Deep in the heart of Iowa farm country is a Corn field like no other cornfield in America. This particular corn field, dubbed America’s Busiest Cornfield by Betting Hero, an activation and research leader in the global sports betting and iGaming industries, is where crowds of sports bettors from Nebraska gather to place bets by phone. That’s because Nebraska, population two million, is one of the last states in America that does not offer regulated sports betting.
The phenomenon of the Busiest Cornfield in America America’s Busiest Corn Field is a unique phenomenon that points out the incredible demand for regulated sports betting across the US. Betting Hero recently used data supplied by GeoComply to compile a profile of Nebraska’s cornfield bettors and the results were not particularly surprising. GeoComply’s composite of 51 borderland gamblers showed that 87 percent of them were male. Within that group ages ranged from 22 to 67.
In what is a real testament to the appeal of the regulated gaming environment, nearly all of the players profiled cited the reliability of wagering with a regulated operator as the impetus for their cornfield play. More than half of the players (52 percent) said they’d never set foot in a casino. Almost all of those surveyed (87 percent) said they made the ride to corn country to bet on a weekly basis.
“I much rather bet at the fingertips of my phone with the convenience to browse all the options and place bets at my own pace,” one respondent said when asked why he preferred mobile cornfield betting over sitting in a retail sportsbook.
Betting Hero Sr. Director of Product & Research Ernie Ropas III summed up the value of regulated sports betting to Nebraska lawmakers in comments reported on by SBC Americas saying, “You have the opportunity to generate additional tax revenue and do so in a safe and regulated manner if you bring online sports betting to Nebraska.” Whether or not Nebraska lawmakers will heed this message remains to be seen.