Are you aware of jet lag studies? Do you know how much time zones affect your favorite athletes? Are you looking for overlooked leverage? Then join us in this brief breakdown of the time zone impacts on sports betting. See how far you can take your time zone advantage and whether there is any room for time-based betting choices in a fully digital world. All of this and more in a matter of minutes.
Anyone who has travelled is aware of the incredibly potent effect of jet lag. The latter affects everyone, even incredibly physically fit athletes. Seeing these giants of endurance and ability cave to jet lag naturally raises the question: Does betting against jet-lagged players give you an advantage? Moreover, does betting with time zone leverage give you an advantage not only over the jet-lagged players but also the sports betting platforms that organize the associated betting markets? Join us as we answer these and other questions in this breakdown of clever time zone usage for your next sports betting adventure.
Various sports clubs around the world have invested heavily in researching and mitigating jet lag. Some of the biggest names in this field include:
While these studies proved that time zone crossing is usually detrimental to a team's performance, there were many that wondered how great these effects actually were. Well, on the field, performance showed that players who had their natural clock, so their circadian rhythm, ruined by a drastic change in the day and night time cycle, were not only less efficient but also more irritable. The underlying lack of sleep worsened performance, made for more difficult team building, and quite possibly resulted in losses where wins were on the horizon. But did betting markets see this coming?
It is no secret that odds setters have some of the best analysts on the planet, some rivaling the masters of Wall Street. However, even the best analyst is human. While jet lag and time zone-based disruptions are often factored in, they are sometimes overlooked. This is especially true when the direction of travel, rest days, altitude, and an individual player’s sleeping patterns are overlooked.
But that is not all! These contextual edges that we have mentioned are joined by simple time zone delays. If a betting platform is based in Central Europe and it wants to include North American matches, it has to account for a 6-hour time difference (negative) for the East Coast and a 9-hour time difference (negative) for the West Coast of the US. An operator that has only EU-based employees can, therefore, run into issues of fatigue that lead to odds not being adjusted appropriately simply because the latest sports development slipped past a tired employee.
While these situations are less likely in today's tech-based world, they are not unheard of. You should, therefore, keep an eye out for such slipups in betting markets. Information is, after all, king, and there is no reason that you should not base your betting decisions on the latest sports news and slipups.
If you want to truly press this angle of time zone usage, you need to target sports whose models and markets update with delays. We are talking about niche sports that few bet on, such as table tennis, badminton, squash, and field hockey. These sports are engaging and offer the same highs and lows as football or basketball, but with fewer eyes and less strict betting markets. Fewer eyes on the prize means less oversight and more potential opportunities for the sports betting options that you have only dreamed of. Moreover, sportsbooks will be happy to see that you engage with their less popular offerings, potentially even sending a bonus or two your way.
But betting on overlooked sports markets that are updated with delays is not the only advantage that arises from leveraging time zones. You can also take advantage of how operators in different time zones update their odds. Let us explain this with an example. If you are looking to place in-play bets on an American-based sports match, open a European betting site and an American betting site. The American one might update its odds faster than the European one, giving you a brief insight into where the data is pointing. This look at the betting market effects of the latest news or development may mean all the difference in your gambling session.
While there are multiple clever ways to leverage time zones to your advantage, ranging from observing overlooked jet lag and time zone change nuances to betting on foreign market adjustments that precede your local ones, our final recommendation stays classic. We recommend that you load up one of our recommended online sportsbooks, pick your favorite sport, place a relaxed bet, and watch an unforgettable sports match take place. You may win, you may lose, but you will definitely have a new experience regardless of the outcome.
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