Deprived of Sports, Gamblers Wager Outside Their Home Turf

One side effect of the sports world being put on hold is that the betting industry is forced to find creative solutions as to retain at least a fraction of its usual revenue. And while sports bettors can always cast their keen eyes on countries such as Belarus, Nicaragua and Tajikistan, which are among the few countries carrying on with professional sports, many are willing to get creative when looking to place a wager.

According to a recent survey by Morning Consult, regular sports bettors are willing to bet on pretty much anything in the absence of professional sports. Amazingly, 41 percent would even put a wager on COVID-19 statistics, which many would consider to be in bad taste. As the following chart shows, gamblers would also be interested in betting money on political elections, the weather or current events, with the aforementioned foreign (and some would say exotic) sports leagues less fancied by regular sports bettors.

Interestingly, e-sports, a category many sports betting companies are embracing these days, doesn’t tickle the fancy of sports bettors. Only 28 percent of those respondents regularly betting on sports are interested in wagering on the digital sports world.