Will Pipeline be a big hit with bettors? If John John Florence is in a heat, for sure. Photo: Brent Bielmann//World Surf League
Can surfing grow far beyond its core coastal audience? It’s a question the World Surf League (WSL) faces in its quest to improve its bottom line. While core surf fans are happy to tune into webcasts and fork over dollars for their favorite surfer’s lycra, the average Joe sports fan in middle America generally doesn’t give a damn who is dropping in at Pipeline. But would they care if their wallet depended on it? That’s what the WSL is hoping for.
In 2023, the WSL inked a deal with ALT Sports Data to “unlock new markets in the world of regulated sports betting” – a burgeoning industry in the U.S. unleashed by a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that handed sports gambling laws over to the states. Since then, a dizzying flurry of state gambling regulations and legislation have been passed that allow sports betting to varying degrees. Gambling in the States is now open for business and all the major leagues are rushing in to get a piece of the $11 billion pie.
“My ultimate goal is: How do I get people in middle America who don’t surf to want to care about surfers’ names and stats as they do about the five big sports?” said Todd Ballard, the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ALT Sports Data. “The analogy I always use is the Kentucky Derby; if we didn’t have two bucks on a horse, the Kentucky Derby wouldn’t be the Kentucky Derby.”
Sports gambling is now legal in 30 states – not including California, the biggest potential market. However, in California, it’s legal to place “daily fantasy sports” bets where athletes are ranked on their individual performances.
ALT Sports Data is the liaison between the WSL and the sportsbooks – sites such as DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, and bet365. They ingest the WSL’s scoring feed in real time, analyze it, and create markets via probabilities that they offer to the books. ALT Sports Data and the WSL have taken a cautious entry into the market, starting with more basic fantasy surfing bets limited to Championship Tour (CT) events. But the idea is to ramp up the offering in 2025 to anything objective on the CT: Who caught more waves? Will the next wave be a left or right? Will the next wave be higher than a 7? (Interestingly, it’s illegal to bet on athletes under 18, so no wagers on Erin Brooks.)
Ballard couldn’t disclose the terms of the partnership with the WSL, but it appears to be a type of revenue share. Both parties are “invested in growing (the business),” he says.
The Consequences
I’m incessantly bombarded with ads imploring me to jump into gambling, often offering “free” money for creating an account on the sportsbooks. Even surf media are acting as advertising arms of the books, giving readers recommended bets to place. But as a die-hard NBA fan, I’ve seen the dangers of a sport getting in bed with gambling. An NBA referee was caught fixing games and, as recently as this year, a player was banned from the league for life when it was discovered he was feeding inside information to bettors. And even on a legal level, top NBA journalists, who can influence betting odds with a simple tweet, are puzzlingly sponsored by the sportsbooks. The conflict of interest is egregious, but not illegal.
The new frontier of sports gambling has also affected the fans who play. In 2021, calls to the gambling addiction helplines at the National Council on Problem Gambling increased by 43 percent. Research done by the Florida Council in 2021 and 2022 in states where gambling was legalized found that the age of helpline callers is trending younger and that 24 percent of callers had suicidal thoughts – a 50 percent increase from the previous fiscal year.
So when I see the WSL getting more involved in online gambling, I can’t help but wonder if surfing is set on a crash course with the industry’s dark side. Or is there a way for a small, niche sport like surfing to insulate itself from the inherent threat to its integrity and fans?
“A lot of young people think this (gambling) stuff is harmless, and for a majority, it probably is,” Dr. Lia Nower, the Director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University told me via phone call. “But the younger you start, and the more you get hooked, the more likely you are to have a lifelong problem. There’s a small upside and a really big downside.”
In researching this story, I spoke with several surfers who had bet on surfing in the U.S. I discovered a common thread: Surf fans feel smarter than the house because they follow surfing. It’s an assumption that Nower says is a common fallacy in sports gambling.
“We have found that there are mathematicians who understand statistics and odds of different sports, and those people tend to have slightly better payoffs,” said Nower. “But remember, with sports wagering, 70 percent of all bets lose. And if you’re looking at parlays (multiple bets tied into one), that can be closer to 90 percent. There’s not a whole lot of margin for winning. Even if you are a person who mathematically does better, you can eke out a few wins and make a little bit more than you lose, but you’re not going to get rich.”
Ballard tends to agree with the surf bettors I spoke to in that core fans have an edge over the books.
“The idea is to get more general consumers playing, which brings more attention to the sport and the core surf fans still feel like they have an opportunity to outsmart the book,” said Ballard.
Ballard stresses that betting doesn’t have to be about getting rich. It’s simply a way to get fans more engaged by having a few bucks at stake – a potential antidote to those pesky lulls in surfing that leave all but the most core fans yawning. Nower counters that in-game betting, which the WSL is trending towards, is particularly dangerous due to more impulsive decisions made without prior research, often mixed with alcohol.
Erin Brooks won’t be able to have money placed on her performances for another year. Photo: Matt Dunbar//WSL
The Future
According to Ballard, the WSL’s approach to gambling has been measured and conservative, with careful adherence to all regulations. Plus, they don’t offer bets that would frame athletes in a negative light – such as how many times a surfer will fall. ALT Sports Data has invested in website content to educate users on responsible gambling, but nothing of this nature is generally published on the WSL’s site. As Ballard points out, the responsibility of identifying and/or cutting off problem gamblers is done at the book level. The sports leagues don’t have access to that information.
When reached for comment about their thoughts on the future of surf gambling, WSL’s Chief Revenue Officer Cherie Cohen said, “We’re always looking at different ways we can engage fans and partners each season. Sports betting is a really interesting space for our sport…Through these efforts, global sportsbooks like bet365 offer fans opportunities to engage with the WSL in real time. As more markets legalize sports betting, we look forward to expanding in this space.”
Ballard couldn’t share any numbers on the volume of surfing bets they’ve received since the formation of their WSL partnership, but he said the level of betting is still relatively low and it’s not yet “making money.” Still, he’s optimistic of where it could lead.
“Is WSL going to be like the NFL? Probably not,” said Ballard. “I think anyone’s crazy to think that. But could it be the size of a PGA? I think it absolutely could. I think the Olympics are helping a lot. And I think a (lack) of engagement for the average young person to sit and watch a 30-minute heat with (only) 90 seconds of surfing will help a lot. It creates gamification within a heat.”
Looking toward the future, Nower speculates that more state regulation is likely on the way to limit the potential financial harm that can be done to gamblers. Looking at Australia, a parallel case study where sports gambling has long been legal, the government ended up limiting the amount of TV advertising sportsbooks can do and requiring gamblers to set an annual deposit limit.
But Nower, whose ears perked up when I told her surfing was jumping into the betting fray, observed that individual sports like surfing are at high risk of being tainted by betting. Influencing a heat to make a bet hit would be quite simple. I don’t think the payouts are worth the potential risks yet, but it certainly could be someday. It just happened in the NBA. Surfing isn’t immune.
Once viewed as taboo in sports, gambling is now a new revenue source for sports leagues. No one denies the baggage that comes with gambling, but the question is to what extent it will influence our small sport of surfing. Whatever the future advantages or consequences may be, surfing and gambling are tied at the hip now. Will it be the key to engaging new fans? A source of financial stress for impulsive fans? A new, fun way to watch a broadcast? Maybe it’ll be all of that. Or none. But one thing is certain: There’s more of it on the way for the 2025 season.
