GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 34 - February 2016

Place your bets on the future of women’s sports By Stefanie Stich B ig football tournaments like the World Cup never fail to impress. Not only do they offer incredible goals and pure excite- ment to the people in the stadiums and in front of TVs, but they also serve as a cata- lyst for business for everyone involved in the gaming and betting industry. The last World Cup offered plenty of op- portunities for punters. Altogether, 146 goals were scored — a stunning average of 2.8 goals per match. In Germany, 7 mil- lion people cheered in front of their TVs as their team played against France in the quarter-finals and won the match in the penalty shootout. The late broadcast, due to a difference in time zones, did no harm to their enthusiasm. In the end, the new world champions from the USA lifted the trophy and took home $2 million in prize money. Wait, what? The USA won the tourna- ment? And they got only $2 million in prize money? By now, it should be clear that these are not facts about the Men’s World Cup in 2014, when Germany emerged victorious and received $28 million. The sport these figures refer to, however, is still the same: football — the world’s most popular sport. They are just not referring to men, but to the latest women’s tournament, which took place in June and July 2015 in Canada. In terms of business, bet-at-home.commade significantly less profit on the women’s tournament than it typically does on the men’s event. Compared to the 2014 men’s event, 85% fewer people decided to place a bet on the Women’s World Cup. In the end, people betting on the women’s matches ac- counted for only 5% of all bets and deposits. Sports betting is still dominated by men One explanation for this drop in bet- ting action is that, although the sport is played by women, men are the ones ac- tually placing the bets. Of all the bets on the Women’s World Cup, only 8% were placed by women. Sports betting is still a man’s domain, and men generally place bets on sports they enjoy watch- ing — on teams they have known their whole lives and on big player names. Therefore, adapting websites and target- ing women is likely the wrong approach for affiliates. A more profitable solution would be to raise men’s awareness of women’s sports, which are gaining more attention worldwide. The increasing interest in women’s foot- ball manifests in rising TV ratings. In Germany, the Round of 16 match of the German team in the Women’s World Cup attracted about 1.2 million more viewers than the Men’s U21 World Cup, for ex- ample. The kickoff match of the German team against Ivory Coast even surpassed the Formula One Grand Prix in Canada by 680,000 viewers, reaching 5.13 million viewers in total. Panini, a long-established Italian com- pany currently active in more than 120 countries worldwide, has already reacted to this significant rise in popularity and launched another sticker album for the Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada – its second official sticker album after the Women’s World Cup in Germany in 2011. According to Panini, it now plans to expand its cooperation with FIFA (the World’s Football Association and or- Japan vs. Australia at the 2015Women’s World Cup in Canada. Photo by flickr user IQRemix, via Creative Commons license 2.0. 14 Place your bets on the future of women’s sports