Hooked on Betting: How Fishing Experts Are Making Waves in the World of Sports Betting
You may have all kinds of niche sports being offered for betting at online sportsbooks. But we’re pretty certain you’re yet to see fishing as one of the sports. But at the rate things are going, brace yourselves for a shift in the paradigm.
Image by Drew Farwell
In this post, we plan on deepening how fishing bets work. We even have a betting expert to help us understand the dynamic. Yes, we’ve invited Jimmy Daytona to Eagle Lake Lodge today.
Eagle Lake Lodge Asks Jimmy Daytona: What is Fishing Sports Betting?
Throughout history, we’ve seen all kinds of sports make it to the list of betting sports. If we break it down, it seems like any sports where competitors are possible between multiple participants work well for betting.
For mainstream betting, people are mostly interested in popular sports like football, cricket, American football, basketball, volleyball, and whatnot. All of these sports have been around for a very long time. So, it makes sense that they’re the choice of regular punters worldwide.
Then we got online sports betting thanks to the advancement in internet technology. It opened up doors for bettors that we never thought existed. Take TV show betting, for example. You can bet on popular reality TV shows like Love Island, Strictly Come Dancing, Britain’s Got Talent, and whatnot.
What’s even more interesting is that online bookmakers even turned politics into a subject for betting. Presidential elections in the US, Canada, and EU countries have been the most popular outcomes for regular bettors.
Finally, we have fishing. It’s still a very niche market. You can barely find it as an option on online betting sites. Only the top 1% is perhaps offering it for bettors. On the bright side, we can expect massive growth in this niche industry very soon.
We’re seeing increased interest among online bookmakers to add fishing events. Do you know why? The market is currently valued at just under $100 million. But it can grow beyond billions of dollars over the next few years.
How Does Fishing Sports Betting Work?
Regarding sentiment, betting on fishing is the same as on regular sports. You have a tournament, you have the participants, and you have the events. In this section, outline everything you need to know about the act.
The Tournaments
For any sport to be competitive, there must be a competition. In sports, a competition is often known as a tournament. Believe it or not, there are plenty of matches where anglers can go against fellow anglers. The main reason you don’t know about them is that these events are held in locations that don’t get much media coverage.
Here are the top fishing tournaments you should be looking out for throughout the year if you want to get started with fishing sports betting.
Bassmaster Classic
Key West Marlin Tournament
Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament
White Marlin Open
Quest for the Crest
Major League Fishing
The Markets
In case you’re unaware, a “market” in sports betting is an individual outcome. Fishing is very different from any other sport we know of. So, it only makes sense that all the markets that go into this sport are also very different. Here is a quick overview.
Winner: If there is a tournament, there has to be a winner. So, the most common market you’ll find when betting on fishing is the potential tournament winners in an outright setting. You’ll get odds for participants for a particular event.
Margin: When an angler wins in a fishing tournament, it might be determined by the total weight of fish caught or the number of fish. Whatever the designated margin is, you should be able to bet on it.
Largest Fish: In high-quality betting sites, you might be able to bet on the largest fish caught for the day. In most cases, you’ll need to predict the weight of the fish caught.
Tips for Betting on Fishing Sports
It doesn’t matter whether the betting market is niche or not. Jimmy Daytona believes that if you’re serious about it, you must treat it as any other sport. In that sense, fishing should be no different from basketball to you.
Here are some tips from Jimmy that can help you better prepare for the upcoming fishing tournament you’re planning to bet on.
Weather is critical. The weather determines the current in the water body and how the available fish will behave. On a windy day, it might be harder to catch fish. Even the time of the day matters for serious anglers. If you’re new to fishing, it’s crucial that you do your due diligence and learn how all of these factors impact your choices.
Keep track of the angler you want to bet on. Fishing takes years to master. You can’t expect to pick an angler randomly and bet on them. Rather, you need to track their performance from previous tournaments. It’s best to figure out performance patterns for different locations and weather conditions.
Understand the rules of the competition because each one is different. Just because one uses weight as a parameter doesn’t mean all of them will do the same. So, understand the tournament you’re going into to maximize your potential to rack up some profits.
Is Betting on Fishing Legal?
Competitive fishing is a sport, and there is no legal dilemma around it. What you need to look at is whether online gambling is legal in your country or not. Most countries have a legal framework to regulate gambling. And the government employs an organization to take care of the regulations.
For example, the US betting regulations are handled by state governments. There are dedicated regulatory bodies in other countries like the UK or Gibraltar. You're good to go as long as you can ensure that online betting is legal in your jurisdiction.
