Guide to Moving for Sports Bettors
Are you moving to a different state, or maybe even a different country soon? During a big move, you are probably focused mostly on other things. But if you love to bet on sports, you should consider how moving will impact you.
Plus, if you bet on sports professionally, having any disruption to your ability to bet means an interruption in your income.
This is something you might not even think about before you move. But if you do not plan ahead, you could find yourself in a bind once you arrive at your new location.
This guide is going to go over the potential pitfalls of moving for sports bettors. We will walk you through steps to take before, during and after the moving process to ensure you are able to keep betting with as little disruption as possible.
I don’t live in the world’s nicest house, but you know what? I will die there because moving is the worst!
Check If Your Existing Sportsbook Accounts Work In Your New Region
Most sportsbooks have regions where they accept customers, and regions where they ban participation. If you are moving to a new state, you need to check to make sure that the sportsbooks you are currently using will still work with you after you get there. The same is true if you are moving to a whole different country.
While you are doing this step, you need to look up the laws that regulate (or ban) sports betting in your new region. Find out what you cannot and cannot legally do, and what on-shore sportsbooks are allowed to offer.
Different states and countries vary in how far they will likely go to enforce restrictions on sports betting. Just be aware that if you choose to bet in a region where it is not legal, you are doing so at your own risk.
If you are moving to an area onshore sportsbooks do not serve, you could look into offshore sportsbooks that serve customers in you region (see below).
Join Additional Sportsbooks If You Need To
If you do discover that your current sportsbooks will not work with customers from the region you are relocating to, then it is time for you to look for some that will.
Even though you may feel frustrated by having to find new sportsbooks, we recommend you look at it as an opportunity, rather than as an obstacle.
This is your chance to find online sportsbooks that are offering exciting promotions and competitive odds. You might even find better odds and reload bonuses than you are taking advantage of now.
Plus, this is an opportunity for you to grab some welcome bonuses, something you may not have done for quite some time now. Hopefully, you will find some amazing offers that give you plenty of bonus funds.
Call Ahead To Find Out What The Situation Is With Your Internet Connection
Here’s a bonus picture of me, trying to call and talk to someone at my ISP!
Usually when you move to a new location, you just need to call your internet service provider and get them to transfer your existing account/plan to your new address. Someone may or may not need to schedule an appointment from the ISP to come out and hook things up. But the process can often be done on the same day or the next day.
There are exceptions, however and some of them can really catch you off guard!
Here is something that happened to me once. I moved to a new apartment, and did not think to call ahead to ask in detail about the internet. I simply asked if I could get internet there from my ISP, and they said yes, and that was that.
I moved there, went to hook up the cable, and found nowhere to plug it in. I figured I just needed to get someone from the ISP to come out, so I called them up. This was where things got way worse.
The ISP told me that my address wasn’t in their system. The apartment complex itself was, but not my unit number. On further investigation, I discovered that the unit I was occupying and the one next door used to be a single unit. After the previous tenants left, the apartment owner remodeled, combining them into a pair of separate units. They then did not bother to fill out the paperwork to get them built into the ISP’s system.
What followed was a couple of weeks of back and forth, struggling to get the internet set up. I had to keep calling the ISP and writing the apartment owner, who did not publish or share their phone number.
As you can imagine, it was very hard to bet during that time! Thankfully, I could still bet on my mobile device at a nearby cafe that had public wi-fi, but it was pretty hard to follow my usual routine of carefully researching and planning out my wagers, which I preferred doing on my desktop computer.
The lesson here is that if I had investigated deeper into the internet availability at my new apartment a couple weeks before I moved, I could have taken care of all of that in advance. That would have saved me a ton of time and effort once I moved in, and allowed me to continue my normal betting routine almost from day one.
If Necessary, Take Steps In Advance To Set Up Your New Internet
This tip is just the continuation of the one above. After you check into the internet, do what you can to take action. You will need to know your moving date to do this, however. But the sooner you get the ball rolling, the sooner you will be able to bet online once you arrive at your new place.
Maybe you’ll also end up needing a new sportsbook. Why not check out SportsBetting where you can Double your initial deposit TWICE when you join and use the code DOUBLEUP!
Consider Getting Unlimited Data On Your Phone As A Backup
When I went through the hassle with the apartment above, I had no backup connection. I did not know or want to bother my neighbors. That left me with the nearby cafe’s connection only.
The cafe closed around 6 pm most days. As you can imagine, it was not much fun to sit with my phone out in the parking lot out back after hours trying to bet.
One way you can get around this sort of problem is to have a backup plan. I mean a literal plan, as in a phone plan that includes unlimited data.
That way, you can still bet on your mobile device without having to rely on public wi-fi. You also can set up your mobile device so that you can use it as a mobile hotspot. That way, you can make use of that same connection on your desktop or laptop. You can then continue with your usual betting routine without any reduction in your capabilities.
You may have a powerful phone, but it’s going to be the “data part” of your plan you want to really look into!
Find Out Where You Can Watch Games At Your New Location
Something else that can change once you relocate to a new region is your ability to watch certain teams or matches on TV.
Sometimes, those changes can be wholly unexpected. Maybe you like to bet on a particular team a lot, and you are moving to their hometown. You assume that watching their matches will be easy. But when you get there, you find out that ludicrously, contract rights to broadcast their matches all went to non-local providers. As a result, no local stations are broadcasting the games.
