically reduced the process of having to physically leave your home and travel to your nearest betting shop with a bag of change to simply typing in your card details and pressing a button.
The easy accessibility of online betting is part of the wider implementation of technology into the sports viewing experience. It began with Opta, the data company that provides in-depth statistics to major broadcasters, newspapers and governing bodies alike.
Their analysis has changed the way in which sports are reported, where fans have more access than ever to how their favourite teams and players perform in certain matches. This has created an extra layer of engagement that can enhance a fan’s viewing experience, but it has also meant for more possibilities for the sports betting industry to grow.
This has created an extra layer of engagement that can enhance a fan’s viewing experience, but it has also meant for more possibilities for the sports betting industry to grow.
You can bet on results, goals, substitutions, cards – you name it, you can throw some money down on it. Any game, any league, any country. Sure, this can entice fans to watch games they wouldn’t normally, but the dark reality is that the descend into addiction is a slipperier slope than ever.
Of course, many players are responsible gamblers. However, I’ve heard one too many a story where addiction can grab hold of players as young as 18 and shaken them for every last penny they have. One standout anecdote was from a friend whose boyfriend used her personal details to create new accounts because he had been banned from every single betting app available in the UK.
It would be too redundant to place the responsibility solely on people who gamble. An average matchday sees stadiums decked out in betting sponsors, players adorning shirts with betting logos blazoned across them, casinos offering the cheapest drink deals in town, and prominent social media clips covered in gambling company graphics. You can’t crucify people for walking into an incredibly well-placed trap.
In terms of the entertainment factor, call me old-fashioned but I get enough enjoyment from simply watching the game. I’ve done enough pub quizzes to understand the thrill of winning a pot of money, but putting a couple of quid on a result makes me feel like a right jinx. I like reading about the statistics of a game, but they don’t always define what is actually happening on the pitch.
Sports betting to me should be what it was in days gone by: an occasion. Going to the races, playing a game of Bongo’s Bingo, throwing a few quid on the Oscars – actually having to get up and leave the house to do a something communally is what makes betting entertaining to me. Put down your phone, see your friends and lose all of your money together.