As we reflect on the past SBC Summit Lisbon, it is clear that the conference produced significant talking points for the industry, one of which was the potential role bookmakers could have in the Olympics by leveraging the various niche sports in them.
Sarah Butler
In a panel moderated by Sarah Butler, CEO & Founder of Sport Business Connect, several sports betting experts looked at the feasibility and longevity of providing sportsbook support for the niche sports calendar, and whether the Olympics can be used to trampoline them into the mainstream.
Speaking into the stage microphone, Wayne Stevenson, Founder & CEO of Globe Gaming, viewed the Olympics now as a completely separate entity to what the competition was a decade or two ago.
“The Olympics have changed over the years,” he commented. “15-20 years ago it was a more difficult event to try and get people interested from a betting perspective.
“What you’re seeing from the last five to six years is events like golf being brought in, with all the top 20 players in the world playing, tennis with Djokovic, etc. Whereas previously they weren’t allowed because they are professional athletes.
“When you’ve got the high profile athletes like that being brought to the Olympics, it does offer a new opportunity for sportsbooks to get on that big athlete name and try and drive interest.
“Most of the time the Olympics are an occasional contest, you’re not gonna get the die-hard people who really look to be involved, but you’ve got a massive media coverage facing billions of people around the world. So it should be a really good opportunity.”
He further clarified that operators should utilise the player factor that comes with the Games, specifically targeting jurisdictional demand based on best performing sport and whether there’s a local performing athlete.
Wayne Stevenson
To illustrate his point, Stevenson gave Adam Peaty as an example, whose success pushed swimming significantly into the UK spotlight. This is a formula that could also be reciprocated with niche sports, he added.
For one, darts is a potential sport which if added to the Olympics will certainly drive growth for UK bookies due to the large number of UK players in the top world rankings.
Building on that point, Narek Harutyunyan, CEO of FeedConstruct, explained that bigger sports like football, basketball and volleyball have traditionally captured the lion’s share of sportsbooks. However, niche sports like archery and shooting also have a card up their sleeve – a small but very patient and consistent audience.
Operators just have to recognise how to grow those fanbases, which circles back to Stevenson’s point.