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Try Out 3 Alternatives To Classic Sports Betting
 
 
 
The internet created something of a global revolution in gambling and sports betting, which had previously had a problematic history in many jurisdictions. As first online and later mobile casinos and betting sites became available, outlawing them simply created a black market that was almost impossible to police.

Many countries have since seen the wisdom of licensed, regulated online gaming, crowding out the dodgy operations by offering punters safe, legal sports and casino betting. Traditional sports aren’t always available, though: even when it’s the right season, anything from a players’ strike to a global pandemic can shut sports down, leaving betting enthusiasts at a loose end.

Here are three sports-adjacent betting options that you might consider as alternatives.

eSports

eSports are like video games, all grown up. They range from games that mimic actual sports, like FIFA, a console-controlled version of soccer, to more traditional video-game genres. These include first-person shooters like Call of Duty or Counter-Strike, multiplayer online battle arena titles like Smite and League of Legends, or real-time strategy games like StarCraft or Age of Empires.

In themselves, eSports are already a multibillion-dollar global industry; players on the top teams are accorded rock-star status and six-figure salaries, and tournaments attract massive fan followings and a good deal of betting. However, they convert seamlessly to online viewing and betting, and many fans of traditional sports began checking out eSports betting options as a result of 2020’s global shutdown.

Virtual Sports

eSports like FIFA still require input from a player, through the gaming console if not the feet. Virtual sports give you the experience of watching and betting on sports, but no input is required from the punter apart from placing the bet and starting the game. It’s as exciting as playing online betting, just in a whole new way. 

Virtual sports have a much wider selection of real-sports simulations currently than eSports do, although the latter is working hard to catch up. You’ll currently find virtual sports versions of horse racing, American football, motor racing, soccer, tennis, cycling and greyhound racing, among others, at online betting sites.

Although these contests, like slots, are decided not by skill but purely by random number-generating computer software, they have great graphics and animations that do a fine job of simulating actual sports play. Except they are much quicker than real games or races, which for many betting fans is another bonus.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Fantasy sports go back over 60 years. It’s a simple concept: punters chip in to a pool to enter, they all have the same imaginary budget to buy players for their fantasy team, and then the fantasy teams play out the season according to the statistics of the actual season generated by real-life players.

Online gaming sites can crunch the numbers fast enough for this to be a daily of weekly pursuit, rather than a betting game that takes an entire season, hence “Daily Fantasy Sports” or DFS.

Many betting aficionados are opting for innovative DFS versions in the absence of traditional sports: the major league baseball version, for instance, switched to running off statistics from the South Korean league when US baseball was suspended.
 

 
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