Many sports leagues and associations have already called off and postponed sporting events worldwide. The English Premier League, the NBA, the IPL, MLB, and NHL matches are now either cancelled or on hold to ensure everyone’s safety.
There still are sports events that will push through, however, in some parts of the world. Japan still has sumo wrestling matches, Australia has soccer or football matches that will still push through and other sports events in South America and Russia are also still not postponed and cancelled. These are probably the fixtures that you don’t usually see offered by online bookies but in times like this, you’d be glad to have them there.
Sportsbooks are utilizing their online platforms to be able to still be on business amidst the 2019 Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. The likes of William Hill, FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesars Palace are going online to offer their services. 10Cric also has its live betting odds app for iOS and Android users to utilize.
Many sports fans are usually active in the month of March as this is when many seasons of different leagues would start. However, March has been quite the month for the COVID-19. It was this month that the World Health Organization has started to raise the alarm and declared the threat of the virus as a pandemic that over 100 countries are trying to deal with.
Currently, there are already over 300,000 cases reported for this virus and the saddening number of around 4,000 deaths occurred. This may still continue to grow in the next few days, but governments all over the world are already working on trying to slow this down at least until a vaccine is publicly released for this.
This is why people are now forced and ordered to stay at home practically all over the world. Many countries have already banned public events for a few weeks and this includes the sports events that many are looking forward to seeing or watching live.
Sports fans and sports bettors are now trying to find different ways to entertain themselves as they remain at home and luckily, the internet is there with them.
It’s already established that there are still sportsbooks in operations online but the thing is that they themselves have to find more ways to stay on business. Aside from offering odds on sports that will still push through, they have found creative ways for people to keep on betting.
There are now online bookies that would allow you to wager on the weather. If you’re into entertainment, you can even place bets that concern TV shows like The Voice or American idols. Whether you’re into politics or not, there are some bookies out there that would also let you wager on the results of the elections.
Specifically, Bovada is taking bets on the maximum temperatures in various cities in the US. Surprisingly, people would actually place bets on this. Its site for weather betting would have around 10,000 visitors each week.
Site founder Joe Rowe spoke about this and said, “People are definitely looking to replace the hobby of sports gambling and we’re trying to be their solution. Even when major sports do return, we think we’ll still be standing because let’s face it, people are more likely to guess their local temperature correctly than a Browns football game coming this fall.”
Still, sports bettors shouldn’t be too sad about the lack of sports events. There still are matches that will push through. Some leagues found ways to do this without spectators and most definitely, these matches will be streamed.
Fans can still watch some of these matches from the comfort of their homes without risking their lives. If you just can’t get yourself into these sports that you’re not used to, you can shift your focus on e-sports, video games, or daily fantasy sports.
E-Sports is something that many bookies are also taking a look at in terms of betting opportunities. There is a possibility that some of the e-sports events scheduled in the next few weeks will be canceled, but it’s likely that these will still proceed and be purely based online instead.
While leagues like the NBA, EPL, IPL, MBL, and many others are taking their breaks, this is a great time for sports fans to take a look at other events that they can follow. Sports punters can just temporarily visit online casinos for now if they miss the thrill of gambling. For sure, today’s technology has something to help these people cope with the pandemic.