Those who do a lot of in-play betting in particular can find themselves more than a little inconvenienced by this kind of unwelcome surprise.
So, this is another thing you need to check into in advance. Research online to see what stations, if any, broadcast the games and teams you are wanting to watch locally.
What do you do if there are no local stations broadcasting what you want to watch? At that point, you will have to check into streaming services to see what is available. Get your subscriptions set up, and you will be ready to watch games right away after you move.
If You Open New Bank Accounts, Link Them Up With Your Sportsbooks
A lot of aspects of your sports betting will not change at all after you move. Your betting strategies will probably be identical to what you were using beforehand. Likewise, your money management plan will probably stay the same as well. But one thing you might end up doing is moving your money.
Say, for instance, that you currently have your money stored in a local credit union account. That credit union does not have a presence in the state you are moving to, so you plan to open an account with a different credit union after you arrive, transfer all your money there, and close your old account.
While you are taking care of all of that, you need to consider how that will affect your betting.
The next time you want to transfer funds in or out of your sports betting account, if you were doing so from your bank account or an associated credit or debit card, you will not be able to do so right away. You will first need to link your sportsbook account to your new bank account or add your new credit or debit card.
Re-Verify Your Accounts If Needed
Speaking of moving, it is important to provide up-to-date information to your online sportsbooks and this includes your new address.
That means that you might be asked to re-verify your account, repeating the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. So, get your documents ready so you can verify your identity and your new place of residence.
If you do not recall what was required for KYC originally at each sportsbook, it might be worth your time to contact customer service and ask. That way, you will have time to gather what you need.
I have a story there, too. After moving one time, I needed to re-verify my sportsbook accounts. I had not actually updated my address in their systems; they just picked up on my move from my IP address changing plus my bank account switching. I could not bet until I re-verified.
I thought that would be straightforward, but it wasn’t. I needed to verify my new address, but I did not have a copy of my lease, and I had not yet been billed for any utilities there. I did finally get a copy of the lease, but it took me several days, during which I had no way to bet.
As to why I did not have a copy of the lease, it was because I filled it out via an online portal, and it never gave me a copy, (pretty common nowadays).
If I had realized in advance I would need a copy of the lease to share with my sportsbooks, I would have made sure I got one when I originally signed it.
Trust us. You are going to want to make sure that you are “verified” before you win big and want to cash out!
Think About Scheduling Changes
If you are moving within the same time zone, you do not need to concern yourself with this. But if you are changing time zones, you will need to be aware that your entire betting schedule could shift as well.
The games you are used to watching and betting on will be on at different times for you locally than they were in the past.
In addition, you might be moving because you have a new job with a whole new work schedule. This, too, can impact your betting schedule.
Put some thought into how you will work around any scheduling challenges that may arise because of your move.
Mobile betting can be a good solution in some cases, this may make it possible for you to bet on your commute or even during your work day, depending on the nature of your job.
What if you cannot figure out a workaround? You might consider betting on different sports that are on at times that are more conducive to your new time zone and schedule.
Pay Attention To How Your Life Changes Could Impact Your Focus And Emotions
Moving can be an exciting time, but also a stressful one. You have to say goodbye to things you loved, although you might also feel relief to be free from some of the things you did not.
You are facing a lot of uncertainties about your future. Will you like your new place? How will your move affect your career? What impact will it have on your family and relationships? What opportunities await you? What are the drawbacks? Where will you get all of the services you need? What will your new routine look like? How long will you be staying there?
Along with all of those uncertainties, you also may just be fatigued and overwhelmed from handling the logistics.
Dealing with these challenges could impact your betting in all kinds of ways:
It may be difficult for you to concentrate on your betting. Your mind could be split a dozen different ways, trying to solve existing problems and mitigate potential pitfalls related to your move.
The anxieties you may feel with respect to your future could end up amplifying any anxieties you experience while you are betting. You may find yourself feeling more risk-averse than usual.
On the flip side, if you are excited to throw yourself into your new living situation, that could manifest as gravitating toward bigger risks than usual when betting.
If moving is causing you to feel depressed, then some of that depression could leak into your sports betting. You may have feelings of futility, or a hard time getting motivated. Like other activities in your life, some of the enjoyment might be gone. The thing to understand is that if you let your betting and other activities languish, that will not necessarily help. You need to be able to visualize positive possibilities for your future in order to start getting into a better mindset.
Is the stress from the move simply wearing you out? You could find yourself tired all the time, prone to mistakes, and struggling to keep up with everything. That can manifest in placing some bad bets if you are not careful, or in burnout if you push yourself too hard.
If you are not aware of these possible effects after you move, you could wind up wondering why you are suddenly in the middle of a losing streak.
But if you are aware of these ways that moving could impact how you bet, then you can at least maintain awareness of your emotional state and your ability to focus. You can take breaks when you need to, steer around avoidable mistakes, and continue to bet profitably.
Summary
When you are moving, most of your thought and energy go into managing the logistics of the move itself. But relocating can affect or even disrupt your sports betting in multiple ways. By identifying those possibilities in advance, you can take steps to mitigate any negative impacts. That way, when you move into your new home, you will be ready to continue making bets uninterrupted!
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