Wireless carriers are rapidly launching 5G networks across select cities in the United States, thereby offering much faster Internet services inside the professional basketball arenas and football stadiums, and making it extremely easy for fans to place in-game wagers.
Experts believe that this 5G wireless technology will significantly boost the rapidly growing sports betting market in the US. As you might know, mobile sports betting is now legal in New Jersey, District of Columbia and 11 other states of the US. In fact, if you stay in any of these places, and have been contemplating jumping onto the sports betting bandwagon, it is the perfect time to do that. For starters, you can learn the basics of sports betting at many reliable sources on the Internet, beginning with how betting odds work.
How it will help
The 5G technology will enable more number of mobile devices to stay connected to the Internet and reduce latency. As a result sports fans will be able to spend more time on their phones and feel more encouraged to place sports bets. Outside of the stadiums, this technology will enable fans to place mobile bets, while streaming the games live, simultaneously on their devices.
Although this can possibly be pulled off on a 4G network too, but if you’re on 5G, you can do it for sure and in a much smoother manner, without any interruptions.
Promise of new opportunities
Such confluence of mobile sports betting and 5G will open up multiple revenue opportunities for telecommunication companies, gambling firms and sports leagues. For instance, it can majorly enhance the fantasy sports leagues of today and encourage consumers to spend more money and time on the pertinent apps.
One of the well-known companies that are making new inroads into this arena is Verizon Communications, the owners of Yahoo! Sports. The decision-makers at all such organizations are of the opinion that the content of live sports and fantasy sports are complementary in nature. In fact, backing a certain player in a fantasy league makes it more likely for the punter to place in-game wagers on that specific player.
As per Verizon Media Group’s CEO, Guru Gowrappan, the faster 5G service will connect more number of sensors inside the stadiums and bring down the latency, which will translate into more number of in-game betting opportunities.
Conventional US sports can offer excellent in-game betting markets
In the United Kingdom, over 70% of all the mobile bets are placed after the start of the game and are in-play bets. However, the sports bets in the United States are focused mainly on the winners or losers of the contest. But if we look closely, since games like football and baseball are less free-flowing compared to soccer, they serve as an excellent opportunity to place in-game bets. Every kick-off, drive or at-bat results in an outcome which you can potentially wager money on. However, for in-play betting to really take off like it has happened in other countries, it’s very important to have high-speed connectivity and low latency, which is offered by 5G.