Betfair, one of the UK’s largest betting exchanges, will be breaking new ground in the sports betting world when it offers wagers on professional drone racing later this month. The company recently signed a deal with the Drone Racing League (DRL) to provide wagering services for its Allianz World Championship.
The Allianz World Championship is a new event and is actually the first professional drone race to be held in UK. Drone racers, and fans of drone racing, will be gathering at London’s Alexandra Palace on June 13 to watch the event, which is being held in conjunction with London Tech Week.
Punters who are interested in wagering on the drone racing will be able to place their bets both on site at Alexandra Palace, as well as online. At this point it appears that wagers will only be accepted for the final race.
Betfair’s move to offer drone racing markets isn’t surprising given that bookmakers are always looking for new markets.
In a statement to the media, as reported on by Legal Sports Report, DRL CEO and founder Nicholas Horbaczewski touted the potential excitement offered by drone racing saying:
Drone racing is a sport made for betting. It combines the raw thrill of short track racing with the complexity and strategy of motor sports.
While this is the first time a UK operator has offered wagering on live drone racing, it’s not the first time any operator has taken a run at the drone racing market. That honor belongs to Pinnacle, which offered the first, official, drone racing wagers last year.