The sports betting industry continues to experience more and more growth over the last few years and, after the boost it has received in recent years due to an increase in the adoption of the digital world and automatic processes, it will experience its first football World Cup in just a matter of days.
On November 20, the world will tune in to the opening match of the most important sporting event on the planet and, therefore, operators are preparing to face a completely different and unique month for their operations.
Ahead of the tournament hosted by FIFA, Fernando Garita, Head of Business Development at Betcris, analyzed the details of what he considers “the largest massive event in the post-pandemic” and projected record figures for the betting industry, specially considering “the large number of players who started playing in their online operations,” over the recent past.
The operator is no stranger to major sporting events after being a sponsor of the Super Bowl for two consecutive years, among other things. That’s why they are preparing to increase their exposure before and during the biggest sporting competition in the world, mainly through their commercial agreements with the Mexican and Ecuadorian national teams, which are among the 32 competitors that will arrive in Qatar in late November.
“We are aiming to get a lot of projection and make the most of these sponsorships with approaches at the operational and commercial level, preparing events for our clients in general,” he explained. However, he announced that there will be specific activations for the two aforementioned teams that they sponsor and some for the rest that “will be part of the World Cup part”.
He also spoke about those countries whose teams did not qualify for Qatar and the impact their absence might have on the local players. However, he explained that, usually, they choose to support one of the 32 teams as if it were their own since most of them are already supporters of one or more players who will play in the competition.
Garita explained that most of the time, the number of new clients and the volume of play increase considerably during a World Cup: “Usually we see patterns of gaming from a much larger female population among gamblers and we expect that to be the case this year,” he also said about changing trends for this specific event.
Still, Betcris’ Head of Business Development warned about one of the operator’s concerns for Qatar 2022: the timetable for the matches in the World Cup. Due to the time difference, many of the games will be played at inconvenient hours in some of the company’s main markets.
Nonetheless, he still said that “the World Cup is the World Cup,” and many people take the time to watch the competition and even “even ask for their days off,” to enjoy an event that, for a few days, will unite the world.
Betcris stays close to sports
Over the last few years, Betcris has remained very close to sports, beyond their obvious relationship as a sports betting operator. The company has entered into numerous sponsorship deals with clubs, leagues, and national teams in several sports.
Still, achieving such deals is not an easy job and Garita explains that the main challenge is to coordinate and negotiate the conditions of each agreement: “Most times it starts with a standard proposal with the clubs or Leagues and that is where the challenge arises as we try to find that the exposure conditions are defined in favor of the betting product and the online vertical, which is where we will get the greatest benefit out of the sponsorship,” he detailed and explained that agreements tend to differ between countries and clubs.
Also, he pointed out that “there is a world behind sponsorship deals,” in which many times intermediaries show up to work things out just fine sometimes, while some promise a lot from the beginning and, at the moment of signing the contract the conditions end up changing. However, he celebrated that the market is purging to leave only the most recommended and that they best exercise their role as a link between the sponsor and sponsored parties.
Either way, once all difficulties are left behind and sponsorships are finally signed, Betcris highlights the advantages of these massive exhibition spaces, achieved thanks to its dedicated teams. Some crews look for potential agreements, and others “accompany and take advantage of them”.
“For Betcris, approaching the fans of those leagues or teams as a brand means putting ourselves in their shoes and living each game as their fans,” Garita analyzed. He even pointed out that the company’s own employees have become fans of teams with which the company closed an agreement.
“On a personal level, every time I see the company’s brand in an event or team I am very touched because I know the effort that the Betcris internal teams such as legal, commercial, financial, support, and design make to be there after a great job. coordination and preparation,” he said.
The regulation landscape in Latin America
Betcris has expanded significantly in Latin America in the last few years, so it is no stranger to the major changes that the regulatory landscape has experienced recently in the region: the City of Buenos Aires, the province, and other Argentine territories regulated their online markets; Peru established clear regulations of their own a few weeks ago; Colombia continues to be a beacon for the South American betting and igaming segments; and other countries such as Chile, Uruguay or Brazil are analyzing their own versions of legislation to do so as well.
“The development of a scenario with well-developed laws and procedural manuals is the best thing that could happen both to consumers and operators,” explained Garita, adding that it generates legal certainty for investors. In addition, he explained that the best thing for the industry is a balanced regulation, with regulators open to idea exchanges between the Government and the private sector.
Although he acknowledged that it is not an easy job, he assured that at Betcris they hope that the regulatory framework in the region will be established that way and that the current government entities “are doing things right”.
He also celebrated the possibility of new progress in the legislative front for the industry to properly arrive in more countries in order to continue developing safely, while generating benefits for the local economy at the same time through the creation of jobs and financial contributions to health and safety — among other segments — as it continues to happen in Colombia.
The progress with gaming legislation will favor the expansion of Betcris, which has grown significantly in recent months. In addition to launching their affiliate site betcrisaffiliados.com, they have expanded to new countries and are working to expand collection and payment networks in order to further facilitate the gaming experience for their customers.
So, while they have the World Cup on the horizon for what’s left of 2022, they will also continue to work on various projects to ensure they provide the best product and service in every different sport they cover, beyond football.