We are only three weeks away from the European Championship with a difference, although some bookmakers believe that England shorter than 5/1 ... at least it's a sign that some things will never change.
When fans return to the stadiums, albeit at a lower level, will we see the almost erased home advantage reversed in fanless football? Hopefully not for Gareth's guys.
How will the difference in terms of fan engagement affect the betting market? What should operators do to make their home viewers' bets more interactive? And how can you keep the attracted players after the tournament?
We spoke with Pronet gaming , bookmaker and sales director Thomas Molloy , Aspire Global Sports supervisor Morten Hauge and Alexey Kornilov , CEO at Betegy to find out more.
SBC: Euro 2020 will be the first major international tournament since the start of the pandemic. How will it differ from the previous ones?
Thomas Molloy (TM): Euro 2020 has finally arrived, a year later it was originally supposed to take place. And yet there is still so much in the air, despite the fact that there are only a few weeks left before the match between Turkey and Italy on 11 June.
Hosting the event in multiple countries on the continent was a new idea before the pandemic, but at this stage, we don't know what impact the continued impact of Covid - 19 will have on the tournament.
In fact, we still don't know if it will be fully relocated to one country, even at this late stage and so far success Since the introduction of the vaccine in the UK has made it a seemingly safer option, how many fans will eventually be allowed into the stadiums ? According to the latest data, the stadiums will be at least 30% full, but this may differ from country to country.
Despite the many unresolved issues, it's fair to say that we can be confident that many of the world's best players will appear and produce internationally. Another thing that never changes is the high expectations for England's odds of success, but with a price tag of just 5/1 I'm not sure if I would be in a rush to bet.
Morten Hauge (MH): In terms of fan engagement, this will definitely be different in many ways. We've always seen big tournaments held by people gathering in public places and pubs. While there are some countries lucky enough to enjoy the same experience, it is likely that much of Europe will still face the constraints of isolation and social distancing.
That being said, it will likely be the most watched European championship in history because not much fresh content is being created. available at the moment. Streaming platforms like Netflix and HBO can only do so much under the circumstances, which is why big sporting events are more important than ever.
This is all very positive for the betting industry and operators understand the importance of offering this entertainment experience to a wide audience. Scalable platform technology will be essential given the huge influx of new customers expected to subscribe to bookmakers.
It needs to be cloud-based and access to more computing power will be essential. This won't be a problem for us, as our AspireCore PAM gaming solution stands the toughest test.
Alex Kornilov (AK): I think that any event that happens after last year is already an added bonus for the gambling industry. When we talk about the participation of sports grounds or bars, it is unlikely that it will make the same difference this year as for previous tournaments, as restrictions still apply in many countries around the world, and the multi-channel is likely to be much stronger than when- either before. ...
However, as we have seen from the surge in entertainment rates over the past year, I have an optimistic outlook. After all, if people want to place a bet, they will - whether in stores, online or via mobile - and I hope the production team behind Euro 2020 is doing a great job of exciting and entertaining people.
SBC: The lack of crowds is said to have impacted match results and individual betting markets in domestic leagues over the past year. Will this likely continue as the crowd decreases, or will the house edge speak again?
MH: The lack of a crowd was a factor in the start, but by now most players have become accustomed to their new surroundings. There will probably be more substitutions and I expect a lot of goals to be scored. Otherwise, it will be nothing more than a regular tournament. That being said, it's true that having your fans behind you in a big tournament is a huge advantage, and it's not the same with half-empty or even empty stadiums.
TM: One clear trend across Europe, but especially evident in the Premier League this season, is the destruction of home advantage. With the average home point advantage dropping from 0.5 to 0.1 per game, it's fair to say that every match felt like playing on a neutral court.
However, even if the stadiums are a quarter full, the crowd can still create a lot of noise, and this is the atmosphere we have missed in the last 19 months. This effect could be key for home teams seeking this competitive advantage.
Another important indicator is the climate. Admittedly, this is more pronounced during the FIFA World Cup tournaments, but with 11 cities from Seville to St. Petersburg hosting the games, the old excuse that certain climates are better suited to specific teams has disappeared.
AK: I think it will be very interesting to see how the production of Euro 2020 compares to previous years. However, things have been the same in the last 05s and will be a great test for football production teams and UEFA in how they can restructure their efforts to make them more interesting.
Formula 1, for example, is a great example of what's possible during Covid, and Bloomberg's transformation of their "interactive" betting value into UX trading has had a major impact, and I hope the same will happen with football.
We know the fans will be in the stadiums too, but homecoming viewers will be a key demographic and participation must include better cameras, better ideas, better player stories and additional stats to make it not only a sporting event but also another one. a personal event that can resonate with betting enthusiasts' values and, more importantly, betting strategies.
SBC: Major international tournaments have always been a great way to attract new clients. How do you allow your partners to do this and how do you save them after the tournament?
AK: We know that most people come to betting by word of mouth and for the pleasure of a daring game, rather than being tempted by the idea of making money. In this case, the next generation community works through the Internet - Sky Sports, BT, DAZN, as well as through social and fan blogs - and in such places content can be well curated to create incentives.
This is especially true when the odds are lacking due to ad restrictions, and therefore we need to help tell the story based on data, handicap and analytics. Visual content is the key to this storytelling, which betting operators will narrate in this carefully curated medium, and this will be the primary channel to focus on.
After a tournament, the best way to attract customers to an ideal world is to know what people want to bet on. This is done with data, and you can segment and define who likes what and promote those further offers based on profiles and what they like.
To be successful, you need to segment as much as possible, offering everyone the best possible content, but make sure it's slow burning, you don't want to use up all the free space you have.
MH: We have developed several effective tools that will enable our partners to promote their brands in a more effective and attractive manner. In addition, we developed a nine-step strategy using historical data to take care of the customer cycle at this time. This includes a strategy to draw the player's attention to the next tournament.
On top of that, we're adding the industry's first BtoBet API, a pocketbook called AspireBattle for casino players. who may be interested in euros. This is a free game in which players make predictions of matches. It's like a bookmaker's layout, with statistics and match previews and even the ability to "follow" other users in the game.
TM: We have a number of interaction features built exclusively for Euro 2020. These include various widgets, statistics, H2H and form guides, all of which will be available through our Bet Assist tab. Our front-end UI / UX is fully modular, allowing our clients to promote content relevant to them.
Whether through our popular competitions module or the special events module, we can push all Euro 2020 or simply offer a more focused view of fewer events, displaying a wider range of markets through our fully customizable home page on both mobile and desktop.
If our clients want to display special offers with country, top scorer or Euro 2020 absolute winner, they can do so with the click of a button. All of our frontend modules are available to our clients all year round and with patented features like Fast Bet, additional betting content like player markets and over 30,000 in game events monthly, our clients' players will have access to the best coverage.
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