Sports fans are getting a little loopy when they hear about sports betting and this is understandable. All new betting sites Australia has to offer today are mostly populated by people who have just discovered that they can actually bet on sports, and this is what we set out to explore here.
The reason behind the betting bonanza seems to go hand-in-hand with sports betting. What is making sports fans place a bet on the outcome of events, and is it actually a healthy attitude towards the activity? Let’s start with the why.
Why Sports Fans Bet on Sports
As some analysts put it, sports fans are particularly fond of watching sports. They triumph in their teams’ victories and commiserate with their defeats. The truth is that people love having what they describe as “skin in the game.”
In other words, if people know that they stand to gain something more than just bragging rights, they are very likely to be “triggered” in a sense and to back their sports betting.
Players love to see that their teams not just win – but also win them money in the process. Of course, sports betting is hardly about becoming rich, but many players love to know that they have a little more hanging on a particular game, and this is precisely what drives their interest.
Bragging Rights
If your team wins – it certainly feels good.
There are studies that some sports fans value a win so far better if they are with another team’s fans in the room so they can brag. This may sound bizarre, but the fact that you can show off to other people is an immediate boost when it comes to sports and sports betting.
Now, sports betting allows you to take those bragging rights a notch further.
If you win, you don’t only gain something minor in a financial sense – you can show off to your friends and demonstrate how your “prescience” made you win the bet. It feels good. In fact, there need not be any money exchanged at all.
For example, Americans tend to bet a lot with their friends – more so than they do with the best betting sites, as a matter of fact!
The same trend is seen in Australia, which means that sports betting truly isn’t about the money – it’s about the illusionary status that is conferred on the winner of a bet. It’s an interesting peek into sports fans’ psyches and what motivates them to actually place a wager and try to win it.
Some Players Love a Challenge
This is also true. Sports betting is not an easy thing to figure out – yes if you are one of the “squares” and bet just for “fun,” then you will not have to think long and hard about what bet to place next. You just go with your favorite team or something very similar.
However, there are some players who are genuinely interested in winning.
Those are the players that we call the “sharps.” Sharps are those players who will try their best to actually calculate the probability of some sports outcome. They are really in there for the money – or at least for winning more.
While sports betting is not a career, there are some players that have been known to make a decent bit of money, but they are increasingly rare as sportsbooks are getting more challenging for the “sharp” bettor.
While there is a degree of skill, it needs to be said that the majority of the outcomes will depend on luck and luck alone.