Sports Betting 101

Athleisurist,

This week, we're serving up a feast in sports betting, and you are the main course.

Love always, 

The Boys

Writers: Leanne & Candace 

Betting's Glow-Up

Once a hush-hush hobby, sports betting now dominates primetime. How did that happen? Thank the three horsemen - legalization, normalization and digitalization.

1. Legalization: 2018 Supreme Court decision flipped the switch, and now online sports betting is legal in 30 states

2. Normalization: The stigma is gone. Major leagues have swapped "betting? I don't know her" for "betting is my best friend."

3. Digitalization: Mobile apps have replaced back room bookies. According to the American Gaming Association, over 60% of sports bets are now placed on mobile devices. 

Sports Betting Tapas

If traditional sports betting was a set menu, today's landscape is a tapas bar – a smorgasbord catering to many tastes, and in our humble opinion, a nice little bellwether for the sports industry. Let's break it down:

1. Prop Bets: Appetizers

Prop bets are small, spicy, and impossibly addictive:

• "Will Taylor Swift attend the game?" is now as hot a bet as any player's performance.

• The color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach? 

According to a 2023 report by the American Gaming Association, prop bets now account for 30% of all Super Bowl bets.

• Player-Specific Props: The rise of player prop bets aligns with the increasing focus on individual players over teams. For example, bets on Patrick Mahomes' passing yards or LeBron James' points per game have become increasingly popular.

• Cross-Sport Props: Sportsbooks now often offer prop bets that cross over different sports or even combine sports with pop culture events. For example, "Which will be higher: Tom Brady's passing yards or the weekend box office revenue for the latest Marvel movie?”

• Live/In-Play Props: The growth of mobile betting has led to a surge in live prop betting, where odds change in real-time during a game. This has significantly increased engagement and betting volumes.

• Novelty Props: Especially for major events like the Super Bowl, novelty prop bets (like the color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach) have become a fun and popular way for casual bettors to engage.

• Beyond sport: Polymarket, which is a prediction market platform where users can bet on real-world event outcomes using cryptocurrencies, has exploded into mainstream attention, with over $318 million already wagered on the 2024 U.S. Presidential election outcome alone. It offers bets on literally everything from politics to pop culture. In sport the bets look like - Will Christian McCaffrey play Week 2? Or will Todd Boehly be removed as Chelsea Chairman?

2. Fantasy Sports: The Main Course

If prop bets are the appetizers, fantasy sports are the high carb main dish – satisfying, may come with regrets, but always best enjoyed with friends:

• Over 60 million people in North America played fantasy sports in 2022.

• Fantasy Sports are a $22 billion industry that's expanding with creative projects like fantasy.top — where fantasy sports meets social media creators.

• Permissionless fantasy is entering the frame. Projects no longer need official endorsements from leagues and teams to garner attention

• Women’s focused fantasy is here, check out the recently launched Women's Super League (UK women's premier soccer league), providing a unique fantasy experience, specifically tailored to fans of women's soccer. 

3. Parlays: The Dessert

Parlays are the betting world's answer to a chocolate lava cake – rich, complex, and if you're not careful, you might get burned. Certainly not for everyone, these multi-leg bets are for the thrill-seekers who find single bets too vanilla:

• Higher risk, higher reward: Get all parts of your parlay right, and you're looking at payouts that make your eyes water.

• According to DraftKings, parlay bets grew by 200% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Apparently, we all love a good adrenaline rush with our sports.

New Entrants

Social media is playing a huge role in attracting new bettors, especially women. 

• #BettingTok: The hashtag #SportsBetting has over 1.2 billion views on TikTok.

• Instagram Reels Revolution: FanDuel's Reels featuring women bettors saw engagement rates skyrocket by 150%.

• Twitter's Betting Spaces: 200% increase in women participating in sports betting Spaces since 2022.

Emerging tech: AI, blockchain, 5G, and AR/VR are all transforming the betting experience, making it more immersive, real time and data-driven than ever. There are a plethora of data points, all of which can now be wagered on. 

Women now make up 32% of sports bettors, up from 24% in 2019. The "Taylor Swift Effect" is real, with a 42% spike in new female sign-ups when she attends games.

The emerging majority of next gen sports fans who use technology as a new entry point for engaging with sports and are more interested in the cultural backdrop of sports as the games themselves.

The Tea (ofc to finish)

We see sports betting as the bellwether of the industry. They say "follow the money," and in sports, that money is increasingly flowing through betting channels. It's not just the volume of bets that's telling; it's where they're placed that signals a seismic shift in the sports landscape.

The focus is pivoting from teams and leagues to individual athletes and cultural moments. For 62% of TikTok users, watching major sporting events is about being part of cultural conversations rather than just following the sport. Prop bets on everything from player performances to celebrity appearances are surging, often overshadowing traditional game-outcome wagers.

This isn't a distraction from sports; it's an evolution and new top-of-funnel for the next generation of fans. Popular culture is elevating sports, reshaping how we engage with games, athletes, and the entire spectacle. Betting trends are the bat signal, clearly displaying where fan interest truly lies.

Welcome to the era of sports, where the next viral moment might be as valuable as the next championship. To find out where sports are headed next, just follow the money - and the memes.

We hope you enjoyed your meal. 

HOT LINKS

• Loserball: The launch of a new fantasy football game that has taken an opposite approach by allowing users to win based on losing. (Link)

• DubClub: Their $7.5m Series A raise to help amateur sports bettors win more is intriguing, as it speaks to the growing sophistication of casual bettors. (Link)

• RoboBot AI: The use of AI to redefine fantasy sports aligns with the trend of technology reshaping how fans engage with sports. (Link)

• Betr: Launch of "Group Mode" for its peer-to-peer Betr Picks product blurring lines between traditional sports betting and fantasy sports. (Link)

• PrizePicks: Their new free-to-play game in 13 states with a potential $1m prize shows how companies are using high-stakes promotions to attract users. (Link)