Gus Goes Fishin

What is Gus Goes Fishin?

Despite taking the top spot on the charts on Bodog this past weekend, NCAA games didn’t prove overly enticing to gamblers. The NBA captured almost all of the top-ten most-wagered events, with only one NCAA game making it to the list. Sports gamblers liked betting on the LA Clippers a lot, as the team’s games against the Utah Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets picked up 13.85% and 11.51%, respectively. In a surprise victory, the Clippers beat the Jazz on Friday, but couldn’t keep the run going and lost to the Nets on Sunday.

The Genesis Invitational, which Max Homa took down after a shoot-off with Tony Finau, attracted 10.79% of the wagers on Bodog this past weekend. Homa is intimately familiar with the course where the tournament is played, the Riviera Country Club, and has been a regular on the greens since he was two years old. With his Genesis win, Homa joins Bubba Watson as the only two players to take a Riviera victory with a bogey-free final round since 1990.

The NBA action returned to Bodog’s list next, with three games getting more than 10% of the wagers. Next, the NCAA’s Michigan vs. Ohio State game was popular with gamblers, as 9.07% of the bets on Bodog were placed on this game. Third-place Michigan handed fourth-place Ohio State a loss, walking away with a 92-87 win to improve to 16-1. Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open attracted 8.58% of the bets as Djokovic swept three sets. The last of the top-ten events on Bodog flipped back to the NBA, with the Sacramento Kings/Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors/Charlotte Hornets games getting 7.63% and 7.5%, respectively.

About Gus Goes Fishin

Unlike regulated sportsbooks, prediction markets allow customers between the ages of 18 and 21 to trade on sports-event contracts. Craig Carton, a sports talk host with WFAN 660 AM in New York, criticised the athletes for their endorsement of Polymarket. Carton, a recovering compulsive gambler, opined that the “unregulated” gambling markets are driving Americans into bankruptcy and kids out of school. Regulated books prohibit those under 21 from betting on their platform, leading Carton to question the celebrities for promoting the company.

“At what point does someone come along where you say no to the offer?” Carton asked.

A Bank of America study released on 1 September found that the median deposit account balance of households that participated in online betting was 59% higher than households that avoided the activity. As prediction markets rapidly expand alongside traditional sports betting, the findings have prompted “some to blur the lines between entertainment and investment”, according to a proprietary study undertaken by BofA.

About Gus Goes Fishin

The African Responsible Gaming Network (ARGN) launched on Monday, with the aim of strengthening player protection and tackling gambling-related harm.

The initiative brings together stakeholders such as responsible gaming organisations, researchers and treatment specialists.

It is said to mark a “significant step forward” in addressing gambling-related harm across the continent, facilitating relationships between representatives from a number of countries both inside and outside Africa.