The rise of mobile technology, the widespread use of mobile apps and the endless possibilities offered by the internet are all factors making sports betting and gambling easier than they’ve ever been before. The information and communication technological advancements have made possible an entirely new betting experience for people, who now don’t need to get out of their comfort zone -both literally and figuratively – in order to place a wager on their favorite team or athlete. Punters can find all relevant information on existing online bookmakers at https://allbets.tv/. At the same time, the ease and convenience with which punters get to bet in order to support their favorites or even just in order to win money, makes betting so much linked and attached to the sport itself.
There are many people who now insist that betting and football are in fact really really close – so close, that they are interdependent to a great extent and mutually supportive and reinforcing. The world of betting (and the generic world of gambling) funds the world of football and the world of football enables the world of betting. In simple words: the betting industry finances football through club sponsorships, adverts and paid promotions and on its part, football as a sport, makes betting a viable and a feasible, plus a highly profitable industry. Without interest in football per se as a sport, football betting would not be attractive. On the other hand, a football club would continue to compete without the financial influx from betting and gambling companies, but their money, when sponsoring the team or when paying for ads, comes in handy, especially when transfers are taking place!
But it is not only this reciprocal relation that shows just how close the betting industry is to football. It is also a matter of fans’ and punters’ experience, being fundamentally mutually grown. An explicit link is being gradually, yet strongly and irreversibly developed between betting on football and watching football. You may have come across several adverts of betting companies that all so profoundly underline just how watching a football game becomes far more interesting and more exciting when it is accompanied by betting! A fan watches a match, yet the action does not only take place on the game – it also takes place on the fan’s mobile device!
Watching a football game is an exciting thing to do. Watching your favorite team playing a game with an all-time rival is more like a ritual – especially for die-hard fans! Watching your favorite team in a match and being able to share some of the ‘action’ by betting on several different outcomes and events of that match at the same time, is an absolute entertainment, excitement and satisfaction -always within the limits of responsible gambling and free from problem gambling.
So, from that perspective, betting and football are really close to each other, as they can offer complementary experiences to fans and punters. Or if we don’t want to be so absolute about it, they can reinforce experiences: betting reinforces the excitement of fans when watching a football game and watching the football game reinforces the exciting experience of punters when betting on the game.
The close link between the two can also be seen in the relationships that are underpinned by marketing and financial purposes. For betting companies and online gambling sites, being able to advertise through the football itself is in fact the ultimate expression of the associations between the industry and the sport. No one will argue that a betting company can take the most when it sponsors a football club or when it is able to have its brand shown on the board within the field, or when it is able to place its advert on the media that broadcast a football match. There is nowhere better to reach potential and prospective new customers than right in the center of all the action!
So, the gambling industry -and more precisely the betting industry – is in fact very close to the sport of football and as long as there are no negative implications of this kind of association, there is no concern. But we can all agree that there is a thin line that must not be crossed and that there should always be a clear distinction between betting on football and the football itself. They are not the same and they should never be treated as being equal. Watching sports and developing an interest in football matches does not mean that one is also keen on betting.