Impact of Coronavirus on Football Betting
2020 has been a year full of surprises. Although COVID-19 went viral in late 2019, it was the early 2020 when the disease got the stature of a pandemic. Since then, there is probably no industry which hasn’t been hit by this deadly virus. One of such industries is the sports industry.
For almost 3 months, majority of the top football leagues in the world faced an unusual break from action. Players were quarantined at home. Club hospitality centers were turned into Healthcare centers. Debt piled up on the stakeholders. But in early June 2020, as football returned, everything has been pretty back to normal.
Although finances and positions has had a direct impact on the footballing world, there has been one industry which has taken a major indirect hit due to football being suspended.
The last time official statistics had been taken regarding sports betting was back in 2013.
BBC reported that in that very year, the football betting industry alone was worth $700 Billion to $1 Trillion. So 7 years down the line today, it should surely be in the top 15 of the most gargantuan industries in the world.
Suspension of football meant that betters had simply nothing to be on. While for a majority of betters, the earnings from their gambles meant a livelihood. When footballing action slowly returned last month, it was a big sigh of relief. But the challenges haven’t ended yet.
Coronavirus has just made the betting industry more volatile, if it wasn’t already quite unpredictable in nature. Although a few of these factors would be short term in nature, the impacts could run into a very good part of the next season too. Today we take a look at some of the biggest challenges football betters could face due to the adverse impact of Coronavirus on the beautiful game.
Neutralization of the home advantage
The English Football Association announced way back in late May that the process of playing games behind closed doors could run into majority of the next season. All the major European leagues are expected to follow the same.
For almost a century now, the home support has been a big factor in football. In fact, the Kop stand at Liverpool’s home stadium Anfield is so vibrant on match-days, it is said that it attracts goals when the team is attacking the goal.
Well, it’s not all theory. Even the European football governing body, UEFA recognized this big factor in the last decade and made a few changes to their competition’s format. Now a team’s performances in the competition decide if they get to play at home in the second leg in elimination stages.
With matches being played without fans in the stadium, it is a very unusual thing for the players. Football pundits thought this to be a good omen as players would be able to concentrate better on-field. But performances for the last 1 month have reflected otherwise.
There is no home advantage in football anymore. Home advantage was a big factor when betters used to go all-in for a team. But these unusual circumstances have made it even more difficult to predict which team would be the winners or what will be the score line.
Impact on the fitness levels of players
Almost the entire world being quarantined at home meant that football players had to change their entire routines with respect to training and working out. In fact, many of them relied upon the club’s facilities to keep in shape and maintain the superhuman levels required to compete in this sport.
The first few games for all the clubs worldwide felt like pre-season games. Players were sloppy in their playing style, more substitutions were being made, and drinks breaks are being offered. This kills the momentum of the game. For teams like Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus and Tottenham, momentum in the game has been a huge factor in their narrow wins.
There are players and teams which were quite in-form before football was suspended in late February. These players have struggled to get back to their high levels after the resumption.
With all these factors directly impacting the results, the unpredictable nature of football betting has reached an all-time high.
Financial crisis for majority of the clubs
The halting of operations worldwide has led to a big revenue loss for the clubs worldwide. English club Watford had reported that a majority of their annual revenue comes from match-day programs. With 3 months of non-operating activity, debt has piled on.
While the smaller clubs are fighting for survival, the bigger clubs have directed their transfer budget and wage allocations towards day-to-day activity. This has led to a lot of power of the big-clubs mafia being neutralized.
Wage cuts for players will result in both non-retaining of quality players as well as not attracting better players to sign. This is going to have a drastic effect on how the hierarchy of the clubs is going to be from this point on.
As betting is highly reliant on statistics, past figures and a bit of an emotional drive towards a few teams — the financial impact of Coronavirus might just change the odds of teams in the betting market. This could result in a huge amount of money going down the drain.
A bitter-sweet advantage?
Although the Coronavirus has impacted the footballing world in a manner which has made betting all the more difficult, there is a big blessing in disguise here.
Due to the meteoric rise of online betting markets worldwide, betting has become a great source of income without a lot of capital investment. The biggest pro being that it can be done straight from the couch.
If the games are very accurately analyzed and backed by research, betting could become a huge builder of fortune in the coming few years when the entire world market is in jeopardy.
While the volatility and unpredictability have increased, it is a market which can be a real wealth machine if the odds are in favour and the prediction is spot on. It will be interesting to see though how the dynamics of football and betting change with the passing time in this ongoing as well as post-COVID era.