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The Future of NFL Betting- How Technology is Revolutionising the Casino Experience
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The Future of NFL Betting- How Technology is Revolutionising the Casino Experience

May 2018 was a very historic month for sports betting in the US. This was when the Supreme Court ruled by a majority that individual states should be allowed to set their own sports betting laws.

Since then 38 have done so, with several others planning to in the near future. It has also led to the ailing brick and mortar casino sector seeing an opportunity to exploit several techniques already experienced by users of the casino online to attract and retain sports bettors.

 

While, globally, the sports betting world is dominated by soccer, the US sport that has truly cornered the market is NFL. In the six years since sports betting was legalized it’s estimated that 28% of adults in the US have placed a bet of some kind on the sport.

 

Most significantly, sports betting has great cross-generational appeal with many millennials and Gen Z participating.

 

Unlocking the new generations

 

This is significant for casinos as these are demographics that have proved to be fairly resistant to their attractions in the past. Perhaps this is because the casino has a fairly staid and traditional image.

 

For many, it will be one of middle-aged men in tuxedos and women in evening-wear playing games like roulette and blackjack in a formal environment.

 

In fact, it’s hard to imagine anywhere less likely to attract the under 50s in order to harness their considerable spending power.

 

But now, thanks to the NFL, the perfect opportunity has presented itself with many casinos starting to capitalise on this state of affairs.

 

Therefore, more and more are starting to incorporate sportsbooks into their offerings, alongside the more standard casino games, as well as providing the opportunity to watch NFL games live in dedicated areas of the premises.

 

Technology is key

 

Millennials and Gen Z have grown up in the digital world in which technology has been the driving force.

 

This is what they rely it on for everything from the way that they communicate to how they gain information and enjoy their leisure time.

 

So technology is key to attracting them to NFL betting in casinos.

 

One of the key thrills of betting on NFL is that it’s an exciting sport to watch, as well as being fairly unpredictable and full of surprises. And the closer that spectators can get to the action, the more intense the experience.

 

This ties in very neatly with the increasing use of virtual reality that is being trialled in a number of casinos online covering a wide range of games.

 

By offering players to watch NFL games via VR headsets the hope is to recreate the actual game experience more vividly than ever before within the casino environment.

 

New ways to pay

 

Another aspect of life that the much sought-after millennials and Gen Z are accustomed to is the use of cashless payment.

 

So casinos are now offering many other ways to pay including via digital wallets like Neteller, Skrill and PayPal. This, again, is something that has already been spearheaded by the online casino sector and has proved to be a big draw.

 

With cryptocurrency ownership especially prevalent amongst these age groups it may also be not too long before bitcoin starts to be widely accepted in casinos taking bets on NFL games.

 

Again, there are already a number of online cryptocurrency casinos and this form of payment makes more inroads as a legitimate form of payment across the board.

 

The social media connection

 

Another aspect of modern life that the most recent generations have had to learn to negotiate successfully is social media.

 

The NFL has already started to leverage this highly successfully in drawing in new, younger fans so it stands to reason that casinos are going to have to go down the same path.

 

It may be by sharing game result predictions on platforms like Instagram and X, or it may be by using viral videos on Tik Tok to show just how easy it is to come along to a brick and mortar casino and place bets on an NFL game.

 

There’s also the question of building up whole communities of NFL fans and influencers using WhatsApp groups and similar.

 

These are also generations that are used to manipulating data to make sense of the world. So the sharing of game and performance stats via socials could also prove to be very effective in generating betting activity.

 

So it’s undoubtedly true that betting on the NFL offers many opportunities for the casino sector to boost its income as well as drawing in a whole new demographic. Whether they can then also crossover to playing traditional casino games remains to be seen. Similarly, the technology used to attract them in the first place may well turn out to have broader applications than simply for NFL betting.