The fascinating thing about certain businesses and industries is that their impact extends far beyond simple economics. Yes, they exist primarily to make money and generate a return for their investors, but they also have the ability to reshape their industry and show other entrants that shifts are required. And more than that, there are certain unicorn entrants to the market that are able to drive cultural and societal shifts in how they are seen by the wider world.
The Issue Of Revenue Generation
For any business or industry to be able to reshape the landscape, it first needs to be economically viable. Online betting clearly is when you look at the proliferation of new sites and platforms, and it is driven by an annual spend of more than £5 billion in the UK alone. When you consider that, in terms of population, the UK is much smaller than continental Europe and the US, you get a sense of the scale of the opportunity.
As with any industry, there will always be successes and failures — some online casinos will fail, others will be bought out and rolled up, and an elite few will lead the way. This is not unique to the betting and gambling industry and instead is something that you will see reflected in every industry around the world. The betting platforms that succeed are typically those that are able to carve out a place in public consciousness that makes them feel more mainstream, perhaps even more legitimate as pastimes.
Leveraging Sports Sponsorship
Sports sponsorship is often seen as a way for the industry to try and reframe the issue it has with addiction and unhealthy staking. While they will preach the importance of moderation, everyone is painfully aware of more than a few stories of gamblers who have lost everything due to their apparent inability to stop playing. With this in mind, sports teams, athletes, and events have become an increasingly prominent marketing and advertising channel.
Premier League football teams, F1 teams, the UFC, and countless other global sports teams and events have had online betting platforms as sponsors at one time or another. Critics of the gambling industry will say that this is nothing more than a cynical attempt to associate online betting platforms with sporting royalty. Supporters, on the other hand, will highlight how gambling, to many, feels like a natural extension of predicting who will win on the field of play. It will certainly be interesting to see if sponsorship opportunities are curtailed to protect the public. Something similar has already been done when tobacco companies were banned from sponsoring F1 and snooker.
Attempts To Reframe A Traditional Activity
Taking a look at online sports betting sites tells you everything you need to know about how this logical next step plays out. Such platforms are designed to be streamlined and user-friendly in a way that lends itself to extended play on mobile devices. The idea is to take what some may see as a technical or complex activity and make it feel as accessible as a social network, but is this culturally acceptable to the masses and to those in power?
One of the issues sports betting faces is the way that it is glorified in certain quarters. For every act of government regulation, there is a Drake or Floyd Mayweather Jr. post showing millions of dollars being wagered on a single fight or game. The problem here, according to the critics, is that young people, while they may be unable to access the gambling and betting platforms, will always see the social media content. Anything that glorifies gambling has the potential to cloud the judgment of the next generation, especially if they come to see it as something to aspire to do.
There appears to be little that gambling companies can do to stop players of legal age with massive followings from posting about their experiences. But if there were, they may find that they could slightly soften the stance adopted by legislators in certain quarters.
A New Employment Sector?
Let’s move beyond simply looking at the revenue of the betting industry and the amount of tax that it contributes to the Treasury. The rise in the complexity and number of online betting platforms requires a commensurate rise in the number of coders, testers, and back-end developers. This means that gambling and betting are fast becoming natural employers for the next generation of tech graduates who are looking to enter the marketplace. An industry that used to be confined to a mix of local bookmakers and high-end casinos at exclusive locations in certain corners of the world has now become far more democratic from an employment point of view.
The fascinating thing about this type of shift is that it is both economic and cultural. The economics come in because of the growth in the workforce and the propensity for skilled graduates to look to branch out by launching their own startups. The cultural aspects come into play because gambling remains prohibited in certain religions and social groups, potentially excluding them from a growing job sector.
A moral dilemma also arises when developers start to become aware of the pitfalls of gambling on a personal level, especially if they begin to read case studies or meet people who suffer from gambling addiction. Will they then find themselves working in an industry that, while it may pay the bills, leaves them feeling like they are contributing to negative issues?
A Move to Cross-Polinated Platforms
The UFC is a prime example of the cross-pollination of different forms of entertainment that the digital world has made possible. Online betting platforms are one of their primary sponsors and pay large amounts of money to display live betting odds during fighter entrances and even between rounds. The key point here is that they are giving themselves a far greater level of visibility than if they were advertising anywhere else at the moment. The result is a feeling amongst an increasing number of fans that placing a bet on their phone is an unobtrusive way to enhance their viewing experience.
Rather than having to plan their bets a day ahead and place them in person or over the phone, they are now able to place a bet as quickly as sending a message during a live event. The inclusion of live betting odds on the screen can serve as a gentle reminder and a chance to increase the tension of a contest that the producers may think will struggle to hold attention compared to other fights on the card. The result, then, is betting and live sport reinforcing one another by each having a contribution to make as they both look to maximise participation and engagement. It’s important that this is done in a way that doesn’t glamourise betting to the younger audience members who are not yet of legal age.
A Battle For Social Acceptance
Many people are able to drink alcohol socially and responsibly, but a sizeable minority quickly develop a problem with it due to an addictive relationship forming. While the majority are not alcoholics, everyone is aware of more than one person who battles with alcohol, whether from their personal life or from those in the media. Gambling has a similar problem, but one that is actually more pervasive when you start to think about it. Many people who get into debt through gambling suffer in silence, appear to be calm and collected on the surface, and then eventually lose everything. Squaring this circle in a way that results in social acceptance is a problem that the industry will never fully solve — there will always be sections of society who object. Responsible gambling campaigns and offers of help setting limits are important, but they will never satisfy the calls for change from some quarters, and nor should we expect them to.
Conclusion
When you start to think about the underlying cultural narrative that is shaping the growth of a rapidly expanding industry, you learn so much more about its future prospects. Revenue, advertising spend, employment opportunities, and the rise of cross-platform promotions and engagement all need to be considered if you want to be able to see the bigger picture. At the same time, the increased risk of addiction through phone-based gambling, livestreaming sports collaborations, and the glamourisation on social media also need to be considered.
If the industry is to continue to grow, it will need to put an ever-increasing share of its profits towards socially responsible initiatives. Should it fail to do so, it will be seen as profiting off the misfortune of others and could face the same constant barrage of negative press as the tobacco industry.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute legal, financial, or gambling advice. Online gambling carries risks, and statistically players stand a higher chance of losing their stake. You should only gamble what you can afford to lose, and participate if you are over the legal age in your jurisdiction. Always gamble responsibly and within your means. If you or someone you know is experiencing problems with gambling, seek help from a professional support service such as GamCare or BeGambleAware.