Brandon Walker exclusive: why haven’t sports betting media brands taken off?
The Amelco Head of US revealed his thoughts on why the needle hasn’t moved much.
In comments provided exclusively to Gaming America, Amelco Head of US Brandon Walker discusses why sports betting partnerships with media companies haven’t worked out well.
Walker commented: “I think things didn’t take up because of the sheer scale of media companies in the US. In the UK there is Sky, which almost exclusively dominates sports coverage bar one or two subscription services like BT Sport.”
He added that statistics are so important in the US because before PASPA and legal sports betting, daily fantasy sports (DFS) was a dominant pastime for sports fans.
Walker added that DFS operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel had a stronghold as soon as sports betting became legal because they already had a customer base.
When it comes to why sports betting in media companies haven’t grown, Walker said: “In the US there are around 15 different broadcasters with different channels, focusing on different sports. So in the states, it comes down to broadcaster preferences. Someone might say ‘I don’t watch Fox Sports’, and therefore they wouldn’t bet with Fox Bet.
“It’s also important to consider rivalry between pundits, people prefer some pundits over others. Whether that’s Fox, CNN or CBS, the options create a rivalry between the pundits that viewers prefer.”
He went on to note that sports media coverage “wars” and betting volumes being split between the companies is a notable difference in why sportsbooks under media brands haven’t taken off in the US.
Walker also gave advice both to operators and suppliers, stating: “As an operator, or a supplier, you need to understand these differences well. If you don’t understand the differences in these markets, even though it may only be around 20-30% of what you’re doing, you’ll get it completely wrong and it will go badly for you.”
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