Pinnacle Introduces Drone Racing Betting

Drone racing has become so popular that it now has a world championships, and you can bet on it. (Photo credit: legoalbert via Foter.com / CC BY)

You can add another sport to the constantly-growing list of things to bet on.

Pinnacle sportsbook, which was the first major operator to offer multiple markets on eSports betting, announced this month that it will be the first bookmaker to offer drone racing betting. The first Drone Racing World Championships will take place Oct. 20-22 at the Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii.

Pinnacle will offer odds on the outright winner to gauge interest in the betting market for drone racing, a sport that was recently featured on SportsIllustrated.com and will be televised extensively this fall on ESPN.

“Drone racing has come from nowhere to be ‘the next big thing’ in tech sports innovation,” said Pinnacle marketing director Harry Lang. “It’s fast-paced, hugely exciting and has a low barrier of entry for new competitors. Plus the capacity of drones to send live footage from within races makes for incredibly engaging streamed content.”

The popularity of drone racing has exploded primarily due to the rapid expansion of drone ownership worldwide, helped by significant reductions in drone size and cost. Backyard enthusiasts can now purchase professional-grade drones with high definition video cameras for less than $1,000, and train their skills towards competing in the world championships.

Luke Bannister is favoured to win the quad event at the drone racing world championships, paying close to even money on Pinnacle’s opening odds. The sportsbook’s lead drone trader said it was an exciting challenge to set odds on a new sport.

“What I was looking for was overall progress and possible improvement in piloting race-to-race, coupled with recent wins and overall rankings,” said the trader. “Using the information available, I was able to compile our opening odds. But given the high speed and constantly changing tracks, I’m expecting plenty of action from both drone experts and fans alike.”