A month into the season, the XFL has steadily been exceeding expectations with bookmakers. After week one, we learned of the massive handle the league generated in comparison to last year’s Alliance of American Football. Now, sportsbooks are realizing their initial comparisons to 2019’s now-defunct AAF was the wrong way to go about things.
According to a report from Eric Raskin of USBets.com the XFL has “kept the tangible and virtual ticket windows busier than bookmakers anticipated.”
That anticipation was based on the sportsbooks business that was done during the AAF’s eight-week run last year post-Super Bowl. Raskins says the XFL is presenting a pro football alternative in ways the AAF never did.
There is several factors that have made the XFL a much cleaner, more engaging product than the AAF. But the major factors on gambling point to the league’s embrace of betting on its broadcasts, and its accessibility to casual football fans in finding games on the television dial.
Initial curiosity can really provide a boost in a league’s first few weeks, it’ll be much more interesting to see what kind of handle sportsbook do late in the XFL season and during the XFL Playoffs, those numbers can help provide more of a forecast for the XFL’s longevity in the sports betting community.
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