Online sport betting

Football is the sport attracting the most bets, mainly because of the growth of "in-play betting", where bets are placed in real time during a match. The operator provides (for a fee) a wide range of options for betting "in-play", such as on who will take the last penalty kick".

For some years now there has been a huge variety of information available on the internet making it a lot easier to place sports bets strategically, in a way that was not possible in the past.
For instance, there are online sports information services, betting guides, data on previous results, fixtures, blogs, social networks and forums that publish sports betting predictions, tips and tricks, and even comparative analyses of betting options.

Online sports betting is a high demand product, which will grow at an explosive rate in Latin America during the Brazil World Cup this year, and also driven by tournaments such as  ‘Copa Libertadores’ and ‘Copa America de Selecciones 2015’, and by the presence of top class Latin footballers in the in the major European leagues.

Similarly, Liga Bancomer (Mexico), liga Postobón (Colombia) and Brasileirao (Brasil), are three major Latin American soccer leagues generating a large volume of business between them.
With recognized and experienced online sports betting operators responding in real time to what consumers are looking for, Latin America has a very promising future as an emerging market with very good margins.

The development of each sports betting product depends on the customization and the targeting of the offer, which means operators must understand population issues and the motivations of the Latin bettor, to make their marketing strategies and customer retention more effective.
In terms of new technologies, the "anytime, anywhere" culture, driven by the smartphones boom and the comfort that the phone offers to the user, allows for an ideal betting environment. Operators already working in the region, or planning to, must be responsive to this.

In essence, each sport book is looking to participate in an industry that is becoming ever more accepted from the social point of view, and which is entertainment-based.

Social networks growth and the rise in the smartphones app market and in microtransactions – afforded by wider broadband connectivity, 3G/4G and wifi – make the future  for online sports betting very promising indeed.

(*)Maximiliano De Muro is an online gaming industry entrepreneur and executive. He is an expert in online gaming in Latin America and an international speaker on the subject. He can be contacted here.