How should sportsbooks prepare for the return of football?

As many European countries look to their daily coronavirus statistics with tentative optimism, the sports industry is continuing to chart a new course for how its professional leagues can return to action once the lockdowns have eased. In Germany, hope abounds that the Bundesliga could return as early as 9 May, bringing hope and entertainment to German football fans and supporters throughout Europe.

Whenever Europe’s leading football leagues are set to return, it looks increasingly likely that the action will resume behind closed doors, at least for the initial months. With that brings new and difficult challenges for Europe’s online sportsbooks to overcome. As many European football leagues appear determined to finish the existing 2019-20 campaign before considering 2020-21, what are the immediate issues operators must consider to maintain the integrity of their betting markets?

Flexible live streaming services

First and foremost, bookmakers will need to get their house in order for the live streaming of games on their platforms. Existing broadcasting rights are likely to remain in place for whenever the seasons resume, so operators will need to double and triple-check that their live feeds remain valid for any behind-closed-doors action. Given that stadia will be shut, bandwidth demand for live streaming via sportsbooks will almost certainly go through the roof, so operators will need to ensure they have the wherewithal to deal with streaming games simultaneously to bigger online audiences.

Focus on reload incentives

Competition in the online sports betting sphere is fiercer than ever before. As the media ramps up its coverage of resuming football leagues, the onus will be on sportsbooks to incentivise new and existing customers to bet with them. Simply tempting them with live streams of behind-closed-doors games won’t cut the mustard – that’s a service most operators provide now, if customers have funds in their accounts. Reload offers to lapsed bettors will almost certainly be the order of the day to put bookmakers back on the radar.

Bonus wagering requirements is a growing issue that more bettors are aware of, certainly since the likes of PlayOJO and Buzz Bingo have sought to provide bonus funds free from any wagering requirements. Those sportsbooks that look to follow suit could tip the scales in their favour, despite the potential for dishing out more bonus funds in fiat currencies.

Clarify in-play betting data

Those bettors that enjoy placing in-play football bets rely heavily on the accuracy of in-play betting data. This relates to information on possession statistics, the number of shots on goal, corner kicks, yellow and red cards, and so on. Traditionally, this data is relayed in real-time to online sportsbooks via ‘data scouts’ that are almost certain to be prohibited from entering behind-closed-doors games.

This means some online sportsbooks could be forced to depend on relaying data ‘off tube’ (using broadcast feeds) instead. This brings its own potential pitfalls, particularly if sportsbooks experience latency problems with their live feeds meaning they could be giving their bettors lapsed data, putting in-play punters at a significant disadvantage. It could be a scenario that is ripe for exploitation, with some bettors potentially going to such lengths as to fly drones above stadia to get a more accurate real-time view of the action.

Increased responsibilities for responsible betting

The last key talking point for sportsbooks is by no means less important. In fact, it’s more important than the rest put together for the long-term integrity of the sports betting industry. The sudden return of live football in Germany and beyond could lead to a surge in bettor activity, with bettors across the globe unable to place bets during the Covid-19 lockdown. There is a concern that those ‘cold turkey’ bettors during the pandemic will attempt to make up for lost time by wagering above and beyond their means.

It’s vital that sportsbooks have a firm grip of their responsible gambling obligations, ensuring widespread awareness of problem customers and providing them with sufficient support and preventative measures for when the fun stops. Since the lockdown, Spanish sportsbooks have seen their hands tied by new legislation preventing them from advertising their platforms before 8pm each evening. As many millions of Spanish football fans have been forced to stay at home to protect their healthcare services, television has been a much-needed source of entertainment, but the government has sought to keep the marketing of sportsbooks and casinos to an absolute premium.

It’s time for the sports betting industry to get creative and accept that market conditions could be a very different beast in the post-coronavirus world.

Chris Mawson is the creative and editorial manager at ICS-digital, an international content marketing agency. He has seven years’ experience in the gaming industry, establishing himself in video game journalism before transitioning to egaming and SEO in 2017.