How NASCAR Is Embracing Bettors Without Alienating Fans

Many of our articles focus on the excitement generated by sports betting’s expansion across the United States. While we fall into it ourselves, it’s easy to forget that not every sports fan is a sports bettor. Some sports fans are even turned off by sports betting and its seedy reputation from ages past. NASCAR is confronting this issue during its games’ broadcasts. It has shown betting odds in tickers across the screen during pre-game analyses. But that may be too much for some fans, too. Here’s everything NASCAR has to deal with.

Different Customer Segments

There are several different types of NASCAR fans, and many of them don’t like sports betting. Others don’t mind it but may be turned off by a perceived focus on gambling instead of racing. NASCAR doesn’t get to choose to only broadcast certain versions of its races to certain bettors, either. There’s only one broadcasting deal with NBC. So, NASCAR has elected for a conservative approach to try to please everyone.

But even the new customer segments that NASCAR is trying to court are made of different types of bettors. They include casual bettors who may want to put money on a game for fun. They also include professional bettors who are placing many bets at once and incidentally including NASCAR races. Those are opposite types of bettors who need different amounts of information to be satisfied. Casual bettors won’t question the odds displayed on NASCAR’s ticker. But professionals want to know the odds at every available market and whether there are opportunities for arbitrage betting.

What does poor NASCAR do?

The Missing Variable

There’s one piece of information that would tell NASCAR exactly what to do. However, the only way to find it is to try new things and wait for customer feedback. Asking for customer feedback with a survey wouldn’t give accurate information. NASCAR fans who find gambling distasteful will have reactions that are more negative in a survey than they may be when they see the sports betting ticker during the race. So, anyone interested in accurate information must be bold and try new things.

The sports betting ticker is a safe start, but NASCAR executives won’t know what works until they get customer feedback. Not all customer segments are equally important to them. Whichever segments generate the most revenue are the ones NASCAR and NBC will focus on during race broadcasts.

How We’ll Know Which Customers Are Most Important

We don’t have access to internal marketing data from NASCAR, NBC, or PointsBet. But we’ll be able to see the effects of NASCAR fans’ feedback in future broadcasts. Increased focus on sports betting will indicate NASCAR fans’ tolerance and even acceptance of it. But if sports betting tickers are all we see, there’s a good chance that’s as hard as NASCAR will be able to push sports betting to fans.

But NASCAR isn’t the only sport that has to learn how to integrate sports betting into its programs. Every sport is going to go through this learning process. But for those of us watching sports, we’ll tell how much different sports fans have embraced sports betting–and how important sports bettors have become to sports broadcasting–through the amount of sports betting content pushed during matches.

Sports Betting And Sports Media

Now that sports betting is legal, it’s become enmeshed with sports broadcasting. It’s also brought new types of customers to familiar sports broadcasts. That’s forced sportscasters to integrate sports betting into their broadcasts. They face the challenge of including sports betting content without alienating existing fans. It’s going to be a tricky balance to strike.

However, the correct balance will change over time, too. As fans become used to sports betting content, they’ll become more accepting of it, even if they’re opposed to sports betting. Even if sports betting isn’t embraced immediately, it likely will become accepted by stubborn fan bases over time. Like sports betting legalization, the mainstream integration of sports betting is inevitable.

About the Author
Christopher Gerlacher

Christopher Gerlacher

Senior Writer
Christopher Gerlacher is a senior writer and contributor for Gaming Today. He is a versatile and experienced industry expert with an impressive portfolio who has range from political and legislative pieces to sports and sports betting. He's a devout Broncos fan, for better or for worse, living in the foothills of Arvada, Colorado.

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