In Game Sports Betting could well be coming to televised broadcasts of baseball games sooner than you think if the Sinclair Broadcast Group have anything to do with it. Sinclair recently acquired several regional sports networks from Disney and according to Reuters, if their CEO Chris Ripley has his way, in game betting on baseball could become a reality.
Based on pitch by pitch odds, Ripley eventually wants to follow the model currently ‘in play’ ( pun intended 🙂 ) throughout televised sports broadcasts in Europe.
With Ripley being quoted as saying: “If you’re interested in gaming, we’re going to add on extra stats, the ability to do prop bets in the game, pitch by pitch, play by play. You can play along and wager while you watch.”
If Ripley does get his way, this won’t affect every team, with Craig Edwards of FanGraphs determining that 14 teams could feature televised in play betting.
Teams to be included would feature those whose games are broadcast on the networks that Sinclair Broadcast Group have purchased. St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels are two such teams that would be part of the 14 teams identified by FanGraphs.
Only last November Major League Baseball announced a partnership with MGM Resorts International and as such it now appears that the MLB are ready to embrace sports betting with open arms.
The jury is out though however, whether viewers and fans of the game will be of the same view as Major League Baseball.
