Tomorrow marks the restart of English Premier League (EPL) soccer, three months after it was suspended because of the coronavirus. Like all major sports organizations, including the NBA, the NHL, Bundesliga and plenty more, the EPL has suffered economic losses that are going to require years to recuperate, but the process toward stabilization is now ready to begin. With the relaunch of EPL soccer, sportsbooks are becoming increasingly happier, as they are slowly able to offer a wider selection of options to keep sports gambling fans entertained.
In late May, the EPL announced that games would be coming back sometime this month, and it has been able to maintain its plans. Matches will be a little unusual, at least for now, because there won’t be any fans allowed at the stadiums. However, at least there will be plenty of TV coverage, which means soccer fans can catch all the action from home. When they do, they will also witness a first for professional sports, as EPL TV broadcasts are going to include crowd noise soundtracks that were created for video games, such as EA Sports’ FIFA games. Over 800 different sound clips are now ready to be used with the TV coverage, a small consolation that is designed to offer a near-real soccer viewing experience at home.
In England, sportsbooks and gambling shops began opening their doors yesterday, ready to offer lines on EPL matches, which has historically been the most popular sports league in the world for gamblers. In addition, the Royal Ascot horse racing festival, which begins today and runs through the end of the week, is going to help gambling shops start their economic recovery.
William Hill UK now has 734 shops open out of the 1,538 it operates, and Ladbrokes Coral has all of its 2,445 gambling venues operational. According to Ladbrokes Coral PR Director Simon Claire, in speaking with Racing TV, “We are seeing plenty of our regular customers returning, and they are playing their part too, showing patience queuing for the counter to put their bets on, adhering to the social distancing measures and, when necessary, queueing outside the shop.”