Both online and land-based sportsbooks offer, in essence, the same service. There are a fair number of differences to take note of. Below, we will discuss some key difference to help you decide which is the best for you.
Sports Variety
The variety of sports available is one of the bigger differences you will find between betting at a physical location and online. Physical locations tend to try to be region specific, they tend to focus on events happening close to home and offer as many markets on these close events as possible.
Some sportsbooks go so far as to open a location for a particular event and focus solely on that event. Horse racing events like the Durban July are good examples of this, the local sportsbooks at the event will cater solely to the needs of people attending the event.
Online sportsbooks on the other hand take a different approach. Most online sportsbooks pride themselves in the sheer variety of sports they offer, most striving to offer more sports than competitors. Depending on the type of bettor you are and the nature of sport you are interested in, online sports betting does have the advantages stacked in its favour for anybody who may be interested in betting on non-local sports or a variety of sports at the same time.
Live Betting
Logic would tell a person that a sportsbook on site is always the best bet when it comes to live betting, however, this is not the case. When it comes to live or in match betting, online sportsbooks have surpassed physical locations by a considerable margin. Some physical locations do offer live betting, the odds supplied in live betting are almost always better in your favour with online betting.
Environment
For the few advantages online betting does have, there is something to be said for the environment in which the betting is done. This is very dependent on the experience you want as a bettor.
The enjoyment of being in close proximity to and having conversations with like-minded bettors is fantastic in its own right. This does bring additional disadvantages in the form of queues and wait times. The environment that best suits you as a bettor is a matter of personal preference. For every bettor it is worth checking out a land-based betting location, at least once.
Bonuses
For the average bettor who bets on local events, it can be a difficult decision whether to stay with land-based betting locations or move over to an online sportsbook. The biggest decider in this question is usually the bonuses that online sportsbooks offer.
While they don’t seem like a large selling point for the most part, the right bonuses like deposit matching bonuses can go a long way in helping you practice or just make you more profitable in the bets you would like to place. For beginner bettors, the bonuses can make a big difference to the start of their betting career.