In Game Wagering - a Growth Industry

Bloomberg posted an article yesterday about the rapid rise of “in running” sports betting in the online world. In running wagering allows for betting after a game has started - whether it be on an individual play, a quarter, or the remainder of a game. The growth of this form of sports betting has been remarkable and is projected to continue. Bloomberg writes:

For the bookies, in-running betting has become their biggest growth area. Five years ago it was considered a niche product, offered only by one or two bookies looking to differentiate themselves. Bookmakers now say in-running betting accounts for up to 30 percent of their revenue and that it is growing rapidly. Several predict it will account for half their business by 2010.

This new trend seems to fit the overall cultural trend of shrinking attention spans and increasing availability of “on demand” access to entertainment services. In a global society that demands instant gratification and a generation raised on 30 second youtube videos, the rise of in game betting should hardly come as a surprise.

The article also addresses the potential downsides of in running wagering including the problem of time delays in broadcasts and mentions the recent murder of a chinese couple involved in a plot to exploit this issue as covered previously by iBet.pro.

In running has brought its own issues for bookmakers, mainly because the televised feeds that they receive in their offices (and the ones you receive at home) are delayed from the live match. It is normally only about three seconds but, in some cases, it can be 10 seconds or longer.

This means that bettors can sit at racecourses, football grounds or even the Olympics with a laptop computer and a wireless connection and get bets on the match before the bookmaker sees it on TV. Most bookies now have a small delay in their bet acceptance procedures to help guard against this, but if the delay is big enough they will find themselves taking bets after something crucial has happened.

British police are currently investigating the deaths of a Chinese man and his girlfriend who allegedly employed spotters at British soccer matches to beat in running bookmakers in China and Southeast Asia, according to news reports. They are said to be investigating reports that Zhen Xing Yang had been murdered by either bookmakers upset at his scheme or by some of the spotters, who it is claimed he failed to pay for their work.

On an unrelated note, today is the first day of the 2008 NFL season - good luck to everyone placing a wager. You may want to read this article to remind you of how not to handle your betting.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?