If it were a normal year, millions of fans from across the globe wouldn’t be sitting at home for months frustrated with barely any sports to watch. And they would have been betting on TONS of sports this summer – with the European Championship in football and the Olympics on the calendar.
But, as almost all sports events were canceled when the COVID19 induced lockdowns began, we saw a lot of movement of sports bettors towards other online gaming platforms.
After five long months in some cases, most of Europe’s major leagues, including the Premier Leauge, Bundesliga, and La Liga, finally played their remaining fixtures in July, some spilling into August, too. It created an unprecedented sporting summer, without the Euro and the Olympics, but with crowd-less regular league games.
Throw in the restart of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, and as a result, online sports bettors, thirsty for some action, finally got online to place some bets. Now, we are seeing some further player movement across games and platforms.
For example, Optimove’s online gaming analysts saw an evident increase in monthly deposit amounts per player and average deposit amounts, among other interesting trends.
Optimove’s industry benchmark tool, the Optimove Pulse, is based on hundreds of operators’ data, and you can dive into the numbers for free.
In the meantime, find some of this past month’s Sports data highlight below, and some Casino numbers for added context.
SPORTS: Not Yet Back Full Power
Let’s begin with some data on sports players from July. Though there is an increase in average deposit amounts and monthly deposits, there’s a decrease in average revenue per active player of 4% MoM (month over month) and 15% YoY (year over year). With the average revenue per active player now standing at €117.
Let’s take a deeper look at Spain, and La Liga, the country’s top professional football division. There’s a sequential increase of 28% MoM for monthly revenue per sports player, which might means sports bettors are showing a preference for betting on their local sports teams.
Generally speaking, the average number of monthly deposits for sports bettors increased by 5% MoM and by 10% YoY. Also, the average deposit amount for sports betters increased by 9% MoM and by 19% YoY, now standing at €37 per player. Last July, it was the off-season at this point and hence the substantial difference to the prior year.
Gaming operators probably expected higher retention rates in July due to the leagues returning. Surprise, surprise! Retention rates for sports bettors have decreased by 6% MoM.
What’s noteworthy here, though, is that due to the prior year being in the off-season – retention rates increased by 3% YoY.
In the online sports betting sector, we can also conclude a decrease in conversion rates with an evident decrease of 7% MoM. Compared to last year, rates surged 13% YoY.
CASINO: Still Going Strong
And for that promised added context for the online gaming scene in general – here’s a quick analysis from Optimove’s of some other online gamers – Casino.
The average deposit amount for casino players increased by 9% MoM and by 9% YoY in July, now standing at €36.
As the pandemic continues to keep people at home more, the surge in online gaming continues. In July, the average number of monthly deposits per player increased by 3% MoM and by 9% from July 2019, now standing at 9.5 deposits per player.
Watch this space for monthly analysis of the online sports betting and real-money gaming verticals coming your way, and make sure to subscribe to the full reports of the Pulse here: