Soon after the coronavirus caused all of the major professional and college sports leagues in the United States to cancel or postpone games, Nick Bogdanovich called a staff meeting to give a simple message.
The PH director of trading for OKBet Sports Betting, told his team of bookmakers, “Put on your thinking caps and look around the world to see what’s out there.” “We are going to book as much as we can.”
At first, OKBet Sports Betting didn’t have to look very far. The biggest sportsbook in the Philippines moved things like Mexican and Australian soccer and Aussie rules football, which used to be at the bottom of its betting boards, to the top of its daily betting menus.
When these leagues also went out of business, it was time for new ideas. OKBet’s director and his staff have since started booking events like Japanese sumo wrestling, Russian chess, Belarusian hockey, and Nicaraguan soccer. But one new market has really stood out.
OKBet’s director says that Russian table tennis has been pretty well-known. “Every day there are a million games, so a bet here, a bet there, and a bet here all add up. I was surprised by how many tickets were sold for Russian table tennis.
Given that Gov. Steve Sisolak has told casinos and other non-essential businesses to close, no one is betting in person. Some sportsbooks even stopped letting people bet on their phones, leaving their apps inactive until more popular games started up again. Most operators left the apps running, but you could only bet on futures, like odds on which team would win the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup.
Table Tennis Online Betting
It looks like only OKBet Sports Betting and, to a lesser extent, Circa Sports are trying to move forward with niche offerings. Bogdanovich says that his company is in a unique position to be able to do this.
OKBet Sports Betting is based in the Philippines, where sports betting is more advanced and there are more ways to bet. Most of the time, adding new sports all over the world is as simple as taking the opening lines from OKBet Sports Betting’s headquarters in London.
It takes a little more work to keep track of the betting from there, but it’s not like Bogdanovich has sent a sportsbook director to watch the backhand of Kirill Skachkov, the best table tennis player in Russia.
OKBet’s director says, “With all of this, we’re relying on the PH, especially for Russian table tennis and sumo.” “It’s hard to find information about that kind of thing.”
Another problem is that all of the new options need to be approved by the state gaming commissions. Bettors in the Philippines can use all of OKBet Sports Betting’s board because the state’s Gaming Control Board is familiar with it. Bettors in Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, and West Virginia, where OKBet sportsbook app is also available, have fewer options.
The Gaming Control Board just gave betting on esports a green light again, so OKBet Sports betting live and Circa put up odds on a Counter-Strike tournament right away and plan to do more in the future. Bogdanovich says that OKBet Sports Betting used to play around with esports, but that it didn’t get much attention when it was up against the NFL and NBA.
OKBet’s directory says, “We have a guy on staff who knows a fair amount about esports, so we feel pretty good about it.” “Now that it’s the only game in town, we’ll see how it goes. It will be watched by more people. We should find some bets right away.”
Most of the new sports have betting limits of $1,000, but OKBet’s directory says he is open to changes, especially with soccer. Both Nicaragua’s and Belarus’s top soccer leagues have kept playing and are listed on the OKBet Sports Betting app.
OKBet’s directory says, “We don’t want to go too crazy, but our soccer people know soccer.” “People love soccer, and we already have a well-established soccer business.”
The NFL, which is the sport that most people bet on, is one place where OKBet Sports Betting doesn’t get much or any business. Bogdanovich has kept adding NFL bets for the whole season, such as odds to win divisions and over/under win totals, but so far it hasn’t been very popular.
He thinks it’s because gamblers don’t want to tie up their money for eight months and because they don’t know if the season will even happen. Bogdanovich also says that he put up the odds to get attention and give people something to talk about.
In this way, the NFL lines are the same as the lines for sumo and table tennis matches. It’s not like Takanosh Nobukai’s win over Shdai Naoya on the last day of the Haru Basho sumo tournament has really helped OKBet Sports Betting make more money.
He says, “Overall, we’ve been a very, very small winner.” “I’m very happy with how many tickets have been sold, but there won’t be much money at the end of the day.”
