MuchBetter is sponsoring Betting on Sports 2018, the 3rd edition of the largest international sports and betting trade conference at Olympia London.
Ahead of the 18-21 September event, we asked co-founder Jens Bader to disclose some of the firm’s plans for #boscon2018 and to pick out the sporting event he would most like to attend.
SBC: What are you looking forward to at Betting on Sports?
JB: I would like to understand where the betting industry, in particular the online industry, sees their growth opportunities. What trends operators invest into, what, besides the un-organic MA activity will contribute meaningful growth in the next 12 months.
Check whether new betting concepts exist, how operators deploy technology like AI.
SBC: Which sports betting company has impressed you the most in 2018?
JB: There are a number of angles here – just by being surprised about how visible and omni-present they were throughout this year – 1xbet.com – made a very strong push this year.
Ninja Casino – arguably a casino rather than a bookie but they operate without customer registration and account opening – a concept that still makes me scratch my head with regards to compliance.
Sunmaker.com (part of Cherry Gaming AB) – massive push in sports sponsoring with the only bookmaker to my knowledge that has seven football-shirt sponsorships.
Betway – a lot more presence and a challenger to the gorillas out there (B365, PPBF, BWIN), build up a lot of media presence in the German speaking region – which I am close to.
In general, the German market has seen interesting developments with many bookies making a renewed effort to compete against the old incumbents (Tipico, BWIN) – this is an interesting battleground to watch as this is a massive market and one that can still be serviced under MT-license, with no local licenses in place. Watching the movements in Germany shows that there is a lot of smaller, new contenders that are pushing aggressively. One to mention here would be Bethard.
SBC: What sports betting partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
JB: I am amazed by the number of Asian sportsbook advertising in football and also increasingly other sports. I do understand the idea behind that but still feel strange to see by now more Asian-facing or originating or focusing sports marketing in European sports….
I am eager to see what happens in the US, how marketing, advertising and sponsoring will develop after PASPA and whether this will follow similar trends like in Europe or are we going to see a different kind of cooperation and operational model between media, clubs, bookies and audience.
SBC: If you could attend one sporting event, what would it be?
JB: I am somewhat stuck in the 80s/90s – so I would enjoy being on a multi-day x-Games event with good old skateboarding, BMX and other old-school sports and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. Competitive, but usually fun wins over brutal professionalism.
