A recent study was conducted which estimated that the sports betting industry could bring the United States of America around $6.03 billion in annual revenue by 2023 if only 32 U.S states legalize sports betting – and that is just one country! One can only imagine how powerful the industry would be at a global level if more countries legalized sports betting.

Drone racing capturing attention worldwide

Recently, a rather unexpected racing event has began to capture the attention of sports betting fans worldwide due to the numbers being shown. People tend to have the idea that when a game has a steady betting market, that sport becomes legitimized to a certain degree and it is for this reason that the global market has started to turn their eyes towards drone racing and hoping for it to be more readily accepted.

In 2015 ESPN released an article which stated that “the sky is the limit” when it came to drone racing – backing their statement up with various figures and takes about what was previously considered to be a pseudo sport. In the Summer of 2016, ESPN then televised a drone racing event. It is likely that those in charge of major betting platforms turned their eyes to drone racing because it was streamed on live mainstream television in the first place. Around the time of ESPN bringing that initial attention to drone racing, the sport started to rake in major investments from companies such as RSE Ventures, which is run by Stephen Ross – the owner of Miami Dolphins – who pumped a staggering $1 million into the much-anticipated Drone Racing League. Since then, there have been several private investors and different companies who have input funds into the Drone Racing League.

A certain appeal

The article that ESPN released also discussed the appeal present with drone racing, discussing how it is a spectator activity unlike any other taking place. They went on to discuss the potential the sport has and various locations the races could take place. However, this wasn’t enough for those in charge of sportsbooks to jump into business just yet. They were waiting for a larger audience to tune in before making any further moves. Furthermore, they also wanted to figure the sport out a bit more and work out how the odds would be figured out.

Betfair opens the market

However, it seems as though the betting industry is almost ready to jump on board as we have seen Betfair opened the first official drone racing betting market. While drone racing is a niche that only a small market is currently betting on, it is a good beginning and as more people begin to tune into drone racing events – more and more sports betting companies will begin to follow in the steps of Betfair. In this case, it does seem as though the sky is the limit.

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