Sports betting has been around ever since people could compete in some way. Betting has been popular for about 2000 years, starting with the Greeks who would bet on different games, including the Olympics. The Romans began placing bets on gladiator games and became the first to legalise sports betting. The Greeks and Romans are credited with introducing sports betting into the world and spreading it wherever they went. Behind all bets are a payment method, cash and someone who takes the bets, known as a sportsbook. These payment methods have evolved from simple cash bets to complex cryptocurrency bets.
Understanding Sports Betting
Before looking at different payment methods used in sports betting, it is a good idea to understand how it works. The person making a bet looks at possible outcomes and the probability of them happening during an event. For example, they may think the likelihood of a team scoring more than two goals in a football game is high.
They then decide how much money they want to bet on those outcomes. A sports book or sports betting company takes those bets, with the player winning more than they put on if the event they bet on happens. The sports book is responsible for setting odds for different outcomes in an event, taking bets from players and paying out if the events the players bet on happen.
Sports Betting Using Cash
Although there have been other accepted payment options in the past, cash has been the primary form of placing bets in modern times. Betting using cash goes back to the 16th century when it was popularised by horse racing in the UK and the 19th century due to baseball in the USA.
In the UK, betting on horse races was limited to the aristocracy, where only people who owned horses were allowed place bets on the results of private races. Betting on horse racing started becoming more open during and after the reign of Charles II. As pub owners and stage innkeepers started promoting the sport, they saw an opportunity to make money by accepting bets, and thus they became sportsbooks.
In the United States, betting did not have such a straightforward start. There were accusations of players, coaches and team owners receiving cash to throw games and allow some people to make a lot of money on betting. Betting then became legal in Nevada in 1931, but you had to go to a casino to place bets.
Betting on different sports using cash and through bookmakers remained the only way to place bets until online betting became popular. The first betting site, Everygame, took the first online bet in 1996, and thus the online betting industry was born.
Credit and Debit Cards
Credit cards had been around for almost 50 years by the time online sports betting was taking off. Naturally, most people had them so when online platforms started taking bets, they made it possible to do so using debit cards and, to a smaller extent, credit cards. Today, all online betting platforms accept credit and debit cards as they are a familiar and easy-to-use option for most people.
Because betting companies need personal and banking information for players to place bets using their debit and credit cards, there was a huge need for privacy protection. Sadly, some earlier betting sites would steal their clients’ money or allow them to place bets and then not pay in case of wins.
Fortunately, this has changed as the government, betting commissions, card companies, and banks have tightened their security to stop this from happening. Credit and debit card betting has become much safer due to the protections that are now in place.
Online and Mobile Wallets
Online and mobile wallets took off in the early 2000s, with PayPal being the first platform to become popular. The main advantage of online and mobile wallets is that they do not give betting sites access to players’ banking information.
A player links their credit or debit card and, in some instances, their bank account to the mobile wallet and then provides the betting company with an email address. Betting companies allow and make it easier for players to place bets using numerous online wallets. For example, betting companies that allow depositing using PayPal have made the process easy for players.
Other popular mobile wallets include Skrill and Neteller. There are also the region and country-specific mobile wallets only available to players from those regions or countries. You can see all the options available when signing up for an account or from the payment section on a betting website.
Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is an alternative digital payment option where transactions are verified, and their records are maintained in a decentralised system. These digital currencies are created using encryption algorithms through mining. Many online sportsbooks accept cryptocurrency as a payment option, although some have opted out as the value of certain cryptocurrencies has decreased.
The main benefit of cryptocurrencies is that they allow players to bet anonymously. All a player has to do is provide the sportsbook with their cryptocurrency wallet address. Players can deposit cryptocurrencies into their betting accounts to place wagers on various events.
Many online platforms allow players to deposit and withdraw using cryptocurrency wallets, while some only allow depositing. For these, a player has to provide some way to deposit their winnings, such as a mobile wallet or bank account.
The Future of Sports Betting
Sports betting will continue to be around as long as there are events to bet on. The popularity of sports betting has increased as the internet has become more popular and accessible. Online betting means you no longer see many cash bets, although they still exist in places like Las Vegas. Here, players can find a sportsbook willing to take cash and provide a slip that a player can use to prove they placed a bet and to retrieve their winnings.
Sports betting payment options have evolved as betting has changed over the centuries. People now use either their online wallets or cards to place bets. There is also a sizable number of people placing bets using cryptocurrency.