What makes the game so exciting? Is it the friends? The beer? The big screen? It’s usually the 10 bucks you’ve placed on your team winning. The world of sports is synonymous with betting, fantasy games and wagers. Americans spend over a whopping $100 Billion per year on NFL and college football each year, most of which takes place through unlawful sports books.
There are over 60 million Americans who play fantasy football every season, spending on average 9 hours a week fixating and discussing selections, stats, results and scores with colleagues and friends. And before you dismiss fantasy football as something the kids are into, our research indicates that 18% of these 60 million Americans are in fact adults.
Fantasy sports fans have to face a difficult dilemma between rooting for their home team as it is, or creating a new team filled with players from rival teams which help earn points – and in many cases, even cash. Where does our loyalty lie? When it comes to local teams, most fans are willing to trade points for loyalty.
This in itself has become an ever-growing industry. Institutions, consultants and professionals dedicate their lives to analyzing stats, reports and results to provide and create the perfect fantasy team, while charging people money to do this. There seems to be a science behind creating a winning team after all…
Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book-turned-movie, starring Brad Pitt, which is lightly based on the work of Billy Beane for the Oakland Athletics. In 2002, while guiding the coaches and scouts, Beane built a team purely based on statistical analysis (also known as sabermetrics) to reconsider the way we evaluate players forever.
There is a heightened sense of interest and commitment when there is more to gain than simply just bragging rights. We test the game to see if our winning streak lasts. There are many ways that people do this: some enjoy a day at the races while others opt to side with the new kid on the block to knock out the big hairy heavyweight in the first round, and help this happen with their cheers of motivation and encouragement.
We understand that the world of sports betting is an exciting one, much like the world of online gaming where you can play online slots at Royal Vegas Casino like Basketball Star and win endless rewards and bragging rights.
So next time there’s a big game and you invite the guys around for some beers, banter and betting, remember that you’re part of a bigger community than you may ever realize.
