When COVID-19 shut down the United States for the better part of two months last spring, the sports betting industry felt the brunt of its trickle-down economic impact. However, if online sports bookmakers are known for anything, it’s their innate ability to adapt on the fly. More on their creativity later.
With the NBA season placed on pause, MLB’s first pitch delayed, and NFL betting season months away, casual and experienced sports bettors turned to the U.S. stock market in an effort to profit. Day trading stocks through apps like Robinhood became the norm to pass the time between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. instead of East Coasters inhaling four cups of coffee to last until the Clippers-Lakers’ 10:30 p.m. opening tip. As we know, this injection of new free-flowing capital and new market investors eventually culminated last month when the Reddit forum wallstreetbets flipped the script on legacy stock traders and hedge fund managers. However, all that glitters is not gold and due to a few factors, the Reddit / GameStop trade momentum hit a crescendo of over $400 per share only to crash back down to $45.65 as of the afternoon of February 17. As we know, GameStop wasn’t the only stock to enjoy a quick hyperbolic surge in value in late-January. And yet, the entire group of wallstreetbet stocks are well off their highs.
AMC movie theatres are down 74%, Nokia 58%, and Bed, Bath & Beyond 51% off its January highs. What’s interesting is that just like in life, when one investment door closes, several appear to open and according to recent reports, most of those investors who profited off the Reddit trader are now pouring money into SPACs (special purpose acquisition corporations, a.k.a. different way for a company to go public) and investing in everybody’s favorites cryptocurrency.
The Bitcoin Surge
On the same day shares of GameStop reached an all-time high of $483 on January 28, Bitcoin (BTC/USD) was trading at roughly $32,600 per coin OR nearly $20,000 below where it traded on February 17, less than three weeks later. Bitcoin traded at just under $33,000 / coin on February 1st and hasn’t looked back as it’s soared up to an all-time high of $52,227 that could be eclipsed by the time I’m done writing this article.
Bet On The Stock Market
Circling back to online sportsbook oddsmakers’ ability to adapt, shortly after pro sports leagues ceased operations in the spring of 2020, they started cooking up stock market odds. Some of these unique betting opportunities still exist at several books. BetOnline offers several daily financial / stock market odds and include topics such as:
- The DOW Jones Industrial average will close OVER / UNDER a certain threshold
- The final digit of the S&P 500 at close (including decimals) will be …
- Special event prop bets where the NFL point total of a certain game will be Greater Than or Less Than the gain in the NASDAQ the next business day.
- Futures odds on what the value of Bitcoin will be the next New Year’s Day.
And speaking on Bitcoin, our top-rated US online gambling sites accept the popular cryptocurrency when making a deposit. The benefits of betting with BTC include great welcome and reload bonuses and faster withdrawal times when you’re ready to cash out. Most Bitcoin cash outs occur same day with some turnarounds as fast as 15 minutes.
