The upcoming NFL season means more exciting stories and of course more betting opportunities. Can the Kansas City Chiefs go one better and win the Superbowl after last year’s disappointing final? (They are around 6.0 favourites to do so.) Can Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay repeat their stunning success and give Brady his 8th Superbowl ring? Back-to-back wins hasn’t happened since 2003 but it’s Super Tom, so you can’t rule it out. You can get around 8.0 for this to happen.
In terms of betting trends on the NFL, pre-match betting remains popular with our partners, with money-line accumulators probably the players’ favorite. These small-stake, big-win bets are appealing to recreational customers’ who enjoy watching games and tracking the success of their selections.
Live betting remains a “hero” product for our most popular sports, but NFL is growing in popularity with around 65% of industry handle in Europe reportedly taken during the games. Popular in-play NFL bet options for Digitain include points spread, alternative spreads, money line bets and total points.
In the US, live betting is growing too. In 2017, William Hill reported that, in Nevada, live betting accounted for around 27% of total handle. Oobviously there has been the rise of mobile betting so no doubt that percentage will grow.
It seems the launch of online and mobile betting in the growing list of US states is changing the customer profile mix, which in turn would seem to be having an impact on the amount of live betting been taken, as well as on the amount of more recreational bets being processed. For example, the margins now being generated in some states from recreational bets, such as multi-selection accumulators, or parlays, could be surprising but this must be good news for the operators, and probably reflects some success in attracting a new type of bettor to their business.
Also, the growth of customer-driven, same event multiples. Pre-match, but also now for live betting, must be a positive for NFL betting going forward. Bet builder types of bets, where customers create their own accas from one match, now account for around 40% of stakes in some European operators with about 20% of their match revenues being generated. These bet types will surely continue to be developed for NFL and other sports, with live betting bet-builder bets already available and popular with some operators.
The range of options for live betting on NFL, and other sports, continues to develop, as does the amount and quality of supporting data and video content. Provision of in-play player stats, live scores and real-time video are continually developing as operators look to differentiate their offering to customers.
The demand for more creative in-play bet types or propositions will continue to grow. At Digitain, we have listened to our partners’ feedback and recently introduced some new live betting markets, which we’re excited about. Players can now bet on our Fast and Furious markets on what will happen in the next five minutes of a game, or even more exciting, on what will happen in the next minute of the game. Options include a card being given, the ball going out of play, or even a penalty being awarded. Thhis will definitely will make a so-so game more exciting, and an exciting game, even more so. Overall, with football returning and sports betting growing throughout the country, it's an exciting time for the industry.
