The Olympic rings were placed in front of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the French capital’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
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Sportsbooks and daily fantasy operators are preparing for the impact of the Summer Olympics.
The Paris Olympics are scheduled to begin on July 26 and will be the first games since legal gambling became widespread in the United States. Sports, football and tennis.
“For decades, the Olympics and gambling have watched each other from afar. This year we’ll see them come together,” said Max Bichsel, executive vice president of North America. gambling website groupis a digital marketing company targeting the global online gambling industry.
These Olympics come at a perfect time for sports betting, coming during the offseason for high-stakes leagues like the NFL and NBA. But whether they will have an impact on gambling operators remains to be seen.
The impact is likely to be smaller for giants FanDuel and DraftKings, which together account for about 80% of the U.S. online gambling market, compared with smaller players.
“If you want to look at a company like this from an annual perspective Draft king Jordan Bender, senior equity analyst at Citizens JMP, said, “Obviously, the impact is positive, but it won’t be as big as we thought, and a lot of the impact will be heavily dependent on ratings.”
Representatives of FanDuel, whose owners are flutter, said the Olympics likely won’t have much of an impact on sports betting. DraftKings did not respond to a request for comment.
Even so, the expected growth in Olympic betting highlights just how prosperous the market has become in recent years.
The growth of the gambling industry
Now in more than 30 states allow Some form of sports betting, many of which allow action and online betting, has increased significantly since the last Summer Olympics.
A few years before the Tokyo Olympics, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that paved the way for legal gambling across the United States. This year.
“Sports bettors are looking for something to bet on, and incremental events will help,” Bender said. “The hardcore gamblers, the people who bet every week on the NFL, the NBA, the NHL… this is still where the big money is made.”
Still, the Olympics likely won’t lead to a surge in betting on other U.S. sports.
Ratings for the U.S. Olympics have suffered in recent years, particularly due to the difficult time difference between Tokyo 2021 and Beijing 2022 (the site of the Winter Olympics) and the absence of fans during the pandemic.
U.S. bettors will also face time zone issues this year. While the Paris time zone (6 hours ahead of Eastern Time) is less difficult for Americans than Tokyo’s 13-hour time difference in 2021, the prime-time events will not be broadcast live this year.
Primetime replays will air on the NBC broadcast network, and the entire Olympics will be shown on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, marking the first time the Olympics will have a major live stream.
Sportsbooks will be keen to see if this access increases betting interest.
Get ready for the summer rush
Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, July 25, 2021 – Men’s Basketball Team USA vs. France at Saitama Super Arena.
Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Still, many in the industry believe the Olympics a chance Increase participation and betting during the typically off-season summer months.
The roughly two weeks of games in Paris are a boon to betting operators because they come during a typically quiet period for U.S. sports. Many leagues, including the NFL, NBA and NHL, are in the offseason.
Holding the Olympics in the summer could also reduce competition for spectators.
Brandon Friedman, vice president of operations for PrizePicks, said the company offers Olympic events in Tokyo and Beijing and understands that users prefer summer games.
“As a result, we are preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics to offer our members a wider range of services than ever before,” Friedman said.
The picturesque Paris backdrop, along with the ability for U.S. audiences to watch many of the games live during the day, is also expected to boost participation.
“Beach volleyball in the foreground of the Eiffel Tower and equestrian in the Gardens of Versailles will undoubtedly be the most spectacular venues in recent years,” Bixell said.
Summer Olympic sports also help. Many operators, including fan duel and rush street interactiveSportsbooks like BetRivers expect basketball, tennis and football to be the most bet on sports. He also noted that the recent popularity of women’s sports may carry over to the Olympics.
About half of the bets on FanDuel at the Tokyo Olympics were basketball bets. A representative for FanDuel said the company expects to continue to focus on basketball this year.
In addition, the patriotism that inspires Olympic fans will also factor into betting.
Tim Whitehead, head of sportsbook BetRivers, which is run by Rush Street, said: “Patriotism comes first at the Olympics and punters love to support their country’s heroes regardless of the event.”
This could also affect bets on other countries.
“In the United States, you see a melting pot of loyalties, people who not only support the United States but also have allegiance to the traditions of countries like Italy, South Korea, Croatia and Brazil,” Bixell said. “So, according to the state, And demographics, some sportsbooks will react differently to the Olympics and international competitions in general, and you might see an influx of betting volume if Eastern European countries or Italy, for example, are playing.
—CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this article.
Revealed: Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
