In a world of 24-hour news coverage and sporting fixtures taking place every day, there’s never been more sport on display. Even as a sport fan, I have to admit, I’m often unaware that an event is even taking place, particularly on weekday evenings. Which is why, in my view, there’s never been a more important time to utilise reliable sporting mobile apps – particularly for those of you who like to place online sports bets.
The power of online sports bets
According to the Government’s Gambling Commission, remote gambling (which includes online) grosses more than any type of gambling in the UK. Between April 2017 and March 2018, £5.4bn was spent in online gambling, in Great Britain alone. Sports betting is a powerhouse industry, and if you’re going to ensure that you make the most from your free online sports bets, you need some solid apps to keep you in the loop.
Which is why, here at Luxury Lifestyle Magazine, we’re bringing you the four best sporting mobile apps to download in 2019, to help you promote your online sports bets from the lower leagues to the top-flight.
ESPN
The great thing about placing online sports bets is that, of course, you’re not limited solely to the action in your country. In the United States, there’s a huge market in betting across all sports, including at college level – where the UK market is non-existent. ESPN has long held a position as the reporting authority on all things American sport, and their app is outstanding at keeping you up to date with all the relevant information.
As well as the top-class reporting and analysis experience that comes as standard, the ESPN app also allows you to customise based on your interests. If you have a favoured team, sport, or athlete to place your online sports bets or read about, then you can customise the app to provide you that information first and foremost, allowing you to become the best-informed US sports fan in the whole of the UK. The app also allows you to subscribe to its streaming service, meaning that, if you so desired, you can subscribe to the US channel’s sports coverage for as little as $5 a month.
theScore
theScore claims boldly on its website to be ‘the only sports app you need’, but, for once, a marketing message seems to live up to its slogan. Like ESPN, the app offers all of the standard fare you’d expect from a sports news product, including live score updates and breaking news.
However, where theScore really comes into its own is its detailed statistical analysis. Like with ESPN, you can custimose your app to give you priority information on specific teams and sports, but also on individual athletes. If you’ve got money down on Steph Curry to score a double-double, you can specifically highlight his individual player profile to ensure you’re receiving all of the up-to-date information on his performances, on a play-by-play basis. This proves to be an incredibly useful tool if you’re taking players and teams with the intent of placing future online sports bets on them.
LiveScore
LiveScore is a statistician’s dream, and a worthy addition to your app selection. An information-rich app that prefers style over substance, the simple to navigate design provides you with one of the best overview apps on the market. Covering all leagues in major professional sports like football, tennis, hockey and basketball, LiveScore provides up-to-the minute information and in-depth statistics on any game there’s an online sports bet market for.
What sets it apart from other score aggregator apps is surely its ball tracker feature, though, which allows the user to check the passage of the ball on the field. If you’re looking for a late goal to swing a bet, or checking up on your accumulator, you can track the territory of play to give you the best information possible, without actually watching the game live. In addition, you can favourite certain fixtures to ensure you receive push notifications straight to your home screen, which is perfect if you’re trying to follow the game while on the move.
BBC Sport
Innovations may be somewhat lacking in the Beeb’s app, but one thing you can be sure of, that you can’t with many other apps, is that it’s free from advertising or narrative control. As a result, if you’re looking for fair, unbiased analysis of upcoming and past games, they’re your best bet.
The app is story-heavy, so it serves more as a information hub than a statistics vehicle, but understanding the narratives, as well as injury news and team selection, is very important if you’re going to place the best online sports bets.
