Estimates put the total wagered on the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship (the Euros) at over £500m - and that’s just for the UK market.
With that edition of the tournament attracting a global audience in excess of 300 million, the true size of the betting market on this one event alone is staggering.
Online is playing an increasingly important role in all of this, which is widely to be expected, though the size of the shift may surprise some - with a recent YouGov poll finding that a substantial 76 per cent of UK bettors will place their Euro 2020 wager via an online sportsbook. With such a sizeable share of the revenue, it is more important than ever for gaming operators to ensure that their online sportsbook offering is up to scratch.
But what does that mean? How should your digital sportsbook be set up? The big question here is: how can you avoid losing out to your competitors in such a crowded market? One of the key elements here is customisation. A front-end may have all the ingredients to perfectly suit the average player, but what is an average player? To focus on a one-size-fits-all approach risks alienating, and losing out on the custom of, players who don’t fit the average mould.
An obvious example of this is when we look at global regions. Betting markets vary considerably from country to country and so, with a tournament like Euro 2020 which attracts global interest, having a platform that is flexible gives operators a significant competitive edge. A player from Colombia will have entirely different expectations and wants compared with a bettor from the UK, so being able to customise that experience for users will provide a significant benefit for operators, particularly when it comes to Euro 2020.
Flexibility is mentioned there and it relates not only to customisation, but to speed of change. Having a platform that can be fully tailored is one thing, and certainly a game-changer in a fiercely competitive market, but it’s not the end of the story. If that customised offer includes a degree of rigidity, then the benefits may be short-lived; if an operator cannot respond quickly to changes in demand and player behaviour, that could open the door for more agile competitors to take advantage. So a combination of customisation and flexibility is the nirvana for online sportsbook operators.
This rather ideal mix will give operators the opportunity to test different approaches. For example, while accumulators are increasingly popular in Nigeria, does that mean they’ve overtaken demand for other bet types? With a sportsbook that is both customisable and flexible, an operator can test layouts to find out the answer to that - and develop the best possible offering for players.
Beyond Euro 2020, we also have the likes of the Copa América and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Paralympics fast approaching, not to mention other major sporting events such as the Wimbledon Championships, the NBA Finals, the Ryder Cup and the Rugby League World Cup. Then 2022 will be upon us with the Africa Cup of Nations.
For operators with online sportsbooks, or those looking to develop one as an addition to their existing offering, while it may be a challenge to reach that nirvana of customisation and flexibility, it is one which they surely can’t afford to pass up. To find out more about how our solutions can help you get there, visit https://pronetgaming.com/.
