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The Sociability of Sports Betting
We can all identify with the vast rise in the use of social media that has taken place and the ways it has changed how we interact with others. Some of you may even remember some of the pre-Facebook offerings such as Friendster and MySpace, but the younger readers among you may well not.
What you will undoubtedly be aware of, is that social media affects just about everything in the world, so its impact on sports and in more recent times, on sports betting itself will come as no surprise to you.
Social Media And Sports Fans
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow sports bettors the functionality to interact easily with friends, fellow sports lovers, sportsbook providers and their favourite teams or players. How many of you avid fans will spend hours discussing potential outcomes for the weekend's football using social media? Of course, any subsequent bets you placed would be through another channel.
The (Relatively Recent) Past
Since the mid-2000s, there have been a few sites offering a level of peer-to-peer sports betting; a simple interaction where two people bet against each other on a specific sporting outcome. Other forms of gambling were sometimes available, but generally speaking, sports betting was their mainstay activity.
The Present
In recent years, things moved up a cog or two; enter the world of social sports betting sites. A few enterprising businessmen created more advanced interactive websites where sports fans could chat as well as place their bets. However, the majority of these were allied to a specific sportsbook, requiring the need to sign up for an account and to accept the odds on offer.
The Future
Now there is a whole new breed of social sports betting sites starting up. Their platforms are primarily built around the social interaction aspect and provide the usual tools for interaction, such as live chat. However, there is an increased level of competitiveness and bettor league tables.
On these sites, all activity is open, so you can observe what others are betting on and either follow their example if it looks good, or oppose it if you have a different viewpoint. The other significant difference is that bets can be placed directly from the site, without signing up to a third party and you are likely to get better odds too.
The Industry Take
While social sports betting has certainly provoked interest from the big names in the traditional industry, the general consensus seems to be that the social sites are “not a threat” to their customer base at this moment in time.
As we are sure you are aware, digital interaction is increasing daily. It is highly likely that as even better technology develops, social sports betting sites will grow in numbers over the next few years.
While social sports betting may appear to be the realm of the younger generation, along with the big sportsbook names, we shall be watching what transpires with interest.
Tracy started writing for us in early 2017 and is a crucial player within our team. She’s the editor of our Blog and regularly writes other articles. Tracy’s online gambling insights are born out of years of real-world experience as a Croupier overseeing table games.
