The online sports betting industry continues to grow as a multi-billion-dollar industry. In 2020, the global online sports betting market was valued at over 66.98 billion USD and it is projected to grow up to 71.53 billion USD by the end of this year.
The list of countries that bet on sports the most includes the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, India, and New Zealand.
Some of the most wagered on sports are football, basketball, cricket, boxing, and horse racing. In the UK, football is still the most wagered on sport, and in India, cricket is the most popular on Indian betting apps. Whatever sports it is, what seems to be a trend is that punters are starting to prefer the option to be able to bet online.
How Digital Technology Changed the Sports Betting Scene
Technology has a huge impact on several industries and this is also the case in gambling and sports betting. Thanks to digital tech, gambling has been made more accessible than ever. Today, anyone can place a bet on any sports event at any given time and location. Punters also get to enjoy a variety of odds that used to be so hard to come by before online betting sites.
There are now hundreds of casino and bookie sites out there that punters can choose from and the online option has become a safe alternative to in-person betting too. Over the years, online casinos and bookies worked on ensuring the safety of their customers, and today, people are more comfortable making transactions with them on their sites.
The pandemic has also shown how online activities can be useful. Despite the health crisis, the sports betting sector was able to survive because of its online platforms. At some point in 2020, there was a lack of sports events and many betting companies had to get creative to survive what was happening. Many of them resorted to offering odds on events that are not related to sports and people still went for it. It just shows how there are people who would crave this activity despite the lack of sportsinvolved.
This year, however, the sports betting industry has been recovering and sports events are back for good. Even if restrictions are getting lighter in many countries, many are still placing their bets online and this is why it’s likely that the online betting scene will eventually be the bigger part of the whole sports betting industry.
What’s Next?
It’s obvious that online sports betting is a success but the thing doesn’t stop there. When it comes to online betting, more and more people are placing their bets with their mobile devices and this is why many gambling companies are shifting their focus to the mobile market.
It is estimated that this year, there are already over 7.1 billion mobile users. As of January this year, there are 4.66 billion active internet users and 4.32 billion of them are going online with their mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
India is one of the most populated countries worldwide with almost 1.4 billion people as of November 2021. In this country, there are over 749 million people who are online and 744 million of them would use their mobile devices to access the internet.
MyBetting recently reported that around 370 million people in India would place sports bets online and around 140 million of them would do so regularly. The majority of these people are likely placing their bets with their mobile devices. After all, most of the people online in the country are using their mobile devices. This is why many gambling companies in the UK see a huge potential in India to have one of the biggest betting markets in the future.
Another example of a location with a smaller population that shows how mobile betting is playing an important role in the betting industry is the state of New Jersey. The state would report that around 80 to 90 percent of its sports betting handle would come from the mobile market.
The preference of punters to bet with their smartphones or tablets have triggered gambling companies to release betting apps and today, there is tough competition between these companies. Betting apps are continuously developed to have better features and improved navigation. The biggest betting companies like 10CRIC, Bet365, 22Bet, and many more now have betting apps that punters can download and we can only expect that more betting apps will be popping out into the online betting scene.
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Online Sports Betting is Thriving So What’s Next for Gambling Companies?