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A32 sports
Diasabra 9 Januari 2021

Plenty of overhead in this market: Betting on drone races

(AP) — In the “gamblers
will bet on absolutely any-
thing” category, here’s a
new one: A major sports
book is taking bets on aer-
ial drone races.

DraftKings said Friday it is
taking bets for this weekend’s
championship of the Drone
Racing League, in which pi-
lots fly aerial drones in races.
Betting on the league’s drone
races is legal in Colorado,
New Hampshire, New Jer-
sey, Tennessee and West
Virginia, with regulatory ap-
provals pending in additional
states.

“The sky is now the limit
for DRL fans to get skin in
the game, and we’re thrilled
to partner with DraftKings
to transform our high-speed Drone Racing League Presi- to elevate our engagement crease as mobile betting be- last year to gauge interest in
race competition into the dent Rachel Jacobson said. through all forms of gaming comes more adopted across the activity, and the response
ultimate sport to bet on,” “The opportunity for us and gambling will only in- the country.” was 30% higher than usual
The sports book and the for a new sport introduced to
league are hosting “pre-flight the betting platform. There
shows” Friday night on Twit- have been more than 150,000
ter ahead of the live events, entries into these free con-
in which expert sports bet- tests so far.
tors and top drone pilots will
educate fans on how to par- As is the case with major
ticipate. sports including football,
baseball and basketball, gam-
Championship events be- blers will be able to make
gin on Saturday. bets before the races as well
Jacobson said its races are all as during them.
virtual this year, taking place DraftKings said consumer re-
in a simulation in which real- search has shown that drone
life drone physics are incor- racing fans are three times
porated. But is also hosts live more likely to place a bet than
drone racing in venues that fans of major sports leagues,
have included Hard Rock and are 90% more likely to
Stadium in Miami Gardens, be interested in sports betting
Florida; Alexandra Palace in in general than the average
London, and an auto-muse- sports fan.
um in Munich. The drone league is a private-
DraftKings says there’s a mar- ly owned New York company
ket for this. It offered free-to- founded in 2015. It has held
play contests on drone races events in six countries.

Auriemma has better perspective as he approaches Summitt

(AP) — Geno Auriemma, be the Darth Vader of college That would leave him several national titles. VanDerveer ing his 18th straight game to
in the middle of his own basketball because he contin- wins behind Stanford coach (1,103-253) has two cham- Auriemma. “And I know how
Hall-of-Fame career, fa- ues to win. Tara VanDerveer, who passed pionships and had led her difficult it is to grovel up the
mously incurred the wrath “I admire Pat for the way she Summitt earlier this season teams to wins in 81.3% of food chain trying to win 70
of Tennessee fans 18 years handled that all those years,” to become the winningest their games.. percent of your games. And
ago when he jokingly re- Auriemma said. “Because, I coach in Division I women’s here this program is winning
ferred to Pat Summitt’s don’t think I’m handling it as basketball history, entering Auriemma was 13-9 against 90 percent of their games.”
women’s program as the well as she did. She had a lot Friday with 1,103 wins. Summitt’s Tennessee teams “Believe me I have all the re-
“Evil Empire.” more restraint and a lot more “Pat being Pat and Geno be- and is 11-7 head-to-head spect in the world for coach
sense than I do. That’s prob- ing Geno, we have a long his- agains VanDerveer. Summitt as well and coach
But after 11 national titles ably what I miss about her. tory,” Auriemma said. “So, if DePaul coach Doug Bruno, (Hall-of-Fame UCLA men’s
at UConn and on the verge She was always able to look that didn’t exist, I don’t know who was Auriemma’s assis- coach John) Wooden and
of tying Summitt for second past all the trivial stuff and that we’d be talking about it tant coach on the U.S. na- coach Tara and all these other
place on the wins list with concentrate on the big stuff. at all. We’d be talking about, tional team when it won two coaches that are in the speak-
1,098, Auriemma says he Maybe someday I will grow ‘Hey, you’re not that far be- gold medals, said those num- ing point of who is in the top
better understands what his into that role.” hind Tara.” bers show why Auriemma’s 5,” he said. “I’ll put Geno’s
long-time rival was dealing Auriemma bristles when Others are taking note, in part program should be consid- teams above coach Wooden’s
with while at the top of her asked about what it will be because Auriemma has 1,097 ered the greatest in all of teams because of who he’s
profession. like to match Summitt’s win wins in 1,239 games, a record college basketball — men or had to play and the amount
He, like Summitt, finds him- total, something that is ex- 88.5% winning percentage. women. of Top-25 competition he’s
self put on a pedestal by many pected to happen Saturday That compares to 84% for “I know how hard it is to win competed against both in the
fans, while being loathed by when the Huskies (6-0) host Summitt (1,098–208) , who one college basketball game,” old Big East and also his non-
others who consider him to Providence (5-6). finished her career with eight he said in December after los- conference schedule.”