Financial results across the i-gaming industry have proved the importance of in-play as a vital extension to sports betting and a high profile acquisition tool for cross-product gaming companies. Jenni Shuttleworth looks at its impact on the industry
Technology, economics and a desire for instant satisfaction have driven all sectors of the gaming industry, but none more so than sports betting.
Much has been made recently of the importance of live betting to the online gaming industry with major bookmakers reporting that 50 per cent of their turnover is now derived from the live market.
In-play enhances revenue, increases customer session times and increases cross-sell and up-sell opportunities across operators’ product portfolios. It has revolutionised the industry to become the major revenue generator for many sports betting companies.
“In today’s market offering, live markets is a must for every bookmaker. Lacking to do so will make it almost impossible to acquire new players and retain existing ones,” commented Sports Betting Tech CEO Itai Zak.
The customer hunt for instant entertainment has provided operators with longer customer session times, allowing customers to be exposed to more direct and cross-sell sales opportunities. Because of the customer acquisition role that sports betting now plays, however, no company is just a sports operator any more and sports betting has moved from being the primary revenue generator to being the casino acquisition tool.
“Consumers now expect to be offered more than a spin of a wheel to provide immediate results,” commented OpenBet CEO David Loveday. “The periodic ritual of predicting a daily or weekly series of events is no longer the mainstay. Today’s punter wants to be able to turn on their gadget of choice and instantly be offered an array of real-time betting opportunities with immediate results; their sporting roulette, at any time of the day or night.”
This feature can be read in full in the first 2012 issue of iNTERGAMINGi.
