The bettors are losing millions due to Coronavirus
The whole sports industry is affected by the lockdown, but the betting sector is the most prejudiced. I am not speaking only about the impossibility to place bets on the games, because there are no games at all, but as well about the long-term bets. They are called in many ways, anticipated bets, future bets and so on. These kinds of bets consist of anticipating who will win the league at the end of the season, who will enter in the Final 4, who will be the most improved player or the rookie of the year in the NBA etc.
At the beginning of a new season and also during the year, the bookmakers are offering the possibility to place your money on these future bets. To give you a real example: in September, I bet on FC Barcelona to win the Euroleague at odd 10. Then later, during the season I have bet as well on Maccabi Tel Aviv to win the Euroleague at the odd 71. After this, in a couple of weeks, the cashout on FC Barcelona doubled, so I could accept to retire twice the money invested. For Maccabi Tel Aviv, the bookmakers offered me 6 times the money invested, because the Israeli powerhouse was sharing the 4th spot with CSKA Moscow.
I had different future bets on many leagues. All of them very profitable, with an excellent cashout. What happened? The Coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of the leagues or to postpone the final games to a future date that will automatically cancel my bets. Let’s take the best scenario: if the Euroleague will continue, maybe they will play their games in June, July or even later. But the Final 4 was scheduled for the end of May, so the bookmakers will cancel all the anticipated bets, because of the delay. So, all the bettors will have the money blocked on the websites for months and then, in the end, they will receive only their initial stake. A tragedy that will mean for many of them missing the opportunity to make big cash.
Photo: Image by Kai Pilger from Pixabay
Gratian Cormos
