The future is bright for sports betting, according to a new report by FourFourtwo.
The study by the UK-based research firm, which has analysed more than 2,000 sports betting data sets, finds that more than half of the world’s sports betting market is expected to change in the next five years.
It says that sports betting in the UK, Ireland and the US is expected grow by around 2 per cent a year between 2020 and 2023, with a rise of more than 80 per cent in the US and Ireland.
The figures come from data from the US Sportsbetting Association and the UK Sportsbetning Association, both of which have taken over from the UK’s betting agencies.
It also looks at data from some European countries and places like Italy and Greece, which are expected to see the fastest growth.
“The future is still bright, but with a lot of uncertainty,” says Mark Wilson, senior analyst at FourFour2.
“If there is any future at all, it will be in the digital space.
Sport betting is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, with revenues forecast to grow by more than 20 per cent annually from 2020-2025.”
The UK and Ireland are expected, for example, to witness the fastest annual growth in digital sports betting revenues of any countries in the group.
The report suggests that a combination of technological innovation, market disruption and regulatory change could transform the betting landscape for the next decade.
“There is an enormous opportunity for sports bettors to gain significant financial and strategic advantages from the adoption of technology and the development of new markets,” says Wilson.
Sports betting will remain a lucrative industry in the future, he says.
“However, the new digital landscape will also bring new opportunities for sport betting businesses.”
For example, it’s a great opportunity for operators of sports betting sites and the gamblers themselves to gain a better understanding of the market.
“It will also be a great chance for the gambetting industry to make use of the growing technology capabilities of the betting markets to better manage their risks and make better business decisions.”
The report notes that the UK is still one of a handful of countries that have not yet taken a formal step to legalize sports betting.
In Ireland, betting has been illegal for a decade, but the country has just made it legal in 2018.
The UK, meanwhile, will start its legal gambling regime in 2021.
In terms of the technology underpinning the betting market, the FourFour two predicts that betting technology is expected increase by 2 per the UK and 4 per the US in 2020.
There is no indication of what the market will look like five years down the line, though.
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