Bitcoin & Sports Bettors: A Perfect Marriage?

The Problem

It was April 2016 and March Madness had just ended. I had a good year betting football and basketball and I rarely bet during the summer, so I figured it was time to cash-out some of my winnings. I was already getting frustrated thinking of the normal process of requesting a payout. You request a check – it takes 15 days to receive it, then you try to cash it at your bank, which they hold for 30 days since it’s an international check. When all is said-and-done, it takes close to 2 months to receive the funds.

But then I remembered seeing a new option that most offshore sportsbooks were offering – claiming it was much easier and quicker: Bitcoin. At that point in time, I was vaguely familiar with what it was and how it worked. Most of the stories you heard about Bitcoin was how it’s only used for underground or illegal activities, but I figured if it’s going to save me a headache – it’s worth looking into.

The Solution

After doing some very limited research, I had my Coinbase wallet setup and requested my payout. I was a little anxious with not fully understanding how it works or its’ legitimacy, but I received confirmation that my payout request was received and in 1-2 days I should have the funds deposited into my Coinbase wallet. The next day, the Bitcoin was in my wallet and I requested a deposit into my bank account, which took another day. In all, a process that used to take close to 2 months - took only 3 days. I still had no idea how Bitcoin worked or what is actually was but I was intrigued. Something that easy and convenient has to be useful in other industries, but what actually is Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin?

The further I went down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, it fascinated me more and more. A digital currency that has a finite supply and cannot be manipulated by any individual? That’s an incredible idea, but who’s actually investing in Bitcoin? Is it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or is really just used to buy things on the dark web?

The more I dug, the more I found similar characteristics of the people talking/tweeting about Bitcoin: a lot of them were sports bettors. The two that jumped out to me immediately were Haralabos Voulgaris and Preston Johnson. Haralabos is a legendary sports bettor who had a career with the Dallas Mavs front office and overall, a very intelligent person. Preston, aka SportsCheetah, has been in the sports betting game for a while with stints on ESPN. They are two of the more respected people in the industry and again, both very intelligent.

During 2016 and 2017, I started catching on to their tweets regarding Bitcoin and their bullish ideas on it. My thought-process was very easy – if these two are talking about investing in it, it’s worth the risk. So I bought BTC for the first time to hold. Rather than using it as a medium to cash-out from offshore sportsbooks, this time it was as an investment.

It’s Spreading

After being involved in sports betting for 15+ years now and searching Gambling Twitter for the last 12 years, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of following the right people in the industry. The gamblers I follow tend to be well-respected in the industry and very smart. That’s why, unsurprisingly, I started noticing more and more of the gamblers I follow mentioning Bitcoin.

Ken Barkley, aka @LockyLockerson, formerly the co-host of You Better You Bet. Ken is very analytical – and you guessed it, another really smart guy. I took notice to his Bitcoin tweets – including the one below from 2017.

Rob Pizzola is a pro bettor and owner of The Hammer Betting Network, a sports betting company, and also the co-host of a sports betting podcast called Circles Off. Here’s Rob’s tweet from 2018 when Bitcoin reached $10K. Rob also shares a funny story on Circles Off of how he cashed out about $30K worth of his Bitcoin years ago to renovate his basement, which now would be worth millions.

Here’s pro bettor, Joey Tunes (@joeytunes22) sharing an article of BTC’s possible run to $20K in 2018.

Probably the most bullish sports bettor/Bitcoin enthusiast is Berryhorse. Berryhorse is a pro bettor that came on the scene back in 2018 tweeting his MLB plays, where he won at a very high rate. Scrolling through his X page, you’ll find constant Bitcoin tweets, but nothing shows his bullish sentiment more than his interviews on the Circles Off Podcast. It both of his appearances on the pod, Berryhorse dives into why he believes Bitcoin is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and talks about how his entire net worth is invested in it. You can find the clips here – appearance 1 and appearance 2.

These are only a few, of the many, sports bettors that I began to notice throughout 2017 and 2018. Seeing these respected sports bettors continuously pushing the Bitcoin narrative caused me to do my own deep dive into Bitcoin, which led me to the same conclusion as these guys – and I’ve been buying Bitcoin ever since.

Why Sports Bettors?

A study done by the Morning Consult released in 2021 showed that 72% of sports bettors say they’re familiar with cryptocurrency. Is that because before sports betting became legal in the U.S. most were using offshore books that offered crypto payouts? I’m sure that’s part of it. I tend to believe there’s a psychological connection between the two as well. 

Sports bettors have a good way on finding value and taking calculating risks. The risk to reward on Bitcoin is one of the best investments that we’ve ever seen. The likelihood of it failing at this point in its’ life is very low, but the upside is immeasurable. The owner of MicoStrategy, Michael Saylor, who’s company’s Bitcoin stash is nearly 450,000, believes it will eventually reach $13 million coin. Wall Street Investor, Cathie Wood, thinks BTC will reach $4 million per coin by 2030. Even using a conservative estimate of $2 million – that’s nearly a 20x from the current price around $100K. In sports betting terms, who wouldn’t want to risk 1 unit to win 20 units on something that’s not necessarily that long of a long shot?

Maybe it’s an environmental bias on my part, given my involvement in the sports betting space, but I also have a background in finance and real estate. From what I’ve observed, there is definitely a higher percentage of sports bettors—by a wide margin—who are invested in Bitcoin compared to those in the other two sectors.

Bitcoin and Betting Today

Bitcoin is still the top withdrawal option for most offshore sportsbooks. Bookmaker.eu – one of the top offshore sportsbooks in the world - said that in 2015, when they first rolled out cryptocurrency options, only 8% of users received withdrawals via crypto.  As of today, that number was up to 90%.

Circa Resort in Las Vegas, which is known as having the best sportsbook in the United States, has a Bitcoin ATM located near their sportsbook.

With the current Bitcoin trend, it feels inevitable that it will continue to become more accepted and mainstream. I’d like to know the percentage of sports bettors that hold Bitcoin – I’d set the over/under at 70%.