Both online gambling and sports betting are extremely lucrative businesses that are growing exponentially year on year. In 2022, the sports betting industry reported an 80.6% growth compared to previous year’s within the US market, which is to be expected given the introduction of seven new sportsbook markets since September 2021. Only several US states however have allowed sports betting – in which their citizens are also granted access to online betting – New York being the stand out as leading in the industry. Surprisingly, online casino gaming is less common in the US due to it only being legal in six regions. Examining the advantages and disadvantages of both online gambling and sports betting will enable us to determine which offers superior returns and odds.
Does betting or gambling offer a greater chance of winning?
Increasing one’s knowledge and making well-informed decisions enhances the likelihood of accurately predicting future events. However, in the realm of casino gaming, all outcomes are fundamentally random and therefore you are more at risk of a lesser chance of return.
Statistically speaking, gaming products incorporate underlying advantages that would seemingly favour ‘the house’ or owner entity; this is known as the house edge. The house edge is a mathematical benefit that a casino has long term over players. It works roughly as the average percentage the casino intends a player would lose on average and massively varies depending on the player’s ability, the game & rules. As this is the way casinos will make money, the object is to find a game with the lowest house edge to increase your chances of winning.
In sports betting, the degree of probability is usually more heavily weighted to one team or another due to statistics, previous performances and so on; therefore favorability can help increase your odds. Although it is worth noting that by betting on what would be considered the safer option as the feasibility of that outcome is more credible – the wager will be smaller and so will the return. Yet with this type of betting, sportsbooks will still permit bets against those on lesser odds, with the potential payout should this come to eventuality. If the so-called underdog does secure victory & you have bet on the safer gamble, the operator would then generate a small profit.
Which offers the most added value through bonuses?
Typically, free-play cash or additional free spins on the slots tends to be a more sizable return offered by online casinos vs anything available by internet sportsbooks. As established in the comparison mentioned above, due to the higher chances of predictability within anticipating sporting event outcomes, their bonuses fall short when comparing what gaming providers can contribute. With casinos, table games or slot machines are inherently random with no action being able to influence those results – therefore with probability being lower they are able to offer more for the player to continue playing, with the incentive they will also likely spend more in the longer term. Although it is worth mentioning that, despite the bonuses appearing to come at more value here; there is also generally a larger wagering requirement with these promotions whereby gamblers must wager their provided casino funds numerous times in order to fulfil these conditions. This adds a lot of additional time & is not always a possibility therefore it is crucial to review all the terms thoroughly before entering into any agreement.
In sports betting, promotions & additional advantages such as more funding is usually limited to events with a minimum winning coefficient of 1:3 and/or new customer offers as this ultimately leads to a better lifetime value without a lot of investment from the sportsbook themselves.
If knowledge is key, then could strategy be applied to both?
As with most things in life, there are no guarantees, this is especially true in any form of gambling, so relying on this as a profitable expedition would be foolish. There is no concrete strategy that will guarantee a win; however knowledge is power and could marginally increase your chances of a win.
Table casino games, such as blackjack and roulette, offer some degree of nearly even odds of winning with a 50/50 chance of one outcome or another. Understanding the progression of a game allows a bettor to make use of certain well known wagering systems, whereby bets are increased or decreased depending on the last outcome in a game, therefore expanding their likeliness of a success. With sports betting knowledge of statistics, previous performance, current circumstances or anything more relevant depending on the sport conclusively can help develop a reasonable strategic approach that could lead to an educated guess when placing bets.
If you were to play games like roulette, then you could take a look at some of the well-known strategies used by some people to try and make a profit. For example the Martingale strategy.
So when analysing which type of gambling delivers the greater chance of winning, you would be better placing your odds on sports gambling given it would likely return a better longer-term profit vs casino gaming.
