When it comes to motorsports, NASCAR plays a huge role, especially in the United States. However, the growth of the sport is heavily tied to its betting counterpart. Basically, as the sport becomes legal to bet on, it will increase its viewers just because people would want to watch it more.
With that said, the situation with NASCAR betting isn’t on the same level as other sports. Even though you can place bets on NASCAR, there are certain places in the US that still don’t allow betting on this exciting sport.
However, as the popularity of the sport increases and it grows the revenue generated from betting, certain states are changing their laws and including this amazing motorsport in the betting action. Many online bookies already allow it and you just have to know whether they are legal in your state or country, if you live abroad.
This can be a huge help for NASCAR and may well be a way for the sport to increase its popularity, whose current season ends in November 2022.
Can you Bet on NASCAR Races?
Well, the short answer to this question is yes. At this time where we have countless online bookmakers, you can certainly find anything to bet on, including NASCAR races. However, betting on this sport isn’t still legal in every state in the US.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn PASPA in 2018, the power of legalizing betting was turned to individual states to regulate sports betting as they wish. Many of them took this opportunity to legalize online betting and include other sports in the mixture which brought in a lot of traffic in the gambling sector.
However, not every state took this opportunity and legalize betting on NASCAR races in the United States.
Nevada was one of the first states that allowed NASCAR betting, and after the Court’s ruling others joined the journey. As of now, NASCAR betting is available both in person and online for people living in Wyoming, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan, and only in-person betting is allowed at Washington, Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
With that said, most of the United States allows people to bet on NASCAR races. However, with the growth of the betting revenue in NASCAR races, other states are also considering allowing betting on such races.
So, if you live in a state without a legal sportsbook, the best thing is to refrain from betting until laws change.
How Popular is NASCAR Betting?
Even though most states allow betting on NASCAR, it is not one of the most popular sports to bet on. If we look at numbers from one of the biggest NASCAR betting centers in the US – Nevada, we can see that it isn’t a popular sport to bet on.
In fact, in the last couple of years, Basketball generated around $87 million in profits, football has around $50 million, $40 million goes to pari-mutuel horse racing and $36 million for baseball.
NASCAR was put in the “other” category with other sports like boxing, mixed martial arts, soccer, tennis, and golf, which generated a total profit of $32 million, and NASCAR wasn’t a huge portion of that.
How does NASCAR Betting work?
Unlike other more popular sports like football or basketball, NASCAR doesn’t have huge odds menus to choose from. Usually, there are a handful of different wagers for each race often displayed in American odds.
Here are the most popular wagers you can choose from.
Race Winner
This is the simplest and easiest-to-understand bet on NASCAR. Just like in horse racing, your job here is to predict the winner of the race. The odds for this bet are depending on the current form of the driver and track history, but numbers usually move since fans want to bet on their favorite driver.
Head-to-Head
This is an interesting bet that can spice things up in a race. Head-to-head betting is essentially betting between two drivers who will finish ahead of the other. Each driver will have an odd value assigned to them based on his pace and recent form.
Finish Props
Predicting the winner in NASCAR races sometimes is really difficult, which is where this wager comes in handy. You can bet on a driver finishing in the Top 3, Top 5, and Top 10 drivers in a race.
Live Betting
Live betting is also very popular in NASCAR, and it is also known as in-play wagering. Most bookmakers allow you to place bets even when the race has already started. The odds of the live wagers depend on what’s happening on the track, and this is one of the most popular types of betting in NASCAR.
Final Words
NASCAR betting is certainly growing both in revenue and in states that allow NASCAR betting. The legalization of NASCAR betting helps the sport increase its audience just because many people would love to watch the races that wagered some money on.
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