It should be pretty clear that betting on sports events is slowly merging with the broader culture of professional sports and the engagement around it. One of the biggest difference makers is the priority that each of us places when we engage in sports viewership. It also depends on the nature of that sport. Competitions with sparse events can generate a bigger viewership thanks to their exclusivity, while leagues with long annual tenures attract consistency.
The exclusivity-consistency balancing act also affects the betting atmosphere. Consistent competition brings attrition, which can derail bets made on year-end outcomes, while one-time events have a higher degree of volatility. Moreover, it’s easier to run out of betting money or even lose interest in a sport throughout a long competition year.
Given that such factors impact the viewership rate from a general behavioral standpoint, betting is, comparatively, a new dimension that is worth addressing. We will provide you with context, identify the reasons why these two intertwine, and talk about some of the side effects of this pairing.
A New Reason to Care About Sports Events
Yes, there are plenty of reasons already. Sports is an incredible community builder that also happens to be in the uppermost tier of entertainment options. It’s a morale booster, a creator of empathy, and a source of fascination. Seeing athletes perform superhuman traits and put their bodies on the line is something outright spectacular.
Some of us also enjoy the physicality, even violence with which these sports people do their best. Being able to access the most feral feelings, turn them motivation, and blend them with skill is something that is entirely human, thus fascinating. This has been the case for as long as organized sports has been around.
Betting on sports isn’t new in any sense. Chariot racing, Olympic disciplines, and even blood sports have been around since antiquity, maybe since prehistoric times. It’s very likely that gambling on them has been around since in some shape or form. However, gambling’s status from an ethical standpoint has been murky, to say the least, especially starting with the Middle Ages.
Once the contemporary era started bringing a modern way of thinking and a universal application of consumer-based capitalism, gambling re-entered the fray. Moreover, the rise of the internet has been just as integral. What we see today is a development that is simply changing the fabric of society, almost on a global scale.
Betting allows you to care about sports because it can generate money from successful bets, but it also gratifies your choices. It’s gotten to a point where having money on a team is almost as important as supporting it for a non-economic reason. The most fascinating scenario is if a bet on a rival team becomes the soundest decision for betting success. Another case in this family of potential decisions is the one that sees supporting athletes from rival teams for fantasy team management reasons.
Betting also invites objective decision-making when picking a potential victor. In the case of fighting, it takes a keen, trained eye and a clear mind to pick the better fighter, especially when that fighter is not your favourite.
In-Play (Live) Betting and Engagement Boosting
Live betting is a testament to how much technology has evolved throughout the years. Supporting a network of bets made in real-time while an event unfolds is fascinating. Watching a slugfest of a fight that suddenly has a power jab destabilize the opponent invites instant bets since there is such an opportunity.
In professional fighting matches, such bets are extremely volatile because the story of a fight can end with one simple action. If there is a submission or KO situation, there is no mounting a comeback. It’s also extremely difficult to predict such a situation, which makes radical bets quite a shot in the dark.
However, live betting is very effective on a global scale. As the famous International Betting Integrity Association research piece showcased in 2024, almost 47% of that year’s bets were placed live. Moreover, it feels more and more like the rate of betting is incredibly important because it provides the necessary space for adjustment.
Gambling Advertising During Broadcasts (and its Effects)
Gambling advertisement is something that has created a whole new market as far as betting goes. It surpassed the range of television commercials or billboards quite a while ago. Nowadays, even casino promo codes are potent marketing tools that are essentially coupons.
Nowadays, you have podcast hosts promoting sportsbooks and fantasy sports apps. Professional athletes promote bookmaking digital platforms for sweet sponsorship money. How about the situation when you have teams and entire leagues associated with entire competitions? They present them as official partnerships, legitimizing the influx of gambling money and creating a precedent with quite a lot of ramifications
One of the most notorious acts of combatting gambling advertising, especially in sports, is in Spain. A 2020 Royal Decree prohibited all kinds of gambling advertisements, which had tremendous ramifications for the influencer money influx, sports clubs, and internet-based operators. However, in 2024, an overturn by the country’s Supreme Court annulled many of its articles. One of the few ones that stood out is the one that outlaws gambling advertising in sports.
It’s very easy to see why this kind of aggressive marketing can be detrimental to some of society’s most vulnerable segments. Minors and recovering addicts can easily see this aggressive advertising and suffer from its consequences. Relapse, gambling by minors, and a predisposition for gambling abuse are very real possibilities.
Where Does Problem Gambling Stand?
GambleAware said back in 2020 that 96% of its surveyed youth (the 11-24-year-old range) had seen some form of gambling advertising in the last month. They see a level of engagement that piques their interest, especially with real-time betting on the line.
There’s no wonder that the severity index for in-play bettors is more than double of those that do not engage in such betting. The rate of gambling-related issues is already a resonant problem that needs control ledgers, and betting concurrent with real-time sports viewership is serious to say the least.
As such, every awareness effort needs to start somewhere. We can only encourage you to play responsibly and take care of yourself if you’re a betting person who likes to dabble in some live wagering during a fight!