For iGaming industry, the biggest spotlight during 2018 is undoubtedly FIFA World Cup held in Russia. According to BBC report (2013), whether it is legal or not, the amount of betting on sports is between 700 billion to 1 trillion dollars per year, and 70% of it is based on betting from football matches!
It is conceivable that the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup will bring huge wager opportunities. It is an event that iGaming players should not miss out!
Previous FIFA World Cup Bookmakers Revenue Estimation
When dates begin to count down upon FIFA World Cup, reports on a related topic increases dramatically. Columnist Maria Camilleri (2017) pointed out that the total revenue of the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 was $4.8 billion US dollars; after deducting the cost of $2.2 billion US dollars, the total revenue was roughly $2.6 billion US dollars. She also pointed out that 70% of that income source comes from the 5% that bookmakers make.
In other words, during 2014 FIFA World Cup gains, $1.82 billion came from sports betting. And this $1.82 billion is just a 5% of what the bookmaker pays to the organizer. We can easily guess that during this short one month of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the GGR containing all legal and illegal bets is at least estimated around $36.4 billion!
Using the same method to calculate the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in the net profit of $2.36 billion, $1.36 billion of what bookmaker pays; the GGR made around an estimation of $33 billion.
The Evolution Of Football Wager
The origin of Football, “Cuju” existed during ancient times. According to legends, Cuju began during the Yellow Emperor Period, games were developed for military training. It wasn’t until the Warring States period that it began to have written records. During the Han Dynasty, Cuju has already developed a structural game specification, it has developed to be a very professional sport. At the same time, during the Western civilization of the ancient Greek era, there were similar sports games as well. And the earliest professional