Is There Room in Facebook Sports Stadium for Punters?

Facebook describes its new Facebook Sports Stadium as a dedicated place to experience sports in real-time with friends and the world: so what does that actually mean, and could this type of community be organic enough to originate new betting formats?

The “Stadium”

According to Facebook, it has created the world's largest sports stadium for its 650 million sports fans by putting all game-related content in one place, where said content appears chronologically and in real time.

Content

Content includes posts from friends, including their running commentary on plays; posts and commentary from experts such as like teams, leagues and journalists, with corresponding easy access to their Facebook pages, live scores, stats and play-by-play; relevant game info such as where to find the game on TV.

Interface

The site further provides a portal for following the action according to the live play-by-play update format which already exists on most sports news and betting sites.

The FB innovation would be the new ability to like, comment on, and share individual plays. This is where the possibilities become interesting.

Punting Possibilities

What if you could make up your own in-play bets as the situations arise in a comment box or via a like format, where friends could instantly react to your proposed wager with likes if they wanted to take the in-play wager, with the in-play wager being posted as a comment inviting others to pick up the challenge?

Or what if your specific team page could generate fantasy leagues based on the shared interests that your friends have, so that fantasy leagues could be drafted not according to teams, but according to preferences such as preferred teams, players, statistics or metric odds systems?

Interactive Speculation

Consider this a playful conjecture, because Facebook has not integrated betting, nor is there any reason nor indication to believe it ever would in the future. However, the concept of a second screen interaction that prompts customized wagers from customized content is the new innovation suggested by Facebook that could have ramifications for operator betting formats: imagine, punters joining all manner of communities of shared preference betting, or inviting their friends from other social networks to join their online betting groups.

Wager Groups

If operators can convert likes into punts, it might be possible for sports wager enthusiasts to bond into lifelong friendships, or provide new levels of online sporting interaction among friends via the thrill of innovative sports betting.