How Mobile Phones Transformed Sports Betting

It is one of the most successful industries of recent times. It is one that has been around for centuries, of course, but sports betting has definitely enjoyed a huge surge in popularity thanks to advances in technology. There are many ways to place sports bets these days but the recent spike can probably be put down to the way it has embraced mobile phone usage.

It could be argued that a number of factors came together at just the right time for the revolution in sports betting to occur. A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court effectively handed over the decision to allow sports betting to individual US states at precisely the time that technology was developing to allow potential customers to use their mobile phones to place bets. Now a customer can read the latest sports news, check the latest Bovada review to help with finding an online sportsbook, and then place his or her bet, all with one device. It is no surprise that mobile phones are behind the biggest betting trends.

In this article, we are going to look at how easy it is to place a bet using just a mobile phone – and why, for millions of customers across the world, it is the only way they back their sporting heroes.

Convenience is Key

There is no real mystery as to why sports bettors like to use their mobile phones to make their predictions. It is the same reason why we use these devices for just about everything these days. The convenience of simply opening up an app and instantly finding something of interest has made everything so easy.

Many of us spend our entire lives online these days and that does not always mean sitting behind a laptop. A good mobile phone has more capability than many of the computers from the past – and we can carry them wherever we go. Sports, and sports betting, have always been popular and now we have the power to place bets literally in the palms of our hands.

Betting App Rewards

The sports betting industry is one of the most successful because it knows how to attract new customers. The US may have only recently allowed more of its citizens to enjoy sports betting but there is still a finite number of people who are going to be able to spend money at sportsbooks. Competition in the industry is fierce.

When there are so many online sportsbooks to choose from, online betting operators need to be able to attract customers to their products. The odds are usually remarkably similar between different sportsbooks, so another angle must be introduced to get people to use your product. With betting apps, sportsbooks are able to offer incentives to potential customers and work on their loyalty. If you want to learn how to attract new business, research the way online betting firms do it.

Live Betting Boom

We mentioned earlier that the sports betting industry – in the US, at least – was fortunate to be growing just at the time that technology had made mobile phones central to our lives. But the good timing goes even further than that. Betting on events as they were taking place had been around for a while but mobile phones made live, or in-play, betting even easier.

Whereas the popular bet types in the past were largely moneyline and those associated with the final outcome of an event, now live betting allows customers to place bets on just about anything connected to a game, while the game is still being played. Mobile phones have made this so simple that live betting is, by far, the most common form of betting now.

Watch the Game

Studying the form or listening to tips has always been an important part of doing your research before betting. But that gathering of information has gone an extra step now with the opportunity to watch live sports on your mobile device. With every aspect of an event available to bet on, watching how that event unfolds can only better inform those wagers.

Although customers can obviously access this live streaming of events on any screen, we come back to that convenience factor as to why a mobile phone is perfect for the job. If you can easily access the sports action to find out what is going on, you can also then place the bet using the same device.

Inclusivity

Online betting firms are obviously mostly interested in growing their customer base. The best way to do that is to ensure that as many people as possible can access the sportsbook – and what is more accessible than a mobile phone? Almost everyone has one these days and that means almost everyone is a potential customer.

There used to be a time when people wanting to place a sports bet would have to travel to the place where that was possible – if it was even legal to do so in that location – and go through what might be an intimidating process for some. Now, customers just pick up their phone, find a betting market, and place a bet. Anyone – and everyone – can do that.

Figure 2 Live sports betting is the most popular form, largely because of mobile phones – Source: Unsplash

The Future of Mobile Betting

It seems as though the only limits on the growth in popularity of mobile sports betting will be the limitations of mobile phones themselves. If there is technology to be used to make things even easier, then the betting firms will look to use it. At this stage, betting and mobile phones just about go hand in hand.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of betting will be intrinsically linked with mobile phone usage. They have revolutionized the way people bet and sports betting itself – and this is probably only just the beginning.