From regulation challenges to the rise of basketball and esports, Jeevan Jeyaratnam, Chief Betting Officer at Abelson Sports, highlights how local preferences and growing demand for player props are reshaping engagement across Asia.
Jeevan, taking a holistic view, how do you assess Asia’s sports betting market? Which markets are ripe for growth?
The general consensus is that Asia is a high volume, low margin region that operates by utilising sharp pricing that drives sports markets across the rest of the world.
There is plenty of truth to this adage, but aside from this position as a pricing powerhouse there is far more nuance to the continent’s scope.
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block and the reason that Asia is regarded by many as a mystery is the lack of regulation and legality that surrounds many of the biggest territories in the region. China and India, with over two billion inhabitants, are the most notable.
It is, of course, naive to think that gambling doesn’t exist because it is illegal, and black-market operators in both countries run huge operations.
Traditional regulated sports betting hubs, Hong Kong and Philippines, are perhaps some of the best examples of structured marketplaces and while the Philippines has been actively tightening regulation over the past year, for those with licences, the opportunities are sizeable.
All across Asia we are seeing moves to either clamp down or regulate gambling. From South Korea and Thailand to the most unlikely, UAE, we are seeing movement, whereas in India we are witnessing heavy clampdowns on gambling activity.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the world renowned and respected Hong Kong Jockey Club is famed for its huge betting volumes, despite only being permitted to offer betting on football and horse racing, although basketball has just been approved for launch.
What leagues or competitions drive the most betting activity?
Time zones are an important factor. That’s why competitions such as the Japanese J-League, Australian A-League and also competitions in South America (favourable for morning coverage in Asia) are perhaps more popular in parts of Asia than you’d readily imagine.
That all said, the English Premier League is very much top dog in terms of popularity and that correlates into high levels of betting interest. It’s no coincidence that a number of Premier League teams make trips to Asia during pre-season. There’s a growing fanatical base of support there and many millions to be made in merchandise, media rights and ticket sales.
Basketball wise, the NBA is king but EuroLeague is also popular, as are more regional Asian-based competitions.
To what extent is football still king for bettors across Asia? Which other sports do you expect to see rise in popularity, particularly with younger demographics?
It’s no surprise that football accounts for a huge share of business across the Asian region, but the impact of basketball should not be underestimated. Indeed, in figures I’ve seen from east Asia, basketball rivals or even usurps football in certain territories – the Philippines, for example.
It’s little surprise that the Hong Kong Jockey Club has successfully petitioned its government to allow it to offer basketball in the near future. The predominant argument is that a sport with this level of popularity will drive customers to the black market if not readily available for legal betting.
Esports are also responsible for huge handle figures and the region is the driving force behind this sport’s success as a betting product.
How do betting patterns differ from other global markets? For instance, are Bet Builders or micro-markets more popular in Asia than elsewhere?
Asian betting trends are notably different from say, Western Europe. Due to the low margin, high volume nature of the business, much focus is placed on handicapping, in order to offer theoretical 50-50 chances while removing the draw option.
Indeed, the mathematically elegant Hang Cheng (now commonly, Asian Handicap) system is world famous for its low margins, large permitted stakes and highly accurate pricing.
Tracing its roots back to Indonesia, this system allows bookmakers to make even-sided books on the most one-sided of matches- though get the original quote wrong and it’ll be very hard to create a winning one.
There are other unique regional variances that also impact how well, or not, “western” products fit. In India, punters expect to see an exchange-based UI with back and lay options.
In Indonesia and most of Southeast Asia, players expect to see Malay odds, which is a simple conversion. If not available, this will be deeply harmful to a sportsbook’s revenues.
We are slowly seeing “western” trends emerging in parts of Asia. Our partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club is proof that there is increasing demand for player prop bets.
At present, that is limited to singles or non-correlated multiplies, but in other areas of Asia bet builders are becoming more common without yet having the impact witnessed across the rest of the world.
One of the reasons for the slower adoption of bet builders is the difficulty of including Asian Handicap wagers in a bet builder because of the split nature of quarter balls and the frequency of pushes. There are only a limited number of suppliers that handle this effectively.
Which data points matter most for keeping football bettors engaged?
Accuracy and speed are key conditions for retaining engagement. Punters want to be paid out quickly but not suffer clawbacks or overturned results. Front-end stats board widgets are also useful tools for keeping players focused.
Increasingly, in Europe, we see interest in tracking individual player stats, mainly for shots and shots on target, where we have witnessed a huge surge in market popularity.
It’s easy to understand why, as these metrics are easy to follow and occur at a more frequent rate than goals. Shots markets are now the most popular player metric, usurping goalscorers in many places.
What emerging trends do you foresee for basketball and football betting in Asia over the coming years?
Focusing on Hong Kong, we’d expect to see as huge interest in basketball betting as the Jockey Club offers it for the first time.
I’d imagine the permit includes player props and if so, it will be an exciting period of growth for the sport in a key Asian market. We also hope that football player shots markets are embraced by the Jockey Club as there is exciting growth to be achieved with a broader product.
Abelson Sports has a further deal, yet to be announced, with an Asian platform business to provide all full range of player props. This reinforces the notion that there is a shift towards player markets in the region.
The post Abelson Sports: Asian betting shifts toward player props and basketball appeared first on G3 Newswire.
From regulation challenges to the rise of basketball and esports, Jeevan Jeyaratnam, Chief Betting Officer at Abelson Sports, highlights how local preferences and growing demand for player props are reshaping engagement across Asia. Jeevan, taking a holistic view, how do you assess Asia’s sports betting market? Which markets are ripe for growth? The general consensus…
The post Abelson Sports: Asian betting shifts toward player props and basketball appeared first on G3 Newswire.