Asian sports-books need to move away from football: gambling expert

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Thursday, 28 February 2008
Macau daily Times
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by Nigel Huxtable

Erratic margins and strong favourite betting is eating into margins of Asian sports-betting internet sites which largely rely on football sport fans for revenue.

Gambling consultant, Lorien Pilling presented an analysis of sports-betting sites in the region  during yesterday's Asian i-Gaming congress at the Ventian Macao.

Cultural differences and the dominance of single sports varied the results with more mature gaming markets such as Europe.

The most online sports-betting gaming activity in Asia was seen during the Lunar New Year, which was very unusual compared with the rest of the world, said Mr Pilling.

“The peak was not related to a sporting event but a national holiday,” he said. The second highest gross turnover period was seen in the month before the start of the June 2006 FIFA World Cup which was followed by betting on finals.

The unpredictability of the tournament saw most sites ahead financially going into the second half of the year. However the tide turned when the European football leagues began.

Football is the most popular sport in Asia and currently attracts the most punters. During the last summer in China, before the European leagues had started, 57 percent of articles in the Chinese newspapers sports-section covered football. Basketball came in second with 19 percent.
The popularity of football and its highest ranked teams leaves sports-books in Asia vulnerable, said Mr Pilling.

In the last 13 weeks of 2006, English Premier League side Manchester United won 12 from 14 matches. An opponent, Chelsea won 9 from 13 matches.

With many punters backing their favourite sides, the betting-sites started losing.
“They were effectively losing all of the hard earned wins from the first half of the year,” said Mr Pilling.

In order to avoid the same situation each year, agencies servicing the region should look to interest their customers in other sports and activities, advised Mr Pilling.

Formula One racing provides a good opportunity this year, believes the consultant. The motor-racing formula ranked fourth in terms of newspaper coverage, however the three Asian races in a row, starting with Singapore on September 28 will help to raise interest in the sport, said Mr Pilling.

Reality television has also provided United Kingdom sports-betting sites an alternative revenue stream. With similar shows growing in popularity in China, such as the Super Girl singing contest, the opportunities for betting sites, outside of China as the Mainland bans the activity, are growing. During 2005 the show attracted 400 million viewers and 800 million text messages in 2006.

However the main obstacle to sports-betting internet sites in the region are illegal or unlicensed bookmakers.

“It's huge, the biggest market of them all is the illegal market,” said Mr Pilling.

Last month the director of Sociedade de Lotarias e Apostas Mutuas de Macau, the sole licensed sports betting agency in Macau, Dominic Kwok said he believes more than six billion patacas is gambled on illegal sports betting websites in Macau each year.