Talk about the bookies opening process and policy risks

Betting companies produce two very important products: handicaps and odds. After decades of development, the products and systems of betting companies have become increasingly sophisticated. Nowadays we can often observe that during an important event, bookmakers can often open dozens or even hundreds of different handicaps, and how are these handicaps generated?

Betting company’s opening process

Bookmakers further divide them into two categories based on odds: volume-based – products that focus on increasing betting volume – and profit-based – products that focus on increasing profits. The volume type is generally a product with two or three betting options. For example: soccer European handicap (three), Asian handicap (two), over/under (two); profit-oriented products are mostly products with more than three betting options. For example: total goals (7 items), score (31 items), league or cup championship betting (20~30 items). In the actual sales process, sales-based products account for more than 70% of total sales, while the remaining 30% of profit-based products serve to balance the company’s risk while increasing the fun of betting for players.

Betting companies often start with an initial handicap for a game, and then automatically refine these initial handicaps to branch handicaps based on a fixed algorithmic model. For example, in soccer games, the European handicap and the score will be opened first, and then the fixed formula will generate the corresponding Asian handicap, semi-full time goal, semi-full time Asian handicap, three Asian handicaps (i.e., let the ball win or draw, ed. In basketball games, after the full game handicap and over/under handicap, you can get the full game handicap, half game handicap, single quarter handicap, half game handicap and single quarter handicap.

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The national policy is also the wind vane of the manipulation method

Ten years ago, the UK government abolished betting duty to attract gambling companies back to the UK, but it’s not all good news for gambling companies.

The elimination of the betting tax means that the single game odds return is higher, attracting more customers than ever before, and at the same time attracting a few spooky professional punters. They bet very large amounts of money and have a lot more experience than the average player and are much smarter than the general public. In the UK, these people are called “Sharps”, which means speculators, and in contrast, those ordinary punters are called “Squares”, which means that they play silly and do not pose any threat.

Gradually, the William Hill stores in the UK were filled with punters with large stacks of £50 notes in their hands. This was when a new and previously unseen game began: if a team was priced at 2.5, a bet of £1,000 could result in a £2,500 win. Before the abolition of the betting tax, such a player would have been considered crazy, because if you taxed the 2500 pounds of winnings at 9%, it would mean that you would have to pay 225 pounds to the government. It was the abolition of the betting tax that stimulated the amount of big bets to begin to rise.

At the same time, the large bets also increased the operational risk of the bookies, which had to upgrade their risk control systems – or what we call the manipulation systems – to improve their resilience. Nowadays, the gaming company’s manipulation system is comparable to the bank trading system. For example, LIBOR has installed an advanced identification system that feeds bets from every store in the UK to their operations center at their headquarters in London, and they have even installed cameras behind the counters in their stores that can send clear photos of bettors back to the center as they place their bets. If they think you are a long winning player, a professional lottery player, there is a possibility that they will take restrictive measures on your account. Other bookmakers have started to adopt this technology after LIBOR.

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Online gaming companies have become inseparable

By Jaydeep, VP of Technology, Markor Technology Jaydeep’s goal is to expand Markor’s presence in established and emerging markets in Asia and Africa. Prior to joining Markor, Jaydeep worked at Ingenuity Gaming. He has extensive experience in senior positions in the gaming industry and has held management positions at leading casino brands 32 Red, Ladbrokes and Cozy Games. Jaydeep has built multiple professional relationships with key stakeholders and has played a key role in building a vibrant gaming industry in India.

In the midst of this epidemic, most events have been suspended and many sporting events are finding it difficult to secure sponsorship for their very large events, the sports industry is grappling with various issues concerning the future of various sporting events around the world and a handful of Indian as well as foreign sports sites have stepped up to the plate, backed by online gaming companies, for rescue operations.

Online gaming companies have become inseparable

Online gaming companies have become inseparable from many sporting events around the world. The global epidemic has severely impacted the sports world and it can still struggle to get back on track. Gaming company sponsorships have become ubiquitous in sports, with more than two-thirds of the teams in this study having some form of partnership with a gaming company-related website or sports gaming operator. This is particularly evident in soccer, where 70 percent of teams have a gaming sponsor and a quarter of teams display the logos of their betting companies on their jerseys.

Thirty percent of all 188 sports teams examined accept sponsorship from companies operating in unspecified markets. The survey found that in England, half of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League have gaming sponsors on their shirts, and that percentage rises to 17 of the 24 clubs in the Championship, which, as for the Championship itself, is sponsored by Sky Bet.

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In addition to the shirts, the company often sponsors entire stands or stadiums. Stoke City is owned by the Coates family, who also own Bet365, and as such, the Bet365 Stadium is also sponsored by the Coates family. This, combined with the pitch-side hoardings, means that the gaming brand’s logo is visible throughout the televised soccer matches, even without advertising. In a study of three episodes of the BBC’s flagship soccer-focused Match of the Day program, researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London, found that the gaming company’s logo or brand appeared on screen between 71 and 89 percent of the program’s airtime. Last year, England’s Premier League clubs earned a record £349.1 million from shirt sponsorship deals, up more than 10 percent from £315.6 million in 2018-19.

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Fantasy gaming platforms

In India, soccer is the second most popular sport on fantasy gaming platforms after cricket, according to the 2019 report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) – KPMG. Indian soccer fans have been gravitating towards fantasy gaming platforms. mobile Premier League (MPL), Twelfth Man and Paytm First Games, among others, have seen user traction and engagement on online platforms grow by more than 30% to match the progress of the Indian Premier League. The fantasy gaming platform allows players to create their own virtual teams by selecting realistic and active soccer players from a specific league or tournament. Players then earn points based on the actual performance of the team or player while competing to earn points, often doing so for cash prizes.

Most of these platforms use a “freemium” model, i.e., free-to-play. Revenue sources for the platforms include advertising, tournament fees and brand partnerships. Twelfth Man, a football-only fantasy sports platform that launched in April this year, says it is getting several thousand new users every day. MPL, for its part, says it has so far witnessed an 11 percent increase in the number of players playing fantasy soccer in ISL games on average per game.

For the Indian Super League, which kicks off in November 2020, ATK Mohun Bagan and FC Goa are displaying the names of two different websites – sbotop.net and IndiNews – on the players’ jerseys as their main sponsors. Both sites are powered by online gaming companies. IndiNews is a division of Indibet, which describes itself as “Asia’s leading online gaming site and home to the web’s best gaming products, including sports betting”. The site has multiple links to Indibet, offering potential bettors “welcome bonuses”, “jackpots” and free rupee credits. sbotop.net offers betting tips and predictions on a range of sports, including cricket and soccer. It also has several news and announcements related to SBOTOP, an online betting brand owned by the Isle of Man’s Celton Manx Group.

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SBOTOP

SBOTOP has recently appointed West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo as its brand ambassador. Its announcement, which was also published on sbotop.com, is that the company claims to be “a global online gaming platform dedicated to providing customers with the best possible electronic gaming experience with a full range of products from sports, live casino and slot games available on desktop and mobile”.

The rules related to online gaming are not yet well defined in Indian law. If the Indian government/sports associations bring clear rules and guidelines for online gaming, the Indian sports industry could see an influx of funds from gaming companies, which in turn could create a vibrant sports industry and foster sportsmanship.

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