With more states continuing to introduce legislation paving the way for regulated sports betting, the target demographic is beginning to change, with gambling operators seeing a rise in the more ‘casual punter.’
Speaking to Wayne Kimmel, Managing Partner at SeventySix Capital, at SBC’s Betting on Sports conference earlier this year, he urged the gambling industry to ‘wake up and take a look at the consumer’. He believes that we’re going to see a shift away from the traditional punter, and instead will see a rise in visual betting apps to appeal to the masses.
He explained: “Today’s sports betting industry has to really wake up and take a look at the consumer. It really needs to take a look at who will that consumer be in the future, because it’s not just going to be all male. It won’t just be older punters who love betting, those who understand what -1/80 is, those who really understand the over-unders, or those who understand what the money lines are.
“We’re going to see more of the casual player as the demographic begins to look different. How we as an industry decide to really start to change the way we do things and present these opportunities to everybody is going to be the new opportunity for the industry. I expect that there will be a complete democratization of this industry.
“It will not just be the old-time sports bettor, it’s going to look different. What’s exciting is that at SeventySix Capital, what we’re all about is looking for those opportunities – looking for those entrepreneurs who are looking at the business differently and are starting to think about targeting other individuals who are not engaged today.
“Now in the US, the whole world of betting has just blown up. You now have a number of states that actually have legalized sports betting, and I think that this really is an exciting time. I really truly believe that the demographics of this industry will totally shift, and the sports betting apps and technology will completely change. When you start to look at the way that apps look today, they’ll look completely different in the future.
“When you see what’s happening today, where you have the traditional look of the sports betting apps, I think they’re going to start looking more like Facebook and Instagram, and they’re going to become way more visual than they have ever been. This is something that a lot of the industry has not thought about just yet, but there are entrepreneurs that are working on some fascinating developments.”
