Since it was first legalized in Maryland in 2021, sports betting has become a highly lucrative industry in the state.
Just this past October, Maryland Lottery and Gaming announced that sports betting generated over $593 million. The reason for this success is two-fold. First, sports betting is highly accessible for locals. To date, several platforms and retail locations support this activity, making it easy for bettors to take part both physically and remotely. Second, most, if not all, sporting events can now be bet on, with many of them even overlapping in terms of active seasons. This allows interested parties to partake in multiple wagers across different sports.
Unsurprisingly, Major League Baseball (MLB) is among the most popular in sports betting. Not only because it boasts one of the longest seasons and has an impressive average audience of around four million but also because baseball sports betting has adopted cryptocurrency. Considered one of the most valuable financial diversifiers of the generation, crypto is a digital asset with a global market cap of over $3 trillion.
How does crypto sports betting work in MLB?
Before anything else, it’s important to understand what makes crypto sports betting different. Most notably, because cryptocurrencies are decentralized, they offer specific perks in terms of cost and speed. On the crypto sports betting platform Thunderpick, this is illustrated in the fact that bettors can enjoy fast, fee-free payments. At the same time, visitors can look forward to a welcome deposit bonus of 100%. By comparison, traditional sports betting transactions can take much longer and costlier because they have to pass through multiple middlemen, like banks and regulators. Additionally, crypto sports betting allows the use of various tokens. This includes options such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Tether. Through these, it’s easier for bettors to control their wallets in line with their own budgets and preferences.
When partaking in crypto sports betting for MLB, you can use the tokens mentioned above, along with a few others, to bet on numerous odds. Depending on the platform, you can also stake your bets on the American League (AL) and National League (NL). More often than not, because cryptocurrencies are managed digitally, most bets are also done remotely. If need be, MLB crypto sports bettors can also purchase their preferred crypto token online using deposits from credit cards like Apple Pay, Visa, Mastercard, and more. As mentioned earlier, withdrawals and winnings can be processed securely and swiftly with crypto since transactions are more straightforward.
In what ways can you bet using crypto?
There are numerous betting lines in MLB that you can take advantage of with crypto. For instance, one of the most basic ways to do so is through moneylines. This kind of bet is simply based on predicting who will win a certain match. There are no spreads involved here, so it’s ideal for those who want to bet on something less complicated or if they’re new to sports betting. Trying your hand at such betting lines is also a great way to practice using crypto, as its differing valuation may entail a learning curve for those new to the currency.
Of course, there are also more detailed ways to bet using crypto in the MLB. To illustrate, there are baseball parlays, which involve combining two or more bets. To succeed at this approach, both bets must come out in your favor. Should this happen, you can receive a higher payout than if you were to bet on them separately. Unfortunately, should even just one of your combined bets fail, you lose the entire amount that you bet. Consequently, it’s important for bettors who attempt a baseball parlay to do their research carefully. This includes not only studying data-driven statistics but also expert commentaries. For example, post-game comments from Baltimore Orioles’ Dean Kremer may help provide in-house context. Recently, the starting pitcher’s comments alluding to management decisions can be useful for bettors who want to understand better what circumstances may impact specific team and player performances. Crypto works well for this betting line because its lower costs can minimize any risk that is inherently higher when marrying your bets together.
Another baseball betting line that highlights the benefits of using crypto for sports betting is live betting. Also called in-game betting, it is available in all major sports events. Having said this, it is particularly advantageous in MLB games since the average one can run over four hours. As a result, bettors can place their bets within a match’s relatively generous playtime. Since crypto transactions are quick, this reduces the chances of any stalling that may otherwise cause bettors to lose out on time-sensitive decisions.
In conclusion
All in all, it’s important to emphasize that crypto sports betting does not assure monetary gain. As with any form of betting, there is still always a risk involved. However, because of its flexibility, convenience, and value, crypto allows bettors to make more agile and relevant sports betting decisions that can help in huge markets like the MLB.
As an added bonus, becoming more familiar with cryptocurrencies, in general, bodes well for baseball fans, given the MLB’s history of affiliations with digital tokens. To highlight, in 2022, MLB partnered with the NFT fantasy sports company Sorare. Through this multi-year deal, fans can collect and trade blockchain-backed cards of their favorite MLB stars. Alongside this, certain teams, like the Oakland A’s, have started accepting crypto as a form of payment for things like tickets and season suites. With this in mind, it makes sense to assume that there will be even more crypto adoptions within the MLB’s ecosystem, which crypto sports bettors will be naturally more adept at embracing when the time comes.
