For Ian Chuter, a veteran of the international gambling industry, much of the sector is too focused on emerging markets in the US, and are ignoring the ‘huge’ markets in the UK and Europe.
Discussing the post COVID future of the betting and gaming sector on The Big Betting Balagan podcast, the former William Hill, Betfair, Ladbrokes, Coral and Playtech executive shared his opinions on major industry developments.
“Everybody is so US-focused, there is still a huge UK market and a huge EuUropean market, and who knows what will happen with William HIll and its non-US assets, but that is a sleeping giant,” Chuter observed.
“Whatever deal comes out of that sale, I think – given time- they will become a huge force if they get the right strategy and execute and bring that whole brand back to life.
“The US is massive, you can already see all the numbers coming out of there and it is going to be a huge business, but we shouldnt detract from the fact that there are a lot of players there at the moment and there will be some failures.”
Additionally, discussing the biggest news stories in the betting and gaming space, the Big Betting Balagan team highlighted how New York has now ‘got its house in order’ and finalised a plan for the rollout of online sports betting in the state, with four licences up for grabs.
Referencing the so called ‘super bids’, Dan Phillips said: “We’ve got companies coming together now to do joint bids – companies that are effectively massive competitors to each other, because New York have intimated that unless you offer more than 50% of your revenue and your tax to the state then you haven’t got a chance of winning it, and the gut feeling is it is actually closer to 60%.”
FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Bally, as well as Flutter, Entain and ‘behind the scenes’, whilst an additional two rumoured alliances has Kambi link with Caesars and PointsBet team up with Rush Street, with bet365 reportedly the only operator looking at a solo bid in the state.
Richardson continued: “I don’t know how that’s going to work in reality, whereas they are competing everywhere else.”
Source – Big Betting Balagan YouTube Channel
