Despite having no teams within the major four leagues in the USA, West Virginia became the fifth state to legalize sports betting back in August, and opened its very first online sportsbook just a few weeks ago.
The state joins the likes of New Jersey and Nevada who have already benefited hugely from online sports betting and could prove to be a real revelation throughout 2019.
Adults within the state can now bet on the likes of football, college football, baseball, basketball and more, and many of the teams within West Virginia could potentially benefit.
Sports betting is already bringing huge streams of revenue into those already operating sportsbooks with New Jersey seeing $238million worth of wagers coming via mobile or online.
While West Virginia won’t hit those numbers, it is expected that the public purse will be boosted significantly by online sports betting, with $2.45million of sports betting coming from tax in New Jersey.
That naturally could boost public services across Augusta and the state, while sports clubs themselves could also see improved finances via sponsorship.
There are huge opportunities for clubs and sports outside the four major leagues to emerge from the crowd, with it already making millions upon millions of dollars for teams across Europe in terms of shirt sponsorship. That’s already spreading into US sports with the NBA having agreed multiple betting partners and the NFL very open to the idea.
Which will only boost betting experiences for the fans. It’ll be easier than ever before in West Virginia to place a bet over the next year with football betting apps, basketball betting tips and baseball betting promotions all set to be a real hit in 2019.
Once the big leagues are involved, it’s undoubted that bookmakers will show interest in the lowers, just as they have in the likes of England and Italy.
In fact, in soccers second division in England, 17 of 24 teams have a shirt sponsor that is a sports betting company. That’s on top of the billboards and official betting partners many also have.
What that does is make these deals incredibly lucrative, and that could help the likes of college football dramatically, if they morally accept to do so. Which of course is the issue.
While sports betting is now legal in West Virginia, it’ll be interesting to see how it’s adopted over the next year. In terms of punters that’ll no doubt increase dramatically and become a huge success. For teams looking to earn through partnerships, just as the New Jersey Devils have done, it could be a slow burner as online gambling becomes to be more accepted. However, once it starts it could see leagues and teams become more popular than ever before.
Two more sportsbooks have recently emerged in West Virginia. That number will continue to rise and you can be sure to see revenue in the tens of millions, at least, come this time next year.
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AFP
