INSIGHT VIRTUAL SPORTS GLOBAL SNAPSHOT - ASIA
Te growing appetite for sports betting is seeing some Asian countries shift away from the black and grey market. Could Asia be the first to have a virtual sports market bigger than 'real' sports? What virtual sports will likely prove most popular in Asia - cricket, table tennis, baseball?
Mark:Tat would be the dream! And it is perhaps a possibility in certain countries but the vast and diverse nature of Asia doesn’t make for incredibly straightforward projections. What we do know is that the growing new generation of Asian consumers enjoy virtual games as much as they do the real equivalent.
Like most regions globally, the virtual products that perform well are a mirror of the real, live sports that are most popular. So, football leads the way, followed by basketball. Cricket continues to rise in popularity with table tennis also having a strong following.
With virtuals mirroring the real thing in everything aspect of the games, products like our Super and Final Over where the thrilling last plays of tight encounters are played out are perfectly placed to cater to the growing demand for 24/7 betting opportunities.
Available in both international and localised domestic Indian themes, the game features all of the major international test-playing nations and Indian teams such as Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Martin: No, because when we speak about the regulated markets which are coming in more and more in Asia, it is well known that Asian players prefer live games. Tat means sports betting or live casino games, which are also provided online for the players, are always the most popular. People like live games. Slots and virtual sports are starting to increase but it's a very small percentage in comparison to the live games, yet. Tis is the truth about Asia.
So, I don't believe that virtual sports will someday become bigger than real sports. We know in some African countries virtual sports are bigger than the real sports, this for sure. And lots of people open a betting shop just because you need a betting shop to have virtual sports inside. But not in Asia; not currently.
What we can see now is that they are more into simple games, more related to numbers. Cricket could be something for a special part of Asia, but I don't think that table tennis or baseball will be games specifically for the Asian market.
Araksi: We welcome the initiative of every country that abandons the black and grey markets in favour of legal operations, since we ourselves only work with operators who have a license or permission to operate. In addition, we are investing a tremendous number of resources to maintain legal operations. As for the essence of the issue, virtual sports as a segment must be divided into two areas: web and land- based.
“With virtuals mirroring the
real thing in everything aspect of the games, products like our Super and Final Over where the thrilling last plays of tight encounters are played out are perfectly placed to cater to the growing demand for 24/7
betting opportunities. Available in both international and localised domestic Indian themes, the game features all the major international test- playing nations and Indian teams such as Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.” Mark Krupanandan Kiron
If we are talking about land-based operations, then in many markets virtual games account for 55-65 per cent of all bets and we confirm this from the experience of providers who, with their games, helped develop the business of very large operators in their difficult times. Tus, if Asia demonstrates leadership qualities in the development of virtual games, then this will be another proof that we are not wasting our lives on the creation of our products.
Regarding the latter question on which virtual sports will prove most popular - it gives insane scope for the imagination. It should be noted that all the above implies games that are very close to real sports, which means that for the player to know the result of his or her bet, he or she needs to watch several rounds of the broadcast, and not one whole run.
All I can say is that we will enter this market with a product that has no analogues in the industry. We see no other way out for ourselves, since they are all rather banal and boring, and we entertain the players first by having fun ourselves.
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P105
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