New Study Shows Lack of Awareness Among Canadians Regarding Sports Betting

As the launch of the regulated sports betting market in Ontario gets ever closer, a new study on the sports betting topic shows that there is somewhat of a lack of education about this area.

Deloitte Canada released its findings from a study titled ‘Bettor Perspectives” last week. Its aim was to showcase to stakeholders what they might be able to do in order to secure some decent market share in the new market. This was an online survey that was collated towards the end of September. Over 1,000 Canadian consumers who were at least 18 years old took part in this survey.

The make-up of the legal betting market

According to Deloitte Canada, the legal single-event sports betting sector could see a betting handle of as much as CA$28 billion in the first five years of going live. The study indicates that a one size fits all approach will not necessarily be the optimal way to acquire customers in Canada. Three different categories of bettors are outlined. These are potential bettors, casual bettors, and ardent bettors.

About 8.5% of the sports betting community in Canada are ardent bettors. These are people who are betting regularly and will on average bet at least $50 on each wager. They will have bet more than $1,000 over the past year. Most of these people are male and are mostly no older than 44 years old.

Casual bettors make up about one-third of the market. They do not bet as often and will use lower stakes. Finally, potential bettors are those people who have not placed any wagers over the past year and makeup about 58.5% of the sports betting sector.

Recommendations from the report

Some of the ways that Deloitte recommends that operators could keep ardent bettors happy is by giving them different unique experiences. This includes having comprehensive betting markets, fast withdrawals, VIP experiences, and sports betting lounges.

For casual bettors, the social experience will be important. Therefore, operators working together with sports teams could be an effective way to offer free-to-play games and fun betting experiences.

Investing in the likes of education programs could help turn potential bettors into more regular players. This means helping them to understand what is single-event sports betting. The likes of attractive welcome offers and promotions will go a long way to attract people from this segment. Low-risk games and free-to-play competitions would also likely work well with this type of group.