2022 World Series: What to know about sports betting, ticket prices

Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer breaks down what to know about 2022 World Series sports betting, ticket prices, and his predictions for the Phillies.

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INES FERRE: The World Series kicks off tonight for Major League Baseball. And as the Houston Astros get set to take on the Philadelphia Phillies, we're joined by Yahoo Finance's Josh Shafer to break down the betting landscape surrounding the Fall Classic. So break it out for us.

JOSH SHAFER: Yeah, Ines, so a couple of interesting trends to watch when we talk about gambling in MLB. And one that I've sort of been focusing on this week is actually a term called microbetting. So you can bet now on every pitch, every at-bat. And baseball really lends itself to that.

So I spoke to SimpleBet CEO Chris Bevelaqua about that and kind of the growth in that market. And listen to some of these numbers, guys. It's pretty crazy. So $262 million were bet on this microbetting concept this year. And that means they were betting on the outcome of a pitch, if someone's going to hit the ball or miss the ball or hit a home run. And that handle grew three times over the course of the season.

So in September-- or sorry in April, the number was $16.7 million. Then in September, it was $53 million for the monthly handle. So you can see that's kind of how MLB-- it's been a lot of narrative about trying to attract young fans. This is one way that I think they're kind of successfully doing it.

AKIKO FUJITA: Can we just point out Philadelphia Phillies-- sorry, this has been bothering me all week. They couldn't come up with a more original name, Phillies?

JOSH SHAFER: The Fighting Phillies, Akiko.

AKIKO FUJITA: Come on.

INES FERRE: Yeah--

JOSH SHAFER: I thought you were with America's team.

AKIKO FUJITA: And fanatics is their mascot. Anyway, I'm rooting for the Phillies in the World Series, by the way, just for the record.

INES FERRE: You're going to get some hate mail there.

[LAUGHTER]

AKIKO FUJITA: It's not hate. OK, so let's talk about ticket prices, merchandising. I mean, this is a very fanatic, very loyal fan base. How have we seen that reflected in the lead up to game one?

JOSH SHAFER: So we've used the word fanatic multiple times. Let's talk about the company.

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, we already talked about the mascot, right? Yeah.

JOSH SHAFER: And so Fanatics released some data on the NLCS, actually. And what came out about the NLCS merchandise, in 24 hours they set a record. They actually passed the 2016 Cubs. They say it's the most sold merchandise ever for the Philadelphia Phillies. You can really see the boom.

And then we were just showing the ticket prices. And it shows you the difference between a team that's been good and a team that just got good. So game one is in Houston. The get in price is $489. Then you turn to Philadelphia, and the get in price is $743, so almost $300 more. And that's before fees.

If you want to go in Philadelphia, you're paying almost $900. And it's a standing room only seat. So it's pretty crazy.

AKIKO FUJITA: I don't buy that argument. Because they've been good? I mean, come on. If you're a dominant team, shouldn't it be bringing in the fan base.

JOSH SHAFER: Yeah. I mean, I'm from Boston. The tickets are always expensive there.

AKIKO FUJITA: Rigth?

JOSH SHAFER: I don't know maybe some of the fans--

INES FERRE: The Philly fans something else.

AKIKO FUJITA: But I'm talking about the Astros. I mean, they've been good for so long. But I don't know. I feel like ticket prices should be higher.

JOSH SHAFER: Yeah, no, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how those move too. I didn't want to touch too many of the records that it might be approaching because we always see-- we always see the ticket prices move a ton. What if the Phillies lose both games?

AKIKO FUJITA: Yes.

JOSH SHAFER: They play tonight. They play Saturday.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, they have to take one.

JOSH SHAFER: If they lose both games, maybe people don't want to go.

AKIKO FUJITA: OK. Last question, who are you picking?

JOSH SHAFER: Oh see, I'm on the bandwagon. I think the Phillies are going to win.

AKIKO FUJITA: The Phillies in seven?

JOSH SHAFER: I'd take the Phillies in seven because it's going to take a while. And I don't know how well they're going to play when they go out to Houston, right? But at home, they've been very good.

AKIKO FUJITA: OK, game one tonight, looking forward to it. Thanks so much for that, Josh.