Sports Betting Volume Will Take Huge Hit In Post-COVID-19 Era

This week, leaders of numerous companies that operate in Europe and South Africa got together (virtually, of course) on a panel to talk about the rough times that have taken place over the last six weeks. It was all a part of this week’s SBC Digital Summit, a European-based conference of gaming executives.
There were four panelists present for a session on several topics ranging from how sportsbooks should be operating while the sports world is put on hold to how to deal with cutbacks and other shortcomings these different companies may be facing.
One thing all of these European companies have in common is the loss of soccer hurting their business. Basically, their soccer is just as important as football is to the United States.
“The sportsbook’s betting volume has declined about 60 percent,” said Alexander Martin, CEO of SKS 365, which has its main userbase in Italy.
Martin’s company relies mostly on soccer as the main sport to bet, in addition to other events taking place outside of the United States. Much like what the United States is dealing with, Italy is largely affected with no soccer to bet on. There are, however, leagues in Belarus and Nicaragua which people can bet on.
“Our drop was similar, around 65-70 percent depending on the day of the week,” said Minja Bolesnikov, CEO of MaxBet in Serbia.
Change In Focus
With the lack of soccer comes a growth in other markets. The gaming operators all mentioned that they had seen more bets on Esports and other types of virtual contests. It might surprise people in the U.S. to know that these are more commonly bet over in Europe.
Because these unfamiliar events are taking place, though, gaming operators had to start limiting how much money could be wagered on these events. And not everyone is happy about that. There were plenty of people betting huge money on these events way before the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The stake sizes allowed on new things three or four weeks ago was half of what it is now,” said Tyrone Dobbin, managing director of Sportingbet South Africa. “We’re in a risk-based business. You open up small, start with a little bit of exposure, and then grow and react quickly.”
In addition to the increase in Esports, online casinos are making a killing during these times. What a better time than now to pony up some money on the roulette wheel.
“We have seen growth in online casino play, right around 10-15 percent throughout all the territories,” said Dominik Beier, CEO of Interwetten, an online gaming company from Austria.