No Negative COVID Effects on NFL Betting Action

Leading price per head sportsbook software company PayPerHead.com recently announced that the coronavirus pandemic had no adverse effects on the amount of revenue their agents have acquired since the start of the 2020 NFL Season. In doing so, the software company echoed statements from other sportsbook organizations.

In hindsight, sportsbooks should have expected muted effects from the coronavirus pandemic. Before the NFL season began, the American Gaming Association released a national survey of expected sports betting activity for the 2020 National Football League season.

The survey showed that an estimated 33.2 million adults living in the U.S., that’s 13% of the population, planned to wager on NFL games. 20% of those surveyed, around 6.6 million, said they were wagering in brick and mortar, physical sportsbooks.

8.6 million adults, 26%, said they’d make what the industry calls casual bets, wagers in pools, in fantasy contests, or by purchasing squares. Another 50% said they’d bet with friends, family members, or coworkers.

In 2019, 18% said they’d wager in a physical sportsbook. Among the three categories, brick and mortar establishments are the only ones that saw their expected football sports betting activity rise. Expectations for casual bets, fantasy contests, pools, and squares, was down from 31% in 2019. Last year, 53% said they’d wager with friends, family, or coworkers.

The category where expectations rose the most was NFL bets on online platforms. 34% said they’d make a bet through an online sports betting platform. That was up 5% from 2019. So far, the numbers have proven correct.

If anything, the pandemic has caused NFL wagering handle on sites like those that Payperhead.com agents run to increase. The company stated that the rise in betting across all sectors, sports, live dealers, digital casinos, and racebooks saw a bump this year.

Nate Johnson, PayPerHead’s Product Manager, said about the NFL bolstered betting action. “Once the National Football League said they’d start their season on time, our agents saw an influx of future bets on things like league MVP and the Super Bowl.”

Now over ten weeks into the season, agents have witnessed no drop-off in football betting action. “People are at home all the time. Although Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc., have a lot of content, there’s only so much sports bettors can take. As long as the NFL plays games and as long as those games are on television, players will bet on pro football, which means our agents will profit.”

SOURCE PayPerHead