For many, turning up to the bookies and placing wagers is very much a thing of the past. Online casinos and sportsbooks have exploded in popularity in recent years and completely transformed the landscape of betting for millions around the world. It has offered the chance to tap into markets you otherwise would never have come across, build your own very personalized bets, and quickly place bets from the comfort of your own home. They have expanded the horizon for punters beyond anything that traditional bookmaker shops could ever have offered, and the internet, along with technological advancements, has allowed for this huge growth in the industry. These advancements have offered online betting the advantage of exclusivity, but what markets can you only find online? We are taking a look at the kind of wagers that you can only exclusively back on online sportsbook platforms.
1.In Play/Real Time Wagers
In-play bets have become huge in recent years. They allow players to place micro-bets at a rapid rate throughout the given event. These bets can be placed in real time and can be altered throughout a given match or fight. This allows those engaging in the sport to not only watch and enjoy the game but also have the added thrill of having money placed on certain events unfolding. For many, this makes watching games they would otherwise not be interested in much more exciting.
This type of betting requires the gambling platforms to be up to date on the game with in-game data and automatic updates, which betting shops simply cannot typically keep up with. This immediacy is something many in the digital world seek.
The top 10 UK betting sites will offer this kind of betting with extensive markets and worthy promotions on in-game play, such as who will win the next point in a tennis match, who will receive the next yellow card in a football match, and whether it will be a run or a pass in the NFL.
2.E-Sports
Whilst increasingly the markets of traditional betting shops are broadening to encompass the growing trends in the gambling population, some markets are exclusively an internet-only affair. The global popularity of Esports has been something to behold in recent years as gamers have turned an innocent hobby into a lucrative business, estimated to be worth more than the $2.4 billion noted in 2024 by the end of 2025.
Punters can easily wager on a variety of different esports markets now, from map winners, kill totals, to first blood outcomes. This is digital on digital and very much appeals to younger audiences who are less inclined to wager on traditional football coupons. It very much could be the future for many online gambling platforms.
3.Analysis Driven Data Bets
As the broader online sportsbook market has become much more competitive in recent years, with an estimated over 17,000 different online sportsbooks available to punters around the world, more niche markets have continually kept cropping up as viable betting options. These have become increasingly niche for the layman, but for those interested, it has opened up lots of different betting opportunities which have evolved along with the data that matches them. Much of sport is now data and analysis-driven, with teams and fans alike using expected goals and speed metrics as normalised language when analysing games.
Whilst much of betting is about being informed about your choices and using astute betting strategies for success, many have now taken to extended analysis as an avenue for extra wagers. Online bookies are now offering gamblers wagers such as PER or usage rate in basketball, xG (expected goals) in football, and speed metrics in tennis or the NFL. These sorts of bets rely on in-game availability and continuously up-to-date data, which is only really available to bettors on online platforms.
