Australians and sports betting in under 5 minutes

PART 1

Unravelling the inner workings of your typical sports bettor

Here we are looking specifically at sports fans. So, while almost a third (32%) of Australians have had a flutter in the past 12 months (that’s 7.8m people!), that figure goes up to 40% amongst our sports fan segment.

Within this group of sports fans placing bets, two key groups emerged.

Group A – Let’s call them ‘Low Frequency Punters’. This group consists of 23% who have only placed a single bet in the past 12 months and a further 18% who have only participated every few months. In total that’s 41% of sports bettors who are considered ‘low frequency punters’.

Group B – This is a group we are calling ‘Regular Punters’ (betting monthly or more often). It represents 57% of sports fans who wager. Within this group, 20% are betting at least multiple times a week. So, one in five sports fans who bet do so at a very high frequency.

The next question to consider is just how much are sports fans betting? The most commonly placed amount is at the lower end of the scale; more than half of all sports betting fans (54%) are typically wagering up to $19.99. But a significant proportion (20%) are betting up to twice that amount, with 5% typically betting in excess of $100 each time (see chart below).

Our regular sports punters (those who bet at least once a month) are less likely than all sports-fan gamblers to bet the smallest amount and more likely to bet bigger. In other words, if fans bet frequently, they tend to also bet more in a single bet.

PART 2

Does loyalty exist? And what do sports bettors really want from their provider?

In this part we’re going to have a look at how sports fans choose betting brands, how loyal they are and crucially, which brands are leading the market.

In terms of how sports fans choose a betting brand, the picture is complex. Finding a single reason which stood out proved difficult with a multitude of high-ranking factors proving important. Security of payment (46%), ease of online/app use (44%) and competitive odds and payment options (42%) all led the way. See the graph below for more detail.

It’s worth noting here that our regular sports punters (those who bet at least once a month) place a much higher importance on promotions/offers (48% v 36%) than all general sports betting fans, as well as in ease of use of a betting website or app (52% v 44%).

There is surprisingly little churn among sports fans when it comes to betting with 70% of sports bettors using only a single provider over the past 12 months. Furthermore, 60% are unlikely to switch providers in the next 12 months. So, while there remains a somewhat moderate level of loyalty in the category there is still a significant part of the market open to change.

Given what we now know about sports fans, let’s consider one last question – which brands are sports fans choosing today? Our Profiles service also gives us this answer.

For the majority of sports fans who wager, TAB remains the favourite but four other brands have also been used by at least 10% of our sports fan segment – Sportsbet, Beteasy, Bet365 and Ladbrokes. The same five brands also top the list of bookmakers which sports fans would most consider switching to in the next 12 months.

Based on these findings the overall view is of a market that it is dominated by a major player, but with stiff competition between a number of chasing brands. While bettors are reluctant to switch providers there are still levers to pull aside from just pricing. It’s up to the brands to discover what works best for them – with the help of data, of course.

So the overall view is of a market that it is dominated by a major player, but with stiff competition between a number of chasing brands. While bettors are reluctant to switch providers there still remains levers to pull aside from just pricing. It’s up to the brands to discover what works best for them – with the help of data, of course.

Photo McCartney Design