OPINION: The problem(s) with betting on pickleball matches
Last Edited
Jan 27 2025
Category
News
Have you ever asked yourself why sports betting is not a big topic in pickleball? It seems like in every sport in the world has somewhere you can bet on it, but not pickleball.
We’ve got people staying up until 3:00AM to see who won the Malaysian basketball game because they had a 15 team parlay and they really need the Malayan Tigers to pull this one out...
It’s wild how ingrained in our culture sports betting has become, yet in pickleball, there’s nothing. Well, next to nothing.
The issue with betting on pickleball
When it comes to sports betting, there are a lot of factors to consider.
For starters, we have to look at the player base. Up until recently, it was pretty much a lock as to who was taking home the gold in most every PPA tournament. That’s not good for the house.
The game changed a lot in 2024, and we are really starting to see a ton of new talent emerge onto the scenes in really all disciplines. However, until every PPA tournament is a toss up as to who can win any given match, I think this will continue to be a limiting factor.
Next: we’ve got the rules. This might be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome because it takes pretty much the entire pickleball space to evolve.
- Pros still have call their own out balls
- The serve rules are still somewhat unclear
- Certain other rules still change from year to year
All of this gives betting agencies an uneasy feeling when approaching the sport. If you aren’t really tuned into how betting works, you are not supposed to win.
So when there are factors that create unreliable variables it makes it difficult for these agencies to justify entering the sport. Now one day, this will be a thing. That’s a certainty.
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The PPA is constantly working on new technologies to bring to the game. They want to enhance the level of consistency from match to match and while rules do change, they are fine tuning a professional sport that is still in it’s infancy.
It’s been mentioned that some of the recent rule changes by MLP were centered around the possibility for sports betting.
When this does become a reality, pickleball will explode. Money will funnel into the sport almost overnight and it will create an entire ecosystem that we have not even touched the surface of yet.
While sports betting still remains in the distance for pickleball, once the sport is fine tuned at the professional level, the floodgates will open.
Frank Hines loves the game of pickleball and sharing that passion with as many people as possible. He found the game over two years ago and hasn't let up since. Follow Frank on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.