Why Premier League dominates online sports betting markets in UK and Germany
The market for online sports betting is highly competitive, with operators constantly striving to provide the widest range of betting markets to attract and retain customers. Operators also invest heavily in user-friendly sites, in-play facilities, and attractive offers to compete in the highly saturated marketplace. As a result, bettors enjoy a diverse and engaging experience, with countless opportunities to place wagers on their favourite sports and events.
Premier League’s dominance in betting markets
According to the latest MECN report on betting offers benchmarking, despite the UEFA Champions League being a prestigious pan-European competition, it lags behind England’s Premier League in the average number of bets and markets offered.
The report highlights that, on average, 5,020 English Premier League betting markets are offered by operators, with a peak of 11,558. This is higher than in the Champions League, which has an average of 4,231 and a high of 9,045. Considering the status of the Champions League and its inclusion of top clubs from all over Europe, this might seem surprising at first glance.
Several factors contribute to the Premier League’s higher betting volume:
- Consistent schedule: The Premier League runs on a steady weekly schedule across a lengthy season, providing a constant flow of games. This is in contrast to the Champions League, which is organised in a structured format with fewer games spaced over several months, reducing the number of betting opportunities.
- Global viewership: The Premier League is the most viewed domestic league in the world, attracting huge viewership and betting interest on a weekly basis. Betting operators meet this demand by offering a wide variety of bets, ranging from standard match results to specialised player-specific markets.
- Extensive coverage: Premier League matches receive extensive media coverage, statistical analysis, and predictive insights. The availability of comprehensive data allows betting operators to create more markets efficiently compared to Champions League matches, where some lesser-known teams feature in the early stages.
- Standardised structure: The Champions League includes teams from different leagues with contrasting playing styles, making it more difficult for bookmakers to price and consistently provide the same range of markets. In contrast, the Premier League involves well-known teams playing under a standardised league structure, which makes betting markets simpler to produce and maintain.
- Blockbuster matches: The report covers only a 7-day period, which generally suggests that the Premier League has more blockbuster matches than the Champions League. This attracts more people to bet on the Premier League rather than the Champions League.
- Why the Champions League falls behind?
Despite being Europe’s premier club competition, the Champions League’s structure and match frequency contribute to its lower betting market count. Here’s why:
- Limited fixtures: Unlike the Premier League, which hosts ten matches nearly every weekend, Champions League fixtures are limited to set rounds with long intervals in between, providing fewer betting opportunities.
- Group stage interest: While knockout rounds feature world-famous teams, the group stages include lesser-known clubs that attract less betting interest. This impacts the overall volume of markets provided by operators.
- Unpredictable nature: The unpredictable nature of knockout football means that operators may be more conservative in offering extensive markets compared to the more predictable league-based Premier League structure.
