Horse racing, football, cricket, and basketball are sports many of us will commonly associate with sports betting, and with good reason. Add in major competitions such as the Olympics, where bets can be made on the medal table and on the winners of each event, and you may think you have covered everything. The fascinating thing is that table tennis is fast becoming a popular sport for players to bet on, watch online, and follow from event to event.

Let’s take a look at why this is the case and what things look like for the future.

A Highly Accessible Sport

The popularity of table tennis in sports betting stems from the fact that it is a sport everyone is aware of, and anyone can play. With 300 million players active each and every year, table tennis is a sport that the vast majority of readers will have played at least once. Table tennis can be played just about anywhere, has virtually no space constraints, and is relatively cheap and affordable to start playing. It’s also a highly social game that is a great option for those who don’t want to take things too seriously all the time.

Alongside its accessibility lies its simplicity, and it’s this that makes it an attractive proposition for online sports betting. Whereas cricket can seem confusing to the uninitiated, and the archaic scoring system in tennis can be hard to grasp at first, table tennis is oh-so simple to follow. The first to 11 points with a two-point lead wins the game. That’s all there is to it, and it’s what makes table tennis so easy to bet on.

A Surprisingly Large Market

If you take just the European market, 15% of the total wagers that are made online are placed on table tennis matches. The growing media footprints of the European Table Tennis Championships and ITTF World Tour events are a major factor in this surprising growth, and it’s what has turned table tennis from a sport on the sidelines to one that is very much in the spotlight.

Players from around the world compete on a challenging and fast-paced tour, with plenty of media coverage available to stream online. Shoulder programming that allows fans to get to know their favourite players is also increasing in scope and depth all the time, showing a new audience a whole other side to the game. All of this has combined to make table tennis betting one of the fastest-growing niches in the world of online sports betting.

A Dynamic Game

A cricket match can last for a week, and a football match can hinge on one or two moments of drama during the course of several hours. In table tennis, the lead can change on a minute-by-minute basis, making the art of table tennis prediction a highly dynamic one. The energy and frenetic pace of the game is matched only by the speed with which the scores change and the odds adjust accordingly.

The dynamic nature of the sport means that in-play markets offer an interactive way to follow any given match, especially if it goes to a deciding set. Many online streams are now integrating displays of the in-play betting odds, and plenty of online betting platforms now offer integrated live streaming. Bringing the two together allows fans to enjoy a much more immersive experience without giving them a dilemma in the form of missing a highlight when they were elsewhere trying to place a bet.

A Viral Attraction

Live streams, in-play markets, sites like Sportsbet, and promotional content on YouTube each have their part to play in the growth of the sport, but there is a missing element we have not touched on yet: social media. Table tennis is such a quick and relatable game that it lends itself to Reels and Shorts like few other sports out there. From incredible trick shots to breathtaking cross-table return winners, they can go viral with the click of a button and a little bit of media know-how.

The viral nature of these types of clips means that top-tier table tennis talents are increasingly finding new audiences that their predecessors would never have dreamed of. Crossover content with media personalities and influencers is already proving popular, with many finding a synergy that they never thought would be possible. All of this brings more eyes to the sport and makes online players interested to learn more about the in-play betting options.

A Sports For Statisticians

Knowing the form of a particular player is one thing, but figuring out your own odds when they are faced with a player who is left-handed, has a unique serve, or is known to struggle under pressure is different. Players who want to bet on table tennis can spend considerable amounts of time analysing and assessing the relative abilities of two players who are about to square off against one another.

Much like US baseball fans are renowned for their love of statistics, table tennis fans and people who bet on the sport are starting to develop their own powerful datasets. The key point here is not that you have to devote your life to this pursuit if you want to win, but that the sport lends itself to a careful analysis rather than blind luck. Serious players who want to be able to dive into the details and really understand the game can then do so in an abstract way by looking at things such as return of serve percentages and tiebreak success rates.

Final Thoughts

Table tennis is a highly accessible, easy-to-follow sport that lends itself to viral content, frequent competition at the elite level, and in-play markets. When you put all of these elements together in the correct proportions, you are left with a sport that is fast becoming one of the most popular among people who want to place bets. It will certainly be interesting to see if the sport continues to grow now that major streaming platforms are looking to add live sports to their lineups.