In August, there were more bets on table tennis than on soccer, tennis, basketball and football.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon sports bettors made history last month by wagering $9.1 million on table tennis, believed to be the largest amount wagered on the sport in a single month since the Oregon Lottery began offering sports betting in 2019.
In August, table tennis was the second-most popular sport in Oregon, behind baseball, which drew $22 million in bets, according to data from the Oregon Lottery.
In August, there were more bets on table tennis than on soccer, tennis, basketball or American football. The NFL and NBA were in the off-season.
Last month, a KGW investigation looked into the growing phenomenon behind table tennis gambling. Matches play out 24 hours a day, with new matches starting every few minutes. Unlike other sports, there's always action. Matches don't last long, and betting lines change rapidly during a game.
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The games are streamed on YouTube and betting platforms like DraftKings. There are no announcers or fans. They usually take place in bleak gyms in Eastern Europe, with a single scorekeeper manually flipping through numbers. The players are some young, some old, and of all skill levels.
“This is like the crack cocaine of sports betting,” said Dr. Ken Pendleton of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Program.
The researchers suggest that people who bet on table tennis are attracted to the fast, continuous action, similar to video poker or slot machines.
“The data shows that bookmakers in Oregon, DraftKings and other states are making a lot of money off this, and it does seem like there's a problem,” Pendleton said.
