Colorado bettors have a peculiar affinity for ping-pong, otherwise known as table tennis.
Jackson Wieger, who writes about the sport for DenverSportsBetting.com, is one of them. He told Yahoo Sports that it didn’t matter that the matches are played in a faraway country and that he often bet without much information.
“It kind of makes it exciting,” he said. “There’s a lot of volatility.”
In the Centennial State, Wieger isn’t an outlier. The state’s fascination with table tennis got its start during Covid-19, when almost no major league sports were active. But it’s still flourishing, and for several months this year, it was the fourth-most bet sport.
BetMGM Vice President of Trading Jason Scott admits to being confused. “I’m probably as shocked as the rest of the gambling community,” he said. “Once sports came back, I thought it would disappear off the map. It’s crazy.”
One thing ping-pong has going for it is the fast pace. Most games last no more than 15 minutes. There are many to bet on, too. If you want a change of pace, you can wager on sets. Another Colorado journalist who covers Ping-Pong, Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, said, “You play the slots, it’s purely a game of chance. Sports betting can be a game of skill to a point. With table tennis, you can play it like you’re rolling the dice or pulling a slot lever. You’re betting on some random Russian dude.”
Another odd fact about the ping-pong sports betting phenomenon is that while plenty of people bet on it, they don’t talk it about. According to McCormick-Cavanagh, there’s little data about active bettors, because they’re embarrassed to talk about it.
