In regulated markets, online growth has come through channel shifts from retail, driven both by the arrival of new products, such as in-play, and higher-margin inventions, such as online matched betting. the same game.
It has often been driven by newly regulated territories that offer the potential promise of “easy money.”
Sports betting often works as an acquisition funnel for casinos. As a result, little attention is paid to the quality of prices, as they have long been replaced by a marketing strategy driven by bonuses and promotions, supported by a tendency to discard expert bettors who do not prove to be recreational. in nature.
Rising tides lift all boats. In the context of looser regulation and cheaper revenue costs that characterized the industry 10 years ago, there was a perception that this way of treating betting odds as “content” was enough to drive long-term growth.
"The answers to the biggest questions are often found in the smallest things"
The problem many traders have now is realizing that the tide has gone out. Macroeconomic conditions are more difficult, the internal business model they are following is clearly failing and there is a lack of options available for bookmakers to pivot due to a fungible supply chain.
Seemingly with every passing week, another carrier pulls out of its US exposure, due to its inability to make the "marketing-led" model pay off, especially when there is no product differentiation to support it. distinguish them.
Average prices, coupled with a lack of scale, mean that all but the largest operators can no longer survive. Even the UK's largest operators are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve growth in the face of strict affordability controls.
In markets with little historical data to inform prices, or very little liquidity to form the market, it is the information that can be extracted from a client's behavior that is extremely valuable in optimizing your price.
As a trader, if you are willing to bet larger against a more qualified customer base because you have much greater price certainty (not only in singles but also in multiples and accumulator bets in the same game), then you are using a weapon that its the competition can't match.
Similarly, having that information available, and known only to you, in a market that is liquid (where a small difference in price can generate large additional volumes) becomes a method of gaining significant market share.
Accessing strong global liquidity, adjusting prices based on the specific information your clients provide you, and then optimizing your position in your local market based on your proprietary information, is the only long-term business model that will keep you afloat. to many operators in increasingly turbulent times.
