Sports betting and online casino gaming are two of the most popular forms of online gambling. They both involve staking a sum on a prediction to multiply your wager by a predetermined odd.
But predicting which has the higher winning probability is something to gamble on. And just like any wager, multiple factors influence the results.
To better understand the playing (or rather, gambling) field, we need to examine the differences between both gambling forms and the factors influencing a winning outcome.
What’s your money on?
Differences Between Sports Betting and Online Casinos
The differences between both forms of gambling lie in the events players bet on.
In sports betting, players wager on their predictions of significant sporting event outcomes. This kind of betting covers football, basketball, motor racing, (ice) hockey, tennis, etc.
Players predict that a sports team or player wins, loses, or the match ends in a draw. The advancement of online sports betting has also seen many sports betting websites offer more exciting betting options like handicaps, total goals, correct match scores, and system bets, amongst others.
Having a high level of knowledge about the sports, sports teams, or players can help a player analyze and forecast the game outcomes much better. This level of expertise and skill can significantly affect the player’s winning probabilities. Nonetheless, elements of luck can also prove pivotal in making the right choices.
On the other hand, players wager on their predictions of casino game outcomes in online casinos. This betting covers roulette, baccarat, blackjack, poker, and slots, among others. Depending on the rules of each round, players predict the outcomes and wager either against the house or other players. The possible bets vary across casino games.
For instance, players predict the number on which a ball drops after rolling around a wheel while playing roulette. With slot machines, however, the player hopes that a spin lands on a number or figure inside a slot machine. Each spin is independent of the previous one in that the slot machines use random generators that reshuffle the outcome each time.
Related: Australian Gambling Faceoff: Sports Betting vs. Online Casinos
Both these games need more luck than skill. Yet, certain online casino games are influenced to a large extent by skill. Poker is an excellent example of such a game.
In general, luck influences both types of gambling to varying extents. However, skill determines your winnings to a greater extent in sports betting than in online casino gambling.
So…
Where’s Winning Easier? A Side-by-Side Comparison
Various factors influence affect a wager’s outcome.
To determine whether winning is easier in sports betting than online casinos, let’s look at some factors determining a player’s winnings at both online casinos and sports betting platforms.
Staking Options
Your staking options refer to the possible wagers for any form of gambling.
As discussed earlier, the major betting options in sports betting are wins, losses, or draws. However, the fact that there are countless sports and leagues exponentially increases these options. In addition, online sportsbooks offer a ton of secondary betting options, including over/under totals, point spreads, game and athlete prop bets, live bets, penalties, and many more.
In most online casinos, the major games are roulette, blackjack, slots, poker, and baccarat. However, many online casinos offer hundreds of unique games catering to a diverse audience. That’s especially true when playing at a non gamstop casino for UK players; these platforms operate under different regulatory bodies, meaning they don’t have to comply with UK laws. This means there might be newer games, bigger stake sizes allowed, and the option to win more by playing with crypto tokens that could appreciate in value.
With that said, sports betting still has more staking options than online casino gaming for the most part. Logically, having more shots gives you a higher winning chance.
House Edge
Have you ever wondered why the house always wins?
This statement is a fact for all forms of gambling because gambling operators hold a statistical advantage known as the house edge over all bettors. And this goes for both sports betting and online casino gaming. However, there are subtle differences between the house edge in online casino gaming and sports betting.
With online casino games like roulette, for instance, bettors often believe they have a 50% chance of a win or loss because there are equal amounts of each color of number on a roulette wheel (18 red and black colors apiece). But that’s not entirely true due to the green zero (and double zero in American roulette) on the wheel. This reduces your winning chances from the perceived 50% to 47.37%, even more in American roulette. The deficit of 2.63% represents the house edge, and all online casino games show the same pattern to varying percentages.
With online sports betting, the case is slightly different. You do have a 50% chance of winning, considering the sportsbook does not decide the outcomes. Yet, the house still has an edge because it charges an additional tax on all bets.
Nonetheless, on the player’s side, having a 47.37% chance of winning compared to a 50% winning chance clearly tells you where winning is easier.
Availability
Irrespective of your winning probabilities, there’s a popular belief that “You can’t lose if you don’t quit.” That shouldn’t apply to gambling and games of chance, as knowing when to stop is a vital aspect of responsible gambling.
However, the point is that compared to sports betting, online casinos make it easier for you to win by keeping games available all year. Online casino games are often virtually simulated and pre-programmed by developers and are readily available when and wherever you want.
The same can’t be said about sports betting, which is only available during sporting seasons. For players who only enjoy gambling on their favorite sports will go on unavoidable winning droughts when the sporting season is over.
Potential Winnings
Payouts vary across platforms, whether with sports betting or online casino gaming.
However, online casino games give players the opportunity to win huge amounts, regardless of the games. This reality is evident in that the largest jackpot payout in an online slot is a $20,062,000 win by Jon Heywood in October 2015. Online slots, lotteries, baccarat, and other online casino games allow players massive payouts even though the chances of winning might be very slim.
On the other hand, sportsbooks calculate the odds of sporting outcomes using expert analysis based on team and player performances and other sporting circumstances. As such, the potential winnings are lower than with online casinos. In general, the team or player with the lower odds will win in many cases – those who set the odds are experts for a reason. Of course, there are exceptions, but huge sports betting wins are certainly not the norm.
Conclusion
While sports betting involves wagering on the predictions of sporting events, online casino gaming involves betting on in-house casino games. Nonetheless, both are games of chance. So, luck determines where winning is easier to a great extent.
However, you can make your own luck with sports betting, as your knowledge about the sport greatly informs your decision.
Players highly knowledgeable about certain sports can leverage the lower house edge and multiple staking options presented by sportsbooks. On the other hand, players who can continue spinning the wheels of fortune can keep casting their hook in the online casino waters. And who knows? They might catch a fish big enough for all their efforts, as the possibilities of huge payouts exist in online casinos.
But, whatever you do, gamble responsibly and remember that huge wins don’t come around too often.
