Cincinnati Bengals fans have nothing left to root for this football season. That is not anything new.
However, come springtime the Bengals will finally be number one at something: The NFL Draft.
Indiana will offer NFL Draft betting in 2020
Fans and pundits alike are already buzzing about Cincinnati’s top pick. The presumption is that the squad will take LSU standout quarterback Joe Burrow. The Heisman Trophy winner is the presumable number-one pick, especially when you consider Cincinnati’s struggles at the position this past season.
If the top pick wasn’t exciting enough for Bengals fans, there is something else to be excited about. The Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) has already preapproved NFL Draft betting. That means fans can revel in a great new player coming to Ohio and potentially make a couple of bucks off of it too.
Burrow the overwhelming favorite at IN sportsbooks
The Draft does not get underway until April 23, but several Indiana sportsbooks are already posting odds on the draft board.
Both DraftKings and FanDuel have Burrow as the heavy favorite, with betting odds of -1,250 and -1,150 respectively. Other names on the odds board include:
- Chase Young (+500 and +550)
- Tua Tagovailoa (+1,600 and +1,200)
- Justin Herbert (+2,500 and +1,700)
The heavy odds on Burrow mean, if the Bengals do go for him with the number-one draft pick, you won’t get a ton of bang for your buck. Nonetheless, it is an important milestone for the new Indiana sports betting market to even take bets on a non-sporting event such as the Draft.
This is not the only sports league draft the state regulators have preapproved betting action on either. Other drafts cleared for Indiana wagering include:
- MLB Draft
- NBA Draft
- NHL Draft
- WNBA Draft
Other alternative betting markets in Indiana
For many years, Nevada did not take wagers on non-sporting events like the NFL Draft. Other amateur sporting events like the Olympics were also off-limits in Las Vegas until recently. However, as the number with states with regulated sports betting grows, jurisdictions are becoming increasingly willing to test out new betting markets.
So far it appears as though the IGC is taking a cue from New Jersey rather than Nevada when it comes to offering betting markets on these alternative markets. Winter and Summer Olympics, for example, are already clear for wagering, as are the Olympic trials.
With so many experimental markets, it is entirely possible Indiana could consider offering something like betting on the Academy Awards. The state regulations allow room for sportsbooks to petition the IGC to offer wagers on non-sporting events so long as they:
- The outcome can be verified
- The outcome can be generated by a reliable and independent process
- The outcome is not affected by any wager placed
- The event is conducted in conformity with all applicable laws
If it sounds like the 2020 presidential election qualifies, think again. There is a federal law in place in the United States that expressly prohibits wagering on U.S. elections. While there is legal betting on elections in some European markets like the United Kingdom, America will almost certainly not take legal bets on the next President of the United States.
