Interesting

Like virtually every other industry, the legal US gambling industry is attempting to rebound from COVID-19. So far, the road to reopening has been a bumpy ride.

From the century-old Black Sox Scandal to Pete Rose and Tim Donaghy, the industry is littered with well-known sports gambling scandals.

A prominent talking point during the current Covid-19 crisis is how DraftKings – a company that is all about sports – has made such a success out of a flotation which came when there was almost no sport available.

As legal sports betting spreads across the country, a debate is raging over maintaining the integrity of sports.

Editor’s Note: The dearth of sports betting options has funneled bettors to faraway leagues and niche sports to get their sports betting fix. As a result, US bettors are getting a crash course not just on strategy but also on other pitfalls that lurk in unfamiliar territory.

With Coronavirus shutting down the majority of sports leagues and events, there’s a severe shortage of opportunities to bet.  But that doesn’t mean people have stopped gambling. And that’s led to a discussion on what it says about the people still betting, like bettors who forayed into table tennis betting and wagering on soccer matches…

Sports betting is the talk of the town, but it’s not the only online gambling product states are turning to as they look for new sources of revenue and attempt to modernize their gambling industries.

In 1966 Stephen Stills informed us, “There’s something happening here… but what it is ain’t exactly clear.”  The vagueness of the lyrics turned Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth into a timeless protest song that seems to speak to just about every issue of the last 55 years.

There may soon be little the legal US sports betting market feels it can learn from the European experience, but one of the few areas where it can still look for informed guesses about the future direction of the market is in the area of free-to-play games.

In a guest column, Corridor Consulting’s John Pappas provides a helpful reminder that the absence of legal online gambling doesn’t stop people from gambling online.