With its cold climate and seven teams competing in the North American National Hockey League (NHL), ice hockey will likely become one of the most popular betting products in the newly regulated Canadian sector.
Just a few days before the passage of Bill C-218 by the Canadian Senate, Kambi presented an in-depth webinar looking at the different betting markets in the country, highlighting in-play betting and hockey products as being the key to success.
Focusing on sports fans, the two speakers noted that two of the top ten sports teams for profitability are Canadian teams, and both are NHL franchises – the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers.
Kevin Cunningham, CA Analyst, Kambi, remarked: “We’re really excited for it for this one reason that the NHL really caters to a quite similar profile of what sports bettors are demographically.
“The NHL has one of the youngest viewing fan bases out there. 49 years old is the median age. It really profiles quite similarly to the average sports bettor.
“It’s quite an exciting time. We think Canada is going to come out of the gates really strong, just because the consumers are there and their interests are also very well aligned to that of the average sports bettor.”
Meanwhile, Sarah Robertson, VP Sales at Kambi, put forward the case that single-event wagering on ice hockey, and in particular live in-play betting and ‘instant betting’ such as next goalscorer offerings, will ‘unleash the potential of sports betting’ in Canada.
In some of the more mature markets, you’ve seen an evolution whereby you know a lot of the volume is previously coming through the pre-match market,” she began.
“We are seeing a gradual increase across live betting, and again this is really what’s going to be enabled when single event wagering is enabled in Canada. Your consumers are going to have so much more opportunity on different types available to them.
“It’s not going to be kind of an immediate switchover but you’ll see that parlay that in conjunction with single event wagering and in play becomes a very compelling overall view for the customer to make lots of different types of bets.”
Additionally, Robertson put forward the case for live bet products, which enable customers to engage and place bets throughout a hockey match, as well as player specials – player specific bets.
These types of markets, she argued, add ‘a lot of value’ due to creating ‘stickiness’ with consumers as a result of fan engagement with the sport.
Cunningham added: “Our hockey offering is not just about having an expansive offering “It needs to be really engaging, really specific – something that sells to the Canadian consumer that this something that they should and want to engage with, that this is something that will offer them more than the offshore books are offering, that they expand upon their parlay and experience and bring this offer to the single event space.”
Source – mediaedgetv YouTube
