Why I avoid betting on non-pro sports

[Mpamaegbu]

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity?

Well, I don't see anything wrong in that regard. It's the choice they made. I don't think athletes are forced into any sports. They decide on their own. If they want better paying sports they can switch to those. After all, we've seen sportsmen/women switch from one sports to another. I can recall a certain Nigeria professional footballer, Osaze Odemwingie, who crossed to Golf after retiring from football. So, it's a matter of interest. Those athletes who think they aren't paid well can risk crossing to other sports.

[Kelward]

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity? Maybe at least crypto bookies should take the initiative to fund more small sports associations on the local level. 

In any sports where there is little or no renumeration there is high chances of it being manipulated by officials and people that have stakes in the sports. So on a broader perspective it'll not attract mainstream gambling into the sports because how can you analyze the games when you have a feeling that it can be easily manipulated, it'll be a total waste of time.

I doubt that crypto bookies will care to fund these unpopular sports when they have their hands full with popular sports like football and basketball. The way forward for unpopular sports is for their organizers to make them more lucrative by paying the athletes very well, their lifestyles can attract fans to want to follow the sports that they're in. Also advertisment is key,, if a lot of funds are put into them, more people will be interested and gradually manipulations will decrease.

[mak013]

There's a huge reason to avoid betting on unpopular sports.
Usually the teams are not close to a fully professional level which means that their form isn't predictable or reliable. Therefore the odds are really shit.
Unless you have good knowledge of these athletes yourself for some reason, it's not worth the risk.

For instance, if you bet on handball, most athletes in most countries have to have second jobs to sustain their presence in the sport, sometimes even in the top teams on this sport the salary isn't enough. What does this mean? Very few athletes that would otherwise be peak athletes are willing to partake in the sport after a certain point. Each team's performance is therefore hindered by many issues. The same teams playing against each other in a different universe can deliver wildly different results. The small teams can beat the huge ones etc.

And yet, the NCAA, the biggest college league for several sports, makes millions from broadcasting these games, selling rights and sports betting results.
But you would notice that in NCAA, even if you bet on a parlay with 10 games of 1.05 odds, it's more likely you'll be losing because upsets are more common than in a fully professional league.

Athletes in college sports are putting all  this effort and are paid nothing. Did you know that until very recently when there was a huge lawsuit reaching judgment, there was no agreement to compensate college athletes at all in the US?
https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/10/penn-ncaa-settlement-player-payment

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity? Maybe at least crypto bookies should take the initiative to fund more small sports associations on the local level. 

On the other hand, you can win the huge odd, betting against team with 1.05. It is high risk betting but the prize is great. I was in betting on low leagues for a long enough time. It was nice result for me.
The same time nobody makes you bet on such matches, you can just avoid it. I don`t think that we have to change something in such situation. The players grow up from league to league. Some moment they have to choose between sport or career. Who choose sports - grow up to their limits. May be it looks unfair, but it is real life, here there are lots of unfair things.

[Hirose UK]

In fact, sports that are less popular and not even of interest to most sports fans have low betting market for their volume and are considered unprofitable.
However, in my opinion sports that are less popular and have lower betting market volume will be easier for us to win, maybe there will be no manipulation because of the limited number of people betting and not many bookmakers using it as betting option.
I not sure bookmakers will take the initiative to fund certain associations or small competitions because that will also not be profitable for bookmakers.

[davis196]

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity? Maybe at least crypto bookies should take the initiative to fund more small sports associations on the local level.

Maybe some of the athletes are secretly betting on fixed matches and that's how they earn a side income. This is a big reason why I don't bet money on unpopular and amateur sports. The outcomes being unpredictable isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe betting on more unpredictable sports is a way for some lucky sports bettors to beat the bookies.
Why would a gambler give a damn about the athletes earning nothing while playing certain sports? The athletes are doing this voluntarily, nobody forced them to play in these sports. The gamblers care about the outcomes only, not about the athletes.
The crypto bookies usually don't have enough money to fund a local sports association, and I doubt that they would lower their profits just to spend some money on such small local sponsorships.

[Solosanz]

I have no excitement when betting on non-pro sports or unknown leagues/events.

