The current pandemic has caused significant disruptions to all the major sports events, which, in turn, has disturbed many global gambling markets.
Governments worldwide are attempting to slow the spread of the virus, not only among sports players but among fans as well. Some of the major sporting events like the NBA, Champions League, Europa League, and Premier League have all been cancelled.
In the U.K., Wimbledon and the British Open were also cancelled on April 1, 2020, and other shutdowns such as Formula 1 racing will affect the sports gambling industry.
This is going to be a devastating time for the Gaming Associations across the world. Recently CNBC reported that in the U.S. alone, the sports gambling industry would lose close to $43.5 billion in the coming months.
Stock prices for casinos and sports booking operators have also dropped worldwide.
Nevertheless, punters across the globe and sports betting companies are creatively finding other things to bet on, especially minor sports.
Developing new opportunities
Life without sports is unprecedented for many bettors who are now looking for minor sports and non-sport events that they would previously never have thought of. Some predict this will be a boon for the Online Gambling market if they’re able to take advantage of the new trend.
Besides betting on weather conditions or on reality shows on television and political events, where else can sporting fans turn to place their bets?
Sport betting enthusiasts, especially those who bet on March Madness, were disappointed when these popular events were cancelled in March.
Punters turned to some minor golf, football, and even darts events. Some games that are new to sports betters are the KHL Russian Hockey Leagues, and many have turned to the Turkish and Mexican Soccer League, sports arenas where they had never thought of venturing to before.
Many people are now kicking themselves for not taking the time sooner to learn a few things about minor sports events like Turkish basketball or football in some lesser-known countries like Chile.
Virtual betting on sports, including horse racing or greyhound racing, has been primarily used to keep punters interested in events when the real season is taking a break. However, it appears to have picked up at this time where there are few sporting events for them to bet on.
Another new concept that may gain traction in the coming days is game simulation of cancelled events. While it’s nothing new, some have turned their interest to simulated games of cancelled major sports events as a possible alternative to the real deal. Only time will tell if simulated sports will become attractive enough to bettors and gambling companies to consider as an appropriate substitution,.
Norwegian sports betting and online gambling
Sports plays a big role in Norwegian culture, especially winter sports and football. Trotting or harness racing is a popular form of horseracing in Norway. Harnessed to a two-wheeled cart, the horses must keep to a specific gait, and the drivers are forbidden from using whips.
Since casinos are banned in Norway, online sports betting companies are offering Norwegians many alternatives, and like sports gamblers elsewhere; they are migrating to other forms of gambling.
Looking to alleviate their boredom from the strict measures taken in Norway to prevent the spread of the virus, they have turned to online casinos and slot games.
But even with one of the highest gambling rates in Europe, Norwegians have fewer gambling options than other countries because of a highly regulated industry. Even though Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto provide gambling services, there are many companies that provide their online services from beyond the country’s borders, advertising their services through foreign channels.
Online gambling is extremely popular because due to some internal confusion, the gambling laws there are not specific enough.
Foreign sites offer Norwegian online gamblers an exciting array of games that are specially created to accommodate their interest in them. These games are in the Norwegian language, and players can make easy money transfers to their gaming accounts.
While casino portals such as norsknettcasino can’t advertise on TV, radio, or print media, they can be found through online search engines.
As the spread of the virus looks to have been successfully contained in Norway, they are set to be one of the first European countries to lift measures, but they remain uncertain on when world sports events will return to normal.
In the meantime, most Norwegians are set to continue finding unusual events to place their bets online, while also enjoying other online games.
