MMA And Sports Betting: A Match Made In Heaven — And Las Vegas

At UFC 235 last weekend in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, veteran welterweight fighter Robbie Lawler nearly pounded former Olympic wrestler and 2/1 favourite Ben Askren to a first-round TKO success. However Askren, making his first UFC look, managed to survive Lawler’s early onslaught of head and body shots, and about two minutes later, at 3:20 in the first round, finished the comeback, ending it with a bulldog choke.
Respected referee Herb Dean watched Lawler’s arm limp while he tried to extricate himself from the choke, causing Dean to halt the fight in what goes down as a entry win for Askren. While controversial and unfortunate for Lawler (and his backers), it was clear, and the popular Lawler immediately turned from aggrieved to praising Dean and expressing his understanding (transcript here.)
The NFL is the king of U.S sports gambling, but mixed martial arts offers something different, in some ways better and more intriguing, and indeed controversial occasionally, like each sport. Certain occasions, even to get a somewhat market game now in its very first year of a supply deal on ESPN platforms, can generate the betting handle seen in an excellent NFL game.
„Everyone understands a struggle”
Exposure to more mainstream audiences via ESPN and FOX Sports 1, through an earlier deal, proceeds to raise MMA’s profile. To get to this this point, UFC and other promotions such as Bellator have long embraced and understood the participation value of sports gambling.
„The UFC was on the forefront of sports wagering content,” Jason Simbal, vice president of risk management for CG Technology, informed Sports Handle. „They embraced it by including odds on the sites on telecasts. And the announcers will mention the gambling favorites during the conflicts. They also have their personal produced gaming show which airs before every pay-per-view on UFC Fight Pass, which helps.”
The PGA Tour, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League likewise have”evolved” since the Supreme Court struck down the 1992 national ban on full scale sports wagering outside Nevada. Each of the commissioners of these leagues currently tout the merits of increased involvement anyhow sports wagering, fabricate new monetization opportunities, and delight in the ones that have come.
However, while each of these leagues, especially MLB, seek to construct new sports gambling bridges using proprietary Statcast characters, as an example, there’s no learning curve to begin betting on mixed martial arts.
„I think it comes down to it being a fight. And what I mean by that is that when you are dealing with a lot of different sports, then you are handling a lot of variables, the nuances of football, baseball, basketball,” veteran MMA writer-reporter Damon Martin told Sports Manage. „And there is a guttural instinct in everyone when it comes down to it.

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