PRESS RELEASE
GamblingData, provider of country, sector and company analytics and intelligence to the global gaming industry, is delighted to announce the launch of its in-play betting report in association with Sporting Solutions, the first of its kind covering the dynamics of the in-play sports-betting market.
In-play betting, the live betting during the course of an event, is commonly recognized as the fastest-growing segment of the online gaming industry. Until now it has been very hard to quantify who is leading the field in this important area – an information gap now covered by the GamblingData report.
The in-play betting report looks at the top five European in-play betting operators over the course of ten days.
Bet365 has the edge in number of sports
The results show that Bet365 leads the way for both number of sports and events covered, offering 18 sports over the period covered. The next best was Ladbrokes with 14 sports, then Bwin and Paddy Power with 10 each and William Hill with eight.
In terms of the number of events, Bet365 covered 229 in total. William Hill was next best with 188 events but notably offered more markets per event on average at 24. Ladbrokes was the lowest in terms of number of events at 88.
Football is the big draw
Of the 795 events covered in the period almost half were football (377), although it should be noted that one game covered by all five operators counted as five events. Saturday afternoons during the trial period provided the peak in terms of the total number of events.
William Hill leads the field with 48 football games to bet on the first Saturday and 40 available on the following Saturday. The next most prolific in terms of football was Bwin with 40 and 24 games and Bet365 had 34 and 30 respectively.
Scott Longley, managing editor, GamblingData, said: “This report is a first for the online gaming industry. As seen by recent financial results from the leading listed European operators, in-play betting is now the fastest-growing area of online gaming, and that looks set to continue as the operators look to grow and consolidate market share.
“But as the report makes clear this rise doesn’t come without risk. As much as the operators push in-play, it is clear that the world’s gambling regulators and sporting bodies are sitting up and taking notice. The next few years are likely to see in-play become the major battleground both in terms of the market and in terms of the developing regulatory picture. GamblingData hopes to follow these events with regular in-play updates in the years to come.”
