Technology has had a major impact on the sports world. It has changed how the games are played, the races run, and the battles fought. It has changed how we watch and interact with our favourite teams and athletes. And it has altered the way we gamble on the results.
The sports gambling business has been dragged into the 21st century and has, arguably, benefited more from the advancements in technology than any other industry.
Check out respected sportsbook reviews, and you’ll see the bookmakers of today are very different from the ones used by bettors just a generation before.
In this article, we pick out three ways technology has changed the sports betting industry forever and advise how you can benefit from these developments when making your predictions on football, horse racing, tennis and everything between.
1. Enjoy home comforts
In the past, if you wanted to place a bet on sports, you’d have to travel to your local land-based casino or sportsbook betting office. For some, this was no easy job as their local betting site could be miles away or even in another town.
When you arrived at the bookmaker, you would write down your bet and pass it to the cashier with the intended stake. You’d be forced to take the odds offered or, if you were hoping for better, travel to another bookie to see what they were trading.
Now you can gamble from the comfort of your own home using a desktop computer or mobile app. Register for an account with a legal and licensed online betting site and place bets at the touch of a button. Pay for your stakes by a debit account, e-wallet, or even cryptocurrencies, then receive your winnings by the same method. Betting is fast, convenient and much more accessible than it was previously.
2. Get the best deal
It’s always wise to get the most generous odds when placing bets on sports. When betting through land-based betting shops, this could take hours. You’d ask the odds of one bookie for a selection and write it down. It would then be a case of visiting all the betting sites around your town and getting the odds on the same pick.
When you had asked every bookie you could, it’s then time to go back and bet with the one with the biggest odds and hope they hadn’t changed their offer. That practice would seem prehistoric to those born into the online gambling age and a complete waste of time. Of course, they’d be correct on that.
You can now compare odds and get the best deal on every bet you place by visiting an online sports betting odds comparison site. There you can select a fixture, choose and market and compare odds across dozens of online bookies. The most generous quote will be in bold so you can bet with that bookmaker and know you have the standout deal.
3. Watch live sports
After placing your sports bets, you would return home and keep up to speed with the live scores on your TV or radio commentary. If you bet on horse racing and weren’t able to watch the race, you’d be left frantically refreshing a results page to check if your bet won, then cheering the result or suffering the sting of dropping cash.
Not now. Thanks to technology, you can watch horse racing, football and more sports through an HD quality live stream on your desktop or mobile app. Place your bets and cheer on your selections. The leading online sportsbooks offer customers a live streaming service which is often free if you have placed a bet on the outcome of an event.
Turn everyday situations into an opportunity to watch live sports and bet on live sports. Never again will you suffer the frustration of betting blind.
Time to get involved
If you have never placed a bet on sports or haven’t gambled online, it’s worth checking out what’s available. The changes modern technology has made to the industry is incredible.
Choose the online bookmaker you want to bet with, then register for an account. Many sites will even give you a free bet as a way of a welcome bonus.
