Technology has changed everything in the lives of people on this planet. From our everyday routines and simple stuff like cooking and communicating to more advanced things like medicine and science, the role of technology has been conducive to creating a totally new world for all of us.
For sports betting the situation could not be different. We once had the betting shops and the good old bookmakers if we wanted to bet on a sports event. There weren't online sportsbooks, gambling sites or more specialized sites such as payid betting sites, simply because there was no internet! So, betting was done exclusively at physical, brick-and-mortar bookies. But these should satisfy the criterion of proximity, if we were to be able to access them. If we didn’t have a nearby shop then we would have to consume time and other resources to find a bookmaker.
Eliminating distance
Everything was much simpler in every other way, except the ease by which bettors could access their bookmakers. With the internet getting into our everyday lives, sports betting changed both as an activity and as an industry.
Bettors would no longer have to select a nearby physical betting shop in order to place their wagers and support their favorite team with the hope of getting some profit. They could simply do that by visiting a website and this eliminated the criterion of proximity all at once. So, betting became easier to access and quicker to process.
Promoting online bookmakers’ growth
The internet, as we said before, changed the betting industry as well. The traditional betting shops were replaced by more and more virtual shops, which would enable bettors to do everything online.
Since being on the internet was much easier for bookies than being able to cater to the needs of bettors all over the world through physical stores, the industry became more attractive.
And as betting was to become more widespread because of the internet and the ease by which bettors could access betting sites, more and more sportsbooks would emerge and go online.
A circle of things: the internet triggered more betting, more betting triggered more suppliers of betting markets -more bookmakers online that is, and more bookmakers online triggered again more betting activity.
Improving betting experience
Technology has done another very important thing in betting: it has led to significant improvements in the betting experience of sports bettors. How is that?
Well, with technology, bookmakers can deliver richer and more quality experiences to their customers. From providing a wide variety of betting markets, attractive bonuses and promotions and special events to enabling punters to place live bets and parlay bets, bookmakers have taken their offerings to a whole new level.
There are now more ways to bet, more markets to bet, more things to bet (just think of cryptos or skin betting in esports etc, which are becoming really popular lately) and more ‘places’ to bet. Everything is in that ‘more’ mode and it is technology that has made that possible.
Stimulating competition
Technology has also changed sports betting much in terms of what punters get in the end. With technology, AI, big data analytics and sophisticated systems, bookmakers are now able to set odds and prices that are very competitive and that are closer to the real chances of a sports event happening (or not).
Since bookmakers are now trying to attract customers, they engage in stiff competition with other sportsbooks and they continuously improve their odds-making, lines and prices. And this is done with the aid of technology of course.
In the end, those who get to enjoy the fruits of stiff competition are the bettors. It is the customers who will benefit from bookmakers competing with each other to deliver better services, better experiences, better markets, better prices and better odds.
Well, these are the ways in which -at least up to now - technology has changed sports betting. It is quite unknown what the future will be like, especially if we think that technological advancements are happening all the time and they are transforming everything that we have known until today. Maybe more changes are about to happen. Changes that we can’t even imagine right now. And certainly, sports betting will not be left outside these changes!