COVID-19 is decimating the world’s population. The latest statistics, as quoted by the World Health Organization, show that there are more than 416 000 people infected with circa 18 500 deaths. And, these figures show that every country in the world has at least one infection. Because this is a new virus, no one living in the world has any form of immunity. Additionally, not much is known about the way COVID-19 mutates and spreads. And, there are no vaccines for it and won’t be for at least eighteen months.
What is accepted by researchers and specialists across the globe is that social distancing plays the most significant role in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Consequently, at least 20% of the world’s population is under varying states of lockdown from “shelter-in-place” orders to extreme lockdown where people are not allowed to leave their homes for a predefined time.
It is also pertinent to note that every single sporting event across the world has been postponed or canceled. Therefore, the question that begs is, how do sports betting pundits continue to gamble on sporting events?
Sports betting during the global shutdown
By way of answering this question, here are several points worth considering:
Online sports betting
Because the “social distancing” order bans people from gathering in groups of between two and ten people, it is not a good idea to go to the local brick-and-mortar bookmaker.
Fortunately, there is an alternative – online sports betting.
A caveat here is that, if you have not yet signed up with a sportsbook, it is vital to utilize a sports betting review site like 10cric mobile app to open a gambling account with a bona fide sports betting agency. Unfortunately, because of the openness of the World Wide Web, fraudulent sports betting companies can set up scam websites.
Fantasy sports
As noted at the outset of this article, every single one of the world’s sporting events has either been canceled or postponed. Thus, sports bettors cannot bet on any live sports matches or games.
Fortunately, it is possible to wager on fantasy or virtual sports games.
How?
Firstly, sportsbooks set up virtual sports leagues that copy existing sports league matches like the English Football League, the American National Football League (NFA), and the American Basketball League (NBA).
Secondly, the teams and players in the fantasy leagues are precisely the same as are in the live league. For example, the English Football Fantasy League includes virtual teams like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal. And, the live player’s on-pitch behavior such as how many goals scored, penalties awarded, yellow cards and red cards awarded, and whether a player is injured or not and for how long.
Thirdly and finally, the game time of fantasy sports matches is much shorter than their real-time equivalent. And, betting odds are calculated using a mathematical algorithm based on the teams involved in the match’s performance.
Final thoughts
While fantasy, or virtual, sports betting is not the same as wagering on a live game, it is all we have now. And sportsbooks are doing their best to make the fantasy games exciting and fun to wager on.