In recent years, the sports betting industry has witnessed astonishing financial growth. In 2020 the sports betting market was valued at 66.98 billion dollars and is expected to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1% until 2028.
As betting has become more accessible, the number of Americans wagering on sports has soared and in 2021, a record number of Americans were expected to place bets on the NFL season. The digital revolution has pulled sports betting into the 21st century and fuelled the demand with millions of people now able to bet using their cell phones, tablets and laptops to wager on their favourite sports whilst on the move.
Furthermore, the increase in sporting events has attracted a new generation of sportsbook users and new types of betting like parlay.
What has fuelled the expansion of the market in the US the most however is the recent moves to legalize sports betting in a majority of US states. Over the past couple of years a considerable number of US states have loosened their laws on sports betting.
Since the supreme court struck down a federal ban on sports betting in 2018, states have had the power to make their own decisions on the legality of sports betting. Fast forward to 2022 and we have 30 states with live, operational betting, 4 states with legal betting waiting to be operational and 8 states with active or pre-filed legislation.
As we move further into the 21st century, sports betting is continuously being improved for customers. The speed at which technology has improved means that as sports betting has moved online, it has never been easier to place a bet.
With every reputable online sportsbook now having its own app/website, you can simply sign-up in minutes and login in seconds and wager. Such competition however means that betting apps are constantly trying to find ways to entice new customers and keep their current users happy.
One of the best ways that online sportsbooks have been able to keep customers entertained is by introducing new ways of betting. As well as new competitions for fantasy sports and expanding the sports and leagues you can wager on, online sportsbooks like Draftkings have introduced the Same Game Parlay. But what is a same-game parlay exactly?
Well, it’s very simple. A same game parlay (SGP) is a single bet that combines multiple outcomes from the same game and is dependent on all of those outcomes winning. For example, in an NBA game, you could back the spread, the over and some player props of your choice for a single game, all combined into one bet for increased odds.
Any game that is eligible for these bets will have a +SGP logo next to it. On the Event tab or game page, toggle On for Same Game Parlay, pick your props and you are away. With Draftkings, you can use SGP on games in the NFL, NBA, MLB and a whole host of some of the biggest soccer leagues in the world.
Same Game Parlays are great for a number of reasons. To start with they are more exciting than single bets. Everyone has bet against the spread or the over before and sat on gameday watching the points slowly tick over, but with SGPs that experience is multiplied. With several selections in your bet every second of the action matters, gluing you to your seat as you wait on every shot from mid-range to mid-court.
You also fix yourself to earn more from smaller wagers. Whereas before you may look to wager, for example, $100 on a -100 line you would likely not need to bet anywhere near that number in an SGP for the same return.
As every selection accumulates to higher odds, it is likely that you would only need to wager $10-50 for that return on an SGP. Of course, this is mainly because SGPs are tougher to win than single bets but it also means you can spread your budget out across different games.
Another way betting has been made better for customers is the incorporation of welcome and loyalty bonuses. This is one of the main ways that sportsbooks entice new customers and keep their current ones. Offers of free bets, deposit and no deposit bonuses, risk free bets and bet and get promos both keep customers coming back for more and also encourage those without accounts to take advantage of the promotions.
In 2022, sports betting has never been easier, but it has also never been as competitive and it stands to get even more so. This is great news for bettors as it means the experience is going to constantly improve as sportsbooks fight for brand supremacy. While these are just some of the ways that sports betting has been improved for players, we can expect even more in the near future.
