American auto racing company NASCAR has been focusing on sports betting for quite some time now and is preparing to put its plans into action starting with the Las Vegas Playoff race.
NASCAR is actively looking to collaborate with some of the local casinos in Las Vegas to have live in-race betting for those watching. This would be the very first time that bettors would be able to place bets during the actual race.
There would be a cap on the amount of in-race markets, with absolute winners and stage winners set to be among the markets that would be on offer. Currently, most sportsbooks just offer pre-race bets on who will be victorious, group props, futures, and head-to-head match-ups.
Live sports betting is tremendously popular as bettors can respond to the action as it progresses. Las Vegas won’t be the only place that the in-race betting markets would be on offer.
The Resorts World Catskills Casino sportsbook in New York, the Q Casino in Iowa, and the Pearl River Casino in Mississippi would all be providing bettors with access to these in-race markets.
Scott Warfield, who is the managing director of gaming at NASCAR, had this to say about this development, saying, “In-race betting in particular can be 70-75% of all bets placed.”
He also said that anything that makes fans pay attention to a race for a much longer period of time is going to be of great value to the organization and the sport itself. Warfield exclaimed that every lap would soon be a chance to place some wagers.
This is just the start of NASCAR’s in-race betting plans. It is concentrating on the 2020 season for a more comprehensive roll-out. This would see in-race markets such as the number of lead changes, number of passes in a race, and quickest lap times being launched.
The upcoming weekend in Las Vegas is the initial phase of the NASCAR project.
It was in May that NASCAR partnered with Genius Sports in what has been considered a crucial collaboration for the auto-racing sports events business.
Genius Sports collects and distributes exclusive in-race data and provides it to sportsbooks, which can then produce betting odds in-race based on this data.
The likes of the NFL and the PGA Tour have identical deals with other sports data partners.
NASCAR has been looking to utilize sports betting as a method to raise fan engagement and viewership numbers. As interest in the sport has been waning in the past few years, NASCAR’s goal is to try and penetrate new markets. Drivers and teams can now acquire gambling sponsors once they follow specific guidelines.
