New Hampshire Governor Shares Surge In State's Interest For A Unique Sport

BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is gone. Major League Baseball is shut down. Ditto for the NHL and NBA. New Englanders need their live sports.

And according to New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, residents of the Granite State are turning to a rather unique place to get it.

"Can I tell you something on the side? Russian and South Korean table tennis — no joke, this is not a joke — people are betting on it like crazy online right now here in New Hampshire," Sununu said on WEEI on Tuesday morning.

Considering New Hampshire has legalized online sports wagering, and considering the lack of sports taking place on a regular basis, it was only a matter of time before gamblers found a new sport to latch on to. According to Sununu, the spike in interest in table tennis has been off the charts.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "People are really ... the table tennis overseas matches are garnering a lot of sports wagering here in New Hampshire. We were shocked by it. I think there was something like $100,000 in wages placed in a week on a sport I don't think anybody had ever even seen before."

In terms of more traditional sports, Sununu said he hasn't heard from the NHL since the league spent time considering Manchester as a host site for postseason hockey. But the NASCAR race scheduled for mid-July is expected to be held as planned, albeit likely without fans in attendance.

Until then? There's a whole lot of table tennis to watch.