The Australian bookmaker market during the Covid 19 pandemic
Yuriy SheremetWhile offline gambling has stopped working in the whole world due to the coronavirus pandemic, an interest in online gambling games keeps growing every day. In Australia, bookmakers offer players alternative betting options in order to not lose their audience in the situation and to attract new clients.
No one can say confidently when the Covid 19 pandemic will be over and people will return to the familiar way of life: doing sports, visiting cafes and shopping malls, clubs and casinos, sports events and entertainment shows. It is not surprising that the rapid growth of demand for online gambling is noticed in various countries in the world during the quarantine, and Australia is not an exception.
The transformation of sports betting during the quarantine
According to the data provided by the internet holding AlphaBeta and the credit company Illion, which have analyzed the situation on the Australian gambling market, the percent of online bets increased by 67% in the first weeks of the quarantine. People have to spend all their spare time at home and, besides the main money expenses on food services, they started playing gambling games on the Internet more frequently.
Many experts from the Australian Gambling Research Center admit that such a boost of activity will probably be short. The companies, which operate sports betting try to find ways to stay afloat and stay in touch with sports fans due to the cancelation of sports events all over the world. However, they were made to work with new clients very carefully and not to spam them with bonus offers.
Some operators, which specialize in gambling games, provide pools of bets on such sports competition as riding, rugby, the Australian football – they are hosted during the quarantine with particular restrictions, usually without fans in stands.
TV-games and esports as an alternative to traditional sports
In order to protect their business from financial shocks in this situation, sports booking companies offer extra offers to players, besides the main focus of their websites: content about slots, TV-games, esports, virtual sports, etc.
Australian players pay attention to TV-games on the Internet more and more frequently because they look like classic sports. Everything is familiar for bettors, there is something, to what they pay attention first: a classic line and a list of events, online broadcasts, and statistics and the main thing is the active dynamic of bets and a result.
Esports competition and virtual sports also manage to fill the gaps, which have appeared due to the cancelation of traditional competitions. International bookmaker companies state the fivefold growth of the overall number of bets.
However, despite the demand for esports betting has grown strongly in the crisis period, it is very difficult to say confidently about its further perspectives and rates after the renewal of standard sports competition, which is confirmed by the opinion provided by the bookmaker companies’ experts.
Various events, which relate to the political life of countries, economic questions, for example, oil prices, and others have become an alternative for traditional and familiar sports competitions where players make bets.
Bookmaker companies change the direction
The coronavirus pandemic made its impact on all spheres of life, including the legal industry of sports betting. Due to the cancelation of almost sports events, bookmaker companies have got in a disadvantaged position too.
During the quarantine, bookmakers try to provide their clients with an opportunity to make bets on events, which do not relate to sports competitions.
What new do online betting operators provide?
The Australian operator Sportsbet, which works with sports betting, created a new kind of online betting for its customers: for example, everyone can make a bet on a weather change.
While talking with a press, the representatives of Sportsbet said that they had been considering the meteorology segment before because it had been demanded by players and highly popular. During the quarantine, the company decided to turn the bettors’ interests into a new direction to save people from domestic chores.
The analysts of Sportsbet have accurately learned the statistical data, provided by the Bureau of Meteorology, determined the warmest and coldest cities, and offered on their official page to make bets on weather in the capitals of different countries.
The representatives of the bookmaker company asked to consider that this is a temporary decision and they will return to the main specialization in the future.
The problem of the Covid 19 pandemic has taken on global dimensions, having reached almost all countries in the world, moreover, the terms of the creation of a vaccine against coronavirus and terms when the entertainment industry will go offline again are still unknown. International bookmaker companies try to take part in it too: they offer bettors to make a bet when the vaccine will be made: by the end of 2020, by September 1, 2021, etc. Users can even choose a country, which will make the vaccine first. The provided options are very different: the USA, Israel, China, and other countries.
By the way, you can make a wager that Elon Musk will have created the cure against the coronavirus by the end of the year.
And it is not the most original betting line, which has emerged in the international bookmaker market after the end of sports competitions in real life. Fans of weird stuff now have an opportunity to bet that scientists will prove: coronavirus has become the main reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
In any case, sports are involved too and many bookmaker companies provide their players an opportunity to make a bet on when The 2020 Summer Olympics will be carried out, which were also delayed due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.