World Cup bettors left short-changed by state
State monopolies offered bettors significantly worse odds than those offered by private operators during the football World Cup, data has shown...
Millions of Europeans who chose to bet on the football World Cup using state monopolies have been left “shockingly short-changed”, data from Right2bet has shown, with German bettors offered almost 50% worse odds than if they had chosen to gamble with a private company.
The pan-European group that campaigns for EU citizens to have the right to bet with the licensed operator of their choice, said state betting monopolies offered, on average, 32% worse odds than private betting companies.
Customers who backed their home nation during the tournament were offered 35% worse odds by state-run companies compared to EU-licensed private sector operators, Right2bet figures revealed.
Several EU member states including Sweden have imposed a ban on advertising by foreign operators not licensed to offer egaming services into the country.
In Germany, which currently operates a state gambling monopoly, there has been pressure to overturn the country’s online gambling ban, with suggestions of an intrastate licensing system if a new uniform regulation could not be agreed on.
The worst offender in the study was Germany with state operators leaving the consumer 48% worse off than if they had placed their bet with a private company. In Sweden, monopoly customers were 40% worse off, while in the Netherlands they were 35% worse off.
The Right2bet World Cup Report analysed the odds offered on every World Cup match by seven of Europe’s biggest betting monopolies and compared these prices to the ones offered by other licensed European operators.
Right2bet spokesman Ari Last criticised “the protectionist behaviour of certain Member States” and called the inequality in prices offered “an unjust reality”.