Is Online Sports Betting Reaching an End?
July 10, 2007
The offshore industry has been operating since the early 90s, yet it seems every week people wonder if these are the last days we will all be able to bet on football outside of Nevada. What needs to be understood though is this industry is always dynamic and changing. Don't mistake change for doom.
My personal experience with the offshore industry began in 1995. Back then I accessed the internet through Prodigy or AOL. The idea of placing a bet online was still a pipe dream which would take years to realize. New betting options emerged as Dial A Bet and Rich's Sportsbook, among others, began offering account betting over the phone.
It seemed like the greatest idea since sliced bread, having phone operations by 800 number, but originating from outside the U.S. The neighborhood bookie gone global, what wasn't there to like? Finally a real Las Vegas-style option was available in an era when the big hitters bet through Nevada phone accounts at the Mirage, Binions, the Stardust, and the Sands.
Fast forward to 2007. Binions seems headed on a death march towards oblivion. The Stardust and Sands were imploded. The Mirage offers lousy "vanilla" numbers mirroring offerings at about a half dozen other casinos. If you told the sharps around the Mirage back then in about a decade's time they would be betting into the same numbers found at the Excalibur at far lower limits they would have crapped their pants.
The situation continually changes when it comes to sports betting. The early 90s were the halcyon years of sports betting in Nevada. No one imagined competition emerging to what Las Vegas offered. The only concern was Congress might impinge on the sovereignty of Nevada and ban sports betting, a concern which thankfully is sidelined for now. Back then people could bet up to house limits without a concern. Now sharps are banned or given $200 betting limits by gaming companies making hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Large changes hit the offshore world as well. Dial A Bet and Rich's both shut down in less than a couple of years, victims of old fashioned bookmaker greed. In their place thankfully were more customer service oriented operations, ones who embraced the internet and made it easy to get your bets down and to do your banking transactions in an instant.
Sadly that phase has ended with some of the pioneers of online betting like NASA/Betonsports out of business and the beloved Pinnacle Sports unable to serve its previous core American market. Operational methods have been forced to change again. New technologies are emerging rapidly which will change the way we place our bets and how laws against betting are enacted and enforced.
The new state of the art operations are just getting started now and we won't realize they are the future until they ascend to the top. Pinnacle seemed a novelty at first. Lots of people thought no way could a book make it charging half the standard juice and not taking bets by phone. By the time it was accepted as the way of the future Pinnacle had already taken a large share of the market.
We can certainly all speculate on what happens next, but history shows few have made prescient predictions in the past. Some might be able to say what will happen in six months, but predictions for five years out will likely miss the mark.
This might be discomforting to some, but it is a process repeated across countless industries who make a living serving customers online. The industry will see different operators and tougher legal conditions to work under, but in all likelihood sports betting will still be available despite the wishes of those set on putting the industry out of business.
-- WildBill (EOG.com)
July 10, 2007
The offshore industry has been operating since the early 90s, yet it seems every week people wonder if these are the last days we will all be able to bet on football outside of Nevada. What needs to be understood though is this industry is always dynamic and changing. Don't mistake change for doom.
My personal experience with the offshore industry began in 1995. Back then I accessed the internet through Prodigy or AOL. The idea of placing a bet online was still a pipe dream which would take years to realize. New betting options emerged as Dial A Bet and Rich's Sportsbook, among others, began offering account betting over the phone.
It seemed like the greatest idea since sliced bread, having phone operations by 800 number, but originating from outside the U.S. The neighborhood bookie gone global, what wasn't there to like? Finally a real Las Vegas-style option was available in an era when the big hitters bet through Nevada phone accounts at the Mirage, Binions, the Stardust, and the Sands.
Fast forward to 2007. Binions seems headed on a death march towards oblivion. The Stardust and Sands were imploded. The Mirage offers lousy "vanilla" numbers mirroring offerings at about a half dozen other casinos. If you told the sharps around the Mirage back then in about a decade's time they would be betting into the same numbers found at the Excalibur at far lower limits they would have crapped their pants.
The situation continually changes when it comes to sports betting. The early 90s were the halcyon years of sports betting in Nevada. No one imagined competition emerging to what Las Vegas offered. The only concern was Congress might impinge on the sovereignty of Nevada and ban sports betting, a concern which thankfully is sidelined for now. Back then people could bet up to house limits without a concern. Now sharps are banned or given $200 betting limits by gaming companies making hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Large changes hit the offshore world as well. Dial A Bet and Rich's both shut down in less than a couple of years, victims of old fashioned bookmaker greed. In their place thankfully were more customer service oriented operations, ones who embraced the internet and made it easy to get your bets down and to do your banking transactions in an instant.
Sadly that phase has ended with some of the pioneers of online betting like NASA/Betonsports out of business and the beloved Pinnacle Sports unable to serve its previous core American market. Operational methods have been forced to change again. New technologies are emerging rapidly which will change the way we place our bets and how laws against betting are enacted and enforced.
The new state of the art operations are just getting started now and we won't realize they are the future until they ascend to the top. Pinnacle seemed a novelty at first. Lots of people thought no way could a book make it charging half the standard juice and not taking bets by phone. By the time it was accepted as the way of the future Pinnacle had already taken a large share of the market.
We can certainly all speculate on what happens next, but history shows few have made prescient predictions in the past. Some might be able to say what will happen in six months, but predictions for five years out will likely miss the mark.
This might be discomforting to some, but it is a process repeated across countless industries who make a living serving customers online. The industry will see different operators and tougher legal conditions to work under, but in all likelihood sports betting will still be available despite the wishes of those set on putting the industry out of business.
-- WildBill (EOG.com)
