Six Predictions for the World of Sports Betting in 2023

Can you believe it, we are already two months into the new calendar year. Okay, okay, so it might be a little too late for us to wish you a happy new year, however, it’s not too late to break out the ol’ Dimers crystal ball and look ahead to where the US sports gambling industry is headed this year with six predictions for the world of sports betting in 2023.

When forecasting what might be on the horizon for sports bettors over the remaining 10 months of the year, we can often look to other countries across the world where online sports betting has been legal for 20+ years to get a glimpse of what we can expect, as American sportsbooks look to find the edge on their competitors.

Not just that, but with an ever changing landscape in America for an industry that is very much in its infancy, things might be just about ready for a shake up in a very big way.

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As we mention below, there's a reason why you're going to want to claim this offer NOW.

Six Sports Betting Predictions for 2023

More States to go Live

Already this year we’ve seen one state that has come on board as a fully-legal online sports betting market when the great state of Ohio went live as the ball dropped, or rather, when Ohio State’s Noah Ruggles missed a game winning field goal against Georgia in the Peach Bowl at midnight on January 1, 2023. 

While it wasn’t the perfect start to life as bettors in the Buckeye State, Ohio has since established itself as one of the largest online sports gambling markets in the country, taking in the second most bets of any state for Super Bowl LVII.

Next cab off the rank will be the state of Massachusetts, who have announced that they expect to go live for online sports betting in mid-March, ahead of the NCAA Tournament.

Maine and Nebraska could also come online sooner rather than later with sports betting legislation already passed in those states, while Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Vermont and even Texas are all in the mix to potentially be up and running by the end of the year.

By request, here is the multicam view of the feed from Times Square, All-22, and ESPN, Georgia, and Ohio State radio calls, as it happened onscreen live: pic.twitter.com/k775T4VNTo

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 1, 2023

Sportsbook Sign up Bonuses Are Going to Get Worse

Since the repeal of PASPA in 2018 - the bill that would eventually allow the legalization of sports betting - the industry has resembled the Wild West as sportsbook companies continue to pop up and fight for their patch of market share by offering obscene sign up offers to consumers.

While this has been nothing short of a golden age for the consumer, for the operators it’s been a costly exercise. Most 'books are still not operating at a profit, with DraftKings Sportsbook one company who notably reported last week that they were losing money; due in part to extravagant marketing campaigns to lure customers. I guess Kevin Hart doesn't come cheap?

Interestingly, DraftKings actually has one of the best sportsbook sign up offers for new customers currently, a Bet $5, Win $150 offer, however, other sportsbooks such as BetMGM and FanDuel Sportsbook have ditched the ‘Bet and Get’ offers in favor of Risk-Free or Sweat-Free Bets, simply offering new customers a second chance via a returned betting stake in site credits relative to their first losing bet. 

This will continue to be the trend over the coming year as sportsbooks try to target profit in order to appease shareholders, rather than just customer acquisition.

Our advice: take advantage of as many sign up offers now because they definitely won’t last. Luckily for you, we've ranked the best sportsbook offers available to you right now.

Speaking of predictions, check out our Quick Picks page for today's best betting plays.

Sportsbooks Go Social

The past couple of years of sports gambling in the United States has been defined by bettors' love of Same Game Parlays, as well as the explosion of influencer gamblers who have carved out a whole new niche for themselves via paid VIP and Discord betting services.

FanDuel Sportsbook capitalized on the two in 2022, incorporating a new feature called Popular Same Game Parlays. The feature enables users to easily see which SGPs are trending amongst other bettors - usually parlays that had been posted in various VIP platforms by professional handicappers - simplifying the process of placing a bet that you could tail with the rest of the community.

This could go one step further in 2023, with sportsbooks creating social feeds directly via their app, allowing bettors to follow the moves of their favorite betting influencers (and celebrities) and tail any bet that influencer posts via their service.

This feature has already been implemented in Australia, with online bookmaker Dabble promoting themselves as one of the world’s first truly social sportsbooks.

Conspiracy theorists who think FanDuel Sportsbook rig professional sports games will have a field day with this feature.

Betting With Your Buddies Will Change Forever

Expanding further on the social element to online sports betting, don’t be surprised to see a potentially game-changing feature coming to a sportsbook near you, allowing you to pool your buddies together in an online betting syndicate.

This feature is active in both the United Kingdom and Australia, where bettors can come together with their friends via the sportsbook app and create a group, depositing their share into a group betting kitty and then bet on behalf of the group, or club. Users can leave the group at any time, withdrawing their percentage share of the kitty.

This has proven to be a wildly successful feature overseas, with Colossus Bets in the United Kingdom, as well as Sportsbet in Australia - a sportsbook operator owned by Flutter Entertainment, the same parent company that owns FanDuel Sportsbook - offering this unique betting style to customers. This is something we could see pop up on our apps soon, especially considering FanDuel already technically owns the technology.

Based on their 'Bet with Mates' product in Australia, we're going to bank on Fanduel launching 'Bet with Buddies' here in the US before the end of 2023, when tools like Dimers' Best Props will come in very handy.

Users to Have More Control Over Betting Markets

Remember those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books?

Well, when it comes to the sheer number of available betting markets on any given night, bettors in America are pretty spoiled. We can now bet on pretty much everything during the course of a game, from first basket makers in NBA games, to individual drives in the NFL, to even strikes in the MLB. But it could always get better, right?

To their credit, PointsBet has been the industry leader in the US with their Request A Bet feature, which empowers users to submit their own request for betting markets on any game, to be evaluated by traders and priced.

This is something that is commonplace in other countries where sports betting is legal, and something that we should see become more widespread across not just PointsBet, but the other sportsbooks as well. More variety and freedoms will lead to larger customer bases.

PointsBet is Australian owned and has the advantage of 20+ years' online gambling experience on its side, allowing them to more easily integrate products such as this.

Bet on Virtual Sports

AI is taking the world by storm right now. As the technology evolves at a rapid rate, one form of artificial intelligence has been around for a long time, and is being utilized across the world among sportsbooks already: virtual sports betting.

If you haven’t come across this, computer generated games for multiple sports, such as soccer, football and horse racing, allows users to place bets on the outcome, with games kicking off every couple of minutes.

With sportsbooks looking for ways of keeping users engaged during down periods, such as the Dog Days of Summer, this is easily something that can be integrated into current apps and made available for betting.

Which prediction are you most excited about in 2023? Let us know by following us on Twitter!