The early months of 2020 were a difficult time for sport, as a whole as uncertainty around the future of many events had been present until the middle to later months of the year. This is where a strategy had been formed to allow sporting events to return on a wider scale, but that isn’t to say that things were smooth running’s after that as further postponements and cancellations would occur right through until the end of the year.
This had placed a number of difficulties on the sports betting market, as the cancellations and postponements had many bookmakers worried about their own future as the uncertainty around when major sporting would return meant uncertainty on when they could open their doors again too.
Many did, however, continue to offer bonuses, such as the Australian-bonus.codes, which did help to continue traffic to the platforms. Whilst many bookmakers have adopted an online platform too, those still relying on brick and mortar stores would feel the squeeze a little tighter once events did return as it had become increasingly difficult to physically get people in their shops.
With the start of 2021 seemingly off to a similarly rocky start with countries such as the UK already putting lockdown measures in place, many may be feeling a little déjà vu as many of the same or very similar headlines from the previous year start to make their appearance again. As it stands, most major sporting events are still underway following their regular schedule, but some have already announced concerns for the future and whether or not that will stay true.
The biggest of the year will be with the Olympics which had been postponed and moved to later this year, but there have already been statements suggesting that there is a lot of uncertainty around whether or not the entire event will be able to go ahead, and although there’s some good news moving forward with vaccination efforts, it may not be enough in time to get things started off. Similarly, we’re seeing a number of elite-level athletes begin to test positive for the virus again, and small outbreaks like this have been the cause of cancelled games over the past nine months or so too.
The next few months will be the most important here – if sporting events do have to be placed on hold then sports betting as a whole will also come mostly to a standstill again, whilst there are some alternatives in other markets as the growth of esports betting has helped some and other online gambling alternatives were also used to replace sports betting are available, but still fall outside of the more traditional approach.
The good news is that there are many efforts being made to ensure elite level sporting events can continue, from approaches like the bubble made successful in the NBA, to ensuring player quarantines and strengthened approaches to safety – all whilst the same restrictions of no fans in attendance that will likely remain common throughout most of the year too.