In the world of crypto today it seems like someone always has the next big thing that blockchain will change. When blockchain hit the world no one realized just how much it would influence everything from finance to supply chain logistics in the world. Now newcomer BetU Global is looking to use blockchain to disrupt the world of sports betting.
To understand how BetU can change the sports betting world, you need to know the history of the industry itself. The first sports bet is believed to date back to some 2000 years ago. Greece the birthplace of the Olympics loved their sports. And naturally came the first recorded records of sports bets. Throughout history sports betting continued to spread through all the world. Rome with their bets on gladiator sports, England with their betting on horse racing. To the U.S. betting on baseball. From friendly bets between neighbors and friends to million dollar bets between power brokers throughout history. Sports betting is something that has been with the world and will never go away no matter how hard laws and regulations try and make it difficult. The world craves the ability to prove their knowledge of a particular subject. And sport bettors are the extreme of this practice.
Las Vegas, in the 1950s legalized gambling in the US. Casinos had their own sports books and the legitimacy of sports betting was born in the eyes of the world. Sports betting was slowly becoming more mainstream. Local bookmakers (bookies) would pop up around the country. Either walk into a not so desirable casino to make a bet or have your own bookie you could call when a big event you wanted to bet on was approaching. This type of taking bets would dominate across the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. Until the birth of the internet. Almost as soon as the switch was flipped to turn the world on to the internet, sports betting went online. Connecting every home with the click of a keyboard instantly it was a no brainer to leverage this technology. No longer did you have to walk into that casino or call Bruno the bookie to give you some odds on the big match you wanted to bet on. Now you could sit in your own home and find instantly someone to take your bet. Vegas and big corporate money quickly seized on this new found technology. Casinos such as MGM, Caesars and other quickly launched their online sports betting followed by pop up online sports betting platforms. Add to that the advent of smartphones in everyone’s hand it quickly made this one of the most popular and profitable industries in the world. What could be the next shift in sports betting? Well that comes from an invention every person in the world has heard of, Bitcoin. Now Bitcoin on it’s own was not what has changed so many industries in the world. It’s the technology Bitcoin is based on and that’s Blockchain. Blockchain is being used to revolutionize everything from finance, healthcare and even logistics around the world. How can blockchain be used to revolutionize the sports betting industry?
Now sports betting is a multi billion dollar industry. In 2020 $391 billion was wagered on sports. $170 billion of that was wagered online. Not only is the world betting on traditional sports these days but now the fast growing Esports world had $23.5 billion wagered on it in 2020. All of these bets have been controlled and dominated by the powerful top casinos and sports betting platforms on the internet. These sports books force you accept their odds, their conditions and if you win too much they have the power to ban you from betting on their platform. This has actually led to local bookmakers from the days before the internet to make a quiet comeback in the world. Most change in an industry comes from someone willing to use the newest innovation in technology to change it. That is happening now with the start up of BetU Global.
BetU Global is in the process of leveraging blockchain technology to take a bit of the power back from the big book makers and casinos and give it back to the people. How they plan to do this is by allowing peer to peer betting, not just sports book betting. If you can’t find odds you want on a bet, BetU will give you the power to be your own book maker and offer your own bet. This is where blockchain steps in. When being your own book maker in the past it was your word against their word when there was a discrepancy about what the bet and terms of the were. Now that bet is recorded on blockchain and funds are locked at that point from both sides of the bet. Yes you can still take a bet from the odds offered by BetU on anything as well just as you can with a traditional sports book as well if you’re so inclined.
Now back to BetU utilizing blockchain technology to secure and record a bet. The “funds” I mentioned being locked, well those funds are by the BetU token. BetU is utilizing this token to be able to record these bets on blockchain. Thus it will be the only currency allowed to offer or take a bet on their platform. Want to make your bet buy your currency then make all the bets you want.
BetU looks to be positioning themselves as a true trailblazer in an industry that has long been perceived as seedy in it’s dealings. I for one am excited to see the journey the BetU team is on. They have one of the most ambitious roadmaps and business plan I’ve ever seen in the Crypto space. In reviewing their roadmap that was put out in June I’ve seen them make each milestone they’ve promised and if they slipped when making that milestone their team has been open in acknowledging any mistakes. From giving updates on their betting platform on a weekly basis, to their launch of their token on Pancake Swap all have been met as promised. Now BetU still has a lot of work to do but count me in as a believer that that they can disrupt the sports betting industry in a good way.
If you would like information on how BetU plans to revolutionize the sports betting industry for yourself you can visit their website at BetU.io