Gambling is for fun, how can I get entertained if I'm not excited with the sports/teams/players that I bet? betting in non-pro sports is like gave away your money and hope you will win.

In my country I have seen this scenario of rigged matches also in major league (Aka Football Serie A).
If this happens on that level, its something "normal" this happens everywhere if there is a chance for gambling or any other economic advantage.  

Even in Premier League there was a fixed match, but the possibility is much lower than the unknown league or the amateur one.

In fact, sports that are less popular and not even of interest to most sports fans have low betting market for their volume and are considered unprofitable.

Nah, people want to bet non-pro sports because they find it's profitable. Since the volume is low, the odds will not be adjusted over and over, so you might odds that profitable to bet.

[mindrust]

That’s a wise approach. Who knows what kind of fuckery happening in those amateur sports. E-sports are also not much different. (Dota, CS etc) I believe most of the time we are watching a scripted game if it is not a pro-sports game. We should only bet on well known leagues/games/tournaments imo. Like the NBA, champions league, EPL, olympics, world cup etc… If the game doesn’t have watchers, it is easier to fix it because nobody will care. It is way harder to fix a world cup game for that reason.

[ethereumhunter]

The reason why I don't place a bet for unpopular sports is because I don't know where I can finds the information and analyze it. But some people who familiar with the sports will bet on that because they thinks that the competition will not be though like the other sports. People will know what they want to bet and will choose after they see the lists on the casino. But the casino will still gives bet for the unpopular sports because they know that some people will search that for some reasons. Crypto bookies don't have to take the initiative to fund more small sports associations and let them search by themselves.

[Cryptmuster]

That’s a wise approach. Who knows what kind of fuckery happening in those amateur sports. E-sports are also not much different. (Dota, CS etc) I believe most of the time we are watching a scripted game if it is not a pro-sports game. We should only bet on well known leagues/games/tournaments imo. Like the NBA, champions league, EPL, olympics, world cup etc… If the game doesn’t have watchers, it is easier to fix it because nobody will care. It is way harder to fix a world cup game for that reason.

I agree, because I'm not even entirely sure that games in professional leagues can be completely fair, and I don't even want to think about amateur ones, because I'm almost sure that not everything is so clean there. I even know of a case when in one of the amateur divisions in my city, there was a referee who could appoint a penalty by agreement, he didn't work for long, but I think simply because he wasn't very careful, but I'm sure that these are not isolated cases.

[crwth]

I do see that people would compare it to professional sports, but that's definitely on an entirely different level. Players on non-pro are probably not that serious, and it's not their priority to do it full-time. This will lead to inconsistencies in their performance, and if we translate it to betting, that risk would be hard to calculate. Additionally, there would be fewer odds in this, and it would be hard to predict outcomes.

With these things in mind, I agree that avoiding non-pro sports is the best option if you want to have money.

[Adbitco]

My suggestion on this topic? Always avoid to bet games with "strange odds". Try to bet live watching a game. 

I could remember few weeks ago I tried to bet on a live odd (match) and I saw the difference, the thing is to bet on live game is either wait for the first half or target the second half with this you can determine what the possible outcome could be. Betting on live game reduces the risk to about 40% but the odds are usually very poor and for someone to have reasonable odds it would take you about 8-15 different matches to achieve at least 5-6 odds.

[mammusu]

Amateur sports have many variables that are difficult for us to predict, especially for those of us who want to make bets in it, the inconsistency of player performance and the lack of reliable data make the betting risk higher, because indeed we do not have data that can be a reference, if we really want to get a win, of course focus on professional sports that are more structured and have more complete statistical data is a better choice good and wise in my opinion.

[Gheka]

In fact, sports that are less popular and not even of interest to most sports fans have low betting market for their volume and are considered unprofitable.
However, in my opinion sports that are less popular and have lower betting market volume will be easier for us to win, maybe there will be no manipulation because of the limited number of people betting and not many bookmakers using it as betting option.
I not sure bookmakers will take the initiative to fund certain associations or small competitions because that will also not be profitable for bookmakers.

There are still a few non-professional sports that are listed by bookmakers in their betting areas but the level seems to be entertainment because the information of these sports is not much as well as the mass of people who want to participate are only addicts when professional sports have time to rest. I'm also not sure it will be easy to win when the small scale comes with a lack of professionalism, the opponents are almost lacking in seriousness and the intense confrontation sometimes becomes a child's play, not really good for betting.

