With most of the world in some form of isolation and quarantine, life without sports is the hardest for the fans and bettors. And it seems that there would be no organized sporting events (with or without spectators) at least until the mid of summer, so what could you bet on during these though times?
We have scoured the world to see which sports leagues remain open and playing, to bring you the latest information. And as you may expect, there isn’t much going on in the entire world. In the US, all sports are shut down – no baseball, basketball, NASCAR, etc. So far everyone remains hopeful that we will beat the coronavirus in time for the football season, with both NFL and college football still on track to play, albeit with a question mark surrounding actual football game attendance. But everything else that would normally be in progress right now has been shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. So what sports can you bet on right now?
Well, if you live in the USA, you may want to pop open that wiki page and start brushing up on some soccer rules. At this time, Belarus soccer remains the only open sporting league in Europe. It is also the only European country that has given the coronavirus the middle finger and continued life as normal, although how this would work out – only time will tell.
While the quality of “futbol” there is a long distance from the Premier League or even MLS, it’s a welcome respite in the middle of this sports desert. This soccer league plays during the weekends and as one may expect – all sportsbooks (online sportsbooks, that is, the land-based are closed) are offering betting odds on the games. It already may be quite hard for US sports bettors to handicap soccer in general, but it becomes a daunting task when you try to do it for some little-known European league. Our advice is to just go with the teams at the very top of the table and mind those pesky draws – they happen in soccer more often than you think. And most importantly, bet on Belarusian soccer only as a fun diversion, don’t use it to re-employ your usual sports betting strategies. You should look at it as an opportunity to break out of the mundane quarantine for a bit, not as a way to build-up your bankroll at the sportsbook.
We can also look to the south to find a bit more soccer – Nicaragua’s premier league continues to hold games, which also play during the weekend. If you think Belarus soccer was hard to handicap, just wait until you delve deeper into Nicaragua’s. On the bright side – the country also plays baseball, which US bettors may find easier to bet on, but only from the rules perspective.
The unfamiliarity with the leagues and players is why we continue to recommend that any international sports still in progress should be viewed entirely as an entertainment betting option. Hopefully after we beat the coronavirus, things will get back to normal, but for now – it’s pretty much all shut down, sans the couple of exceptions mentioned earlier. China was the first country to go through the coronavirus quarantine, and it may be prudent to keep an eye on their soccer league, which was scheduled to be competing right now, for an indication of the return of organized sports, even sport in general. Until such times – have fun betting on some low-tier soccer games and stay safe!