20 B 2 B
BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2011 Essential guide to ... Leading the way
A survey by GamblingData found that in terms of the number of live betting sports and events covered, Bet365 lead the way. In number of sports over the 10 x 20 minute windows of the study, the Stoke-based firm offered 18; the next best was Ladbrokes with 14.
Hills has the numbers Football product
The report, which was compiled in association with Sporting Solutions, found that of the total 795 events covered in the period, 377 were football or almost half. Tennis was the second most popular sport to be covered.
According to the report, in terms of average number of markets per event, William Hill came out on top and is the bookmaker that comes closest to nearing Bet365’s leadership in the number of events.
Data gathering
The data was sourced over the course of ten days. On each day a 20- minute time window was prescribed for the data sourcing to take place. During this window the analyst would record all of the in-play events available and the number of markets on each event.
SKY BET
CRICKET IS PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED TO LIVE BETTING
VIEWPOINT Going Live
Andrew McCarron W
The rise and rise of live betting
Dave Pilgrim, Sky Bet’s head of sports trading, discusses how live betting is changing the market and how customers are betting on sport.
H
as the market come to terms with the concept of ‘live betting’ yet or is there still some education needed of the marketplace?
Yes, the market loves live betting, and some sports are really flying on this. Getting closer to the action is something we take very seri- ously at Sky Bet, and trading round the clock has seen enormous growth in our US Sports sector especially with our night owl cus- tomers! Whereas 10 years ago, we would only offer major TV and Premier League matches live, we can now offer over 500 live football matches a week when the season is in full swing.
Does SkyBet have a natural advantage for being the home of live betting given its asso- ciation with the prime broadcaster of live sport in the UK? We strive to offer live betting on any event shown on Sky Sports, but don’t limit our- selves to these. Some sports work better than others for live betting - take cricket as
an example - our customers prefer to watch a little of the action before attempting to call it right, and understanding the wicket is real- ly important to them, so they tend to wait, put Sky Sports on, and then decide whether to have a bet.
Has the introduction of live betting given the sportsbook market a shot in the arm or was it already thriving?
The industry growth has been fuelled by the internet - people can now get their bets on quickly and conveniently. While it would be fair to argue that technology advances have really allowed the sector to boom, they have also facilitated the growth in live betting. Without fast price updates that this type of technology allows, we couldn’t have devel- oped such a wide ranging live service for our customers to enjoy.
What is the natural channel for live betting in your opinion: PC, mobile, tablet or iTV? Until recently, the answer would have been
PC all the way, but mobile is growing expo- nentially at the moment, and it’s now a case of when, not if, it becomes our primary chan- nel. People love to have a bet when they are watching live sport, and mobile allows our customers to be sitting in the pub with their mates, or at the footy and still get their bet on. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to our customers to find out what they want from our Apps, and developed them to deliver what the customer expects.
Will live betting ever overtake pre-match bet- ting in either turnover or profit to become the standard form of betting? It’s a difficult question. Horseracing doesn’t really lend itself to live betting so as overall turnover, it’s going to be hard for live betting to become the biggest part of the operation. On the other hand, though, plenty of sports are already seeing live betting out perform- ing pre-match betting both in terms of profit and turnover. Sports such as cricket, tennis and snooker spring to mind.
ith margins rising upwards as bookmakers improve their expert- ise in live betting, the concept is becom- ing more and more enticing, especially as turnover continues on its upward tra- jectory.
However, as with many quick success- es, it is still necessary to make sure you keep the right side of the law and ensure that the law makers themselves are up to speed with what you are doing. If you don’t, opponents may get there first and scupper your good thing. This has hap- pened in some European jurisdictions where sport has claimed that live betting aids corruption, leading to restrictions in places like France and a proposed, arbi- trary betting limit of 200 euros a day in Spain. At least in the UK the Gambling Commission is switched on enough to be more aware of the concept of live betting, but even in the UK betting shops might fall foul technically of regulations with some live betting products if they don’t obtain a remote gambling licence. As Sky Bet’s old tagline used to say - ‘it matters more when there’s money on it’ and this isn’t necessarily restricted to sport. It appears live TV is made infinitely more interesting through live betting as well. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t be more engaged with what the judges score Rus- sell Grant if you’ve just lumped some money on him getting through to next week’s show? Or whether Bognor Regis actually is a Pointless answer? Or even how many times the word gentleman is used in Parliamentary debates? Alas it seems that horseracing is one of the few sports that really doesn’t lend it- self to live betting, although some book- makers would be wary of the opportunity for turning a profit given the expense of the UK horseracing product. The emer- gence of live betting might even make some punters take an interest in next year’s Olympic Games.
ACTION IMAGES / ANDREW BOYERS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48