[Salahmu]

I doubt that crypto bookies will care to fund these unpopular sports when they have their hands full with popular sports like football and basketball. The way forward for unpopular sports is for their organizers to make them more lucrative by paying the athletes very well,

Actually for the unpopular sports to be globally recognized as important for them may not even work out if there organizers changes some of the things about them because in sports general there are few of them that have gotten the audience and not only because of the entertainment they are giving but also for the medical help it provides by doing exercise, so actually it was through soccer a lot of people discover the value of some of the things they felt wasn't necessary, secondly another thing that are affecting some of the unpopular sports is that there TV channel are not noticeable to people, so perhaps if there sports are being showcased as they normally do on soccer I believe they would have gotten some attention.

[GreatArkansas]

It's extremely prone to match-fixing, just think of the pro sports where you can see match-fixing. For me, sometimes it's the league, the teams/players that really matter here pro or non-pro sports.
For example in pro sports basketball is the sport in particular. Even in our current national basketball league, especially if the season starts, there are a lot of match fixings happening but they are still not being properly handled by authorities. There are some obvious games happening.

[Pandorak]

It feels right that betting on unpopular sports needs to be avoided, because these matches are usually very difficult to guess, especially because we do not know about the performance of the team we will choose. Moreover, in unpopular sports there are many uncertainty, for example, for the favorite team alone often loses, of course this makes us think twice for betting. Sometimes i try to play in unpopular sports, but not in large amounts for betting, because i think it is too big for the risk, and i can say the possibility of winning is only a small percentage, and the probability of winning is only 30% based on my personal experience.

[cryptoaddictchie]

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity? Maybe at least crypto bookies should take the initiative to fund more small sports associations on the local level. 

Well if its a collegiate match we can say some or few got some offered money to play or to win the competition. At least from my country thats how the system works. Cause pirating good players is very common, but it doesnt mean we cant have an accuracy on betting if we have few history on how good they are playing right? I dont know my opinion on the matter, but agree that if you gotta bet much better to do it on a professional level sport league.

[Oasisman]

Well, I guess everyone has the most obvious reason why we all agree that betting on unpopular sports or non pro sports is a bad idea, simply because we are not interested in those type of league. It doesn't seem fun betting on something you're not familiar with. Odds could be very tricky and challenging, especially when what you all have is the records/standings, and that doesn't tell everything we want to know whether we place a bet on a good odds or not.

[kotajikikox]

Athletes in college sports are putting all  this effort and are paid nothing. Did you know that until very recently when there was a huge lawsuit reaching judgment, there was no agreement to compensate college athletes at all in the US?
https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/10/penn-ncaa-settlement-player-payment

I think this is exclusive to your country only because in my country the government does give prize money or other benefits when an athlete competes and wins especially when it is in a global stage. The thing is I also do not think they should be earning exactly because they are not pro athletes yet and being a student athlete already gives them benefits in their schools. Lots of schools offer scholarships for their student athletes which helps them get to pro if they would want to.

So this also brings us to the point where ethicality has to be discussed. If we're spending money betting on a sport, doesn't it feel a little wrong to know the athletes earn nothing or close to nothing from this activity? Maybe at least crypto bookies should take the initiative to fund more small sports associations on the local level. 

Is there any betting event where it is betting on college sports in huge gambling platforms? AFAIK there's none or at least close to. Because not a lot of people outside that region is interested anyway.

[Mia Chloe]

Betting on non-pro sports is likely more luck-based because you don't know their skills, plus it is boring to watch.
I am more confident to bet on professional players because you already know their skills.
Unless the odds are good, but if they are the same as on popular games with bad odds, then I prefer to bet on popular games over non-pro sports.

Yes that's quite true. Regardless of the fact that regular pro sport games still require some luck for you to be able to pull off a win, it's not as unpredictable as that of non pro sport games. Infact  betting on non sport games is almost similar to it since you are hardly certain most of the time which team will win the game.
Aside that, gambling is more fun when you are actually sitting back to watch the team you bet on play against an opponent. It's more interesting than just looking for spreadsheet with the scores. Infact I think that is actually where a great deal of fun comes from.