Sports Betting And Amazon Prime’s Premier League Streaming

• Amazon Prime bought the rights to stream 20 Premier League games for three years in the U.K.
• Allowing residents of the country access to view more games could lead to more gamblers interested in wagering on them.
• The last ten games of the year to be streamed by Amazon will be available Dec. 26-27.

LOS ANGELES – Amazon Prime’s Premier League streaming could have an effect on the sports betting world. English Premier League games will be available for all Prime members residing in the U.K.

The partnership consists of a three-year deal that will allow Amazon to air 20 games each season with the use of the Prime Video feature on their website. The first ten games will air between Dec. 3-5.

This new feature should prove to be lucrative for Amazon as the U.K. only allows less than half of the annual 380 games played to be aired on any sort of network. The reason behind the lack of viewing capabilities is to keep the fans wanting to go to the stadiums for matches rather than watch them elsewhere. The twenty games for the year that are allowed in their contract will all take place in December.

“A lot of people will consume the same Amazon Prime product without hearing a single word we say in the communal environment in a pub,” said commentator Clive Tyldesley about the new streaming deal. “Some people will watch bits of it on their phone. Some people will watch it on a train on an iPad.

The Sports Betting Aspect

With 20 games available for Prime customers to view, this will likely cause an influx of sports betting action to take place. Many bettors enjoy wagering on matches that they are able to watch. Due to the U.K. making it difficult to view these games during the rest of the year, having the chance to see 20 of them in one month alone will allow gamblers the chance to put money on games they might not have if they were not able to watch them.

Live in-game betting is also more likely to take place now that gamblers will have the ability to watch the games they are wagering on. Sky Sports and BT Sport are the other two services to offer matches for viewing in the country. While Amazon is only offering this service in the U.K., bookmakers in the country expect to see a spike in sports wagering.

Other countries are not banned from viewing these games which is the reason why Amazon set up the partnership the way it did. Amazon will only be allowed to stream midweek games due to the legalities of afternoon weekend games in the country being blacked out by all operators.

Boosts in midweek wagers when these games air are likely, especially now that there are three separate companies that will be showing matches. Amazon is the first internet service to offer streaming of the English Premier League. After the results are in for the year, other companies like that of Netflix or YouTube may be interested in striking similar deals.

If Amazon alone or other streaming businesses decide to continue to air these games, it will likely lead to higher prices for television networks that have access to airing matches on their networks. Inevitably, this will not only increase the sports betting revenue aspect but also the monetary gain for the league itself.

News tags: Amazon Prime | BT Sport | Clive Tyldesley | English Premier League | Netflix | Sky Sports | YouTube