May has arrived and football leagues around Europe should be reaching an exciting climax. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to that though. Instead of cheering on Liverpool, Barcelona or Juventus, football fans and bookmakers are having to concentrate on FC Slutsk and Belshina. The focus is on the Belarus Premier League but why?
We are living in times that none of us have ever experienced before. The High Street bookmakers are among the many that are currently closed. We must go online to make our bets but on teams we probably had never heard of until a few weeks ago. If you have been used to gambling at High Street bookmakers rather than online, you might need some help. There are sites that you can visit and you can find tips and advice here for a whole range of sports betting options.
As 2020 began, there were some news stories coming out of China about a new virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world and as the weeks went by, the fear of infection led to sport being affected as never seen before in peace time. In the past we’d had Bird Flu and SARS but never was there a thought it would cause sport to be suspended. That’s what happened in China though but still football in Europe continued giving online punters plenty to bet on.
It was in March when the whole situation suddenly changed. Players in Italy began to test positive for the virus leading to Serie A games either being postponed or played behind closed doors. In England, the owner of Nottingham Forest tested positive and then so did Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. I was the lull before the storm and soon it was announced that leagues across Europe would be suspended due to the pandemic.
America’s Major League Soccer followed suit just a few games into the new season. As the days went by, more and more leagues announced they would be suspending games for at least a month or so. With the pandemic spreading around the world, we all guessed that it would be months before games would start again.
Fans were left in shock that their favourite leagues had been suspended. It was like a snowy weekend in January that caused mass postponements. If the fans were upset, those running online sportsbooks were devastated.
Football is the sport that gamblers wager most money on. Suddenly, online bookmakers expecting lots of bets to be placed on the major leagues around the world saw that potential revenue taken away from them.
There were still some leagues being played, including in Australia and South America. These leagues supplied some betting opportunities for customers but not for long as those countries also suspended their leagues.
It wasn’t until the second half of March that the Belarus Premier League’s new season began. They hadn’t been hit too hard by the virus and suddenly, online bookmakers saw a league that they could focus on.
There have been regular games played in the Belarus Premier League despite calls for them to be called off. The past few weeks have now seen teams such as Neman Grondo and Dinamo Minsk become well-known to gamblers. Previously, the best-known clubs were BATE Borisov and Dinamo Brest from their games in the Champions and Europa League.
Online gambling sites have been quick to offer odds on the games with a three-figure number of different betting markets. Promotions have been used on the games such as enhanced odds. With the internet being full of sites that offer statistics for teams all over the world, adapting to betting on Vitebsk and Smolevichi has been an easy task.
How long this situation will continue isn’t known. Already, France and the Netherlands have ended their current season so there’ll be no games for the bookmakers to offer odds on. There are hopes that the German Bundesliga, English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A and La Liga in Spain may resume in May and June. Until then, online bookmakers will have to rely on the Belarus Premier League as its main betting option. There are virtual football games to bet on but it’s not the same is it?
Perhaps in a few weeks time, the importance of the Belarus Premier League will begin to fade. We can get back to betting on Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. It’s unlikely though that online bookmakers will forget the debt of gratitude they owe to teams such as FC Minsk and Slavia Mozyr.
