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SPORTS BETTING VIRGIN BETS
Virgin Bet: preparing for a winter World Cup
Held from late November through to mid-December, this year's World Cup will break with tradition to avoid the blistering summer heat of Qatar. Ahead of his panel appearance on the subject at Betting on Sports Europe, Virgin Bet's Sportsbook Director, James McKay, explains how sportsbooks are preparing operationally for a shorter tournament with more early games in a potentially fatigued betting market.
should be able to keep them when the tournament kicks off.
James McKay Sportsbook Director, Virgin Bet
It’s an interesting proposition and four games back-to-back in a big tournament will be new for us all. I am personally excited about the longer days, but also understand that I probably won’t have an interest or watch every game.
Tis will also affect turnover and I am sure that the shorter format will not be as lucrative as the longer format for us as operators. Simply put, four days with three games per day would generate more turnover than three days with four games, that’s for sure.
With that being said, I think the competition taking place during the European domestic season could play into our hands both in the early stages and post-event.
Early Stages - Instead of the footballing world coming to the end of the season with a run of cup finals, we will still be in the cut-and-thrust of all major leagues playing both on weekends and midweek. Te continuation into a World Cup should mean that more of our customers are active in the days before the event and we
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Post-event - As well as considering the benefits of the early stages, one must consider the fact that we immediately return to the action domestically as a major plus. As much as the decision was controversial to move it to the winter, had they affected the UK festive football schedule there’d have been even more furore.
Similarly, I am sure all operators are looking forward to being able to give all customers tier one events almost immediately after a big event. As we know with big summer tournaments, there is a lull in tier one events and retention over this period being everyone’s focus. Ten it’s a big reactivation drive when the top leagues are back.
In the weeks after Qatar, it should be a case of just keeping customers on site, which should be easier when the top leagues head into a key period for all their respective seasons.
How can marketing and product departments collaborate better in the lead-up to a major event such as the World Cup to ensure innovative products aren't lost amidst the noise of a high-spend marketing season and a highly competitive schedule?
Collaboration is one of the most important factors in any successful business. Our teams working closely together has been one of the many keys to our success over the years. Te results of this are that we make sure we have the best products to market and the marketing teams understand the key functionality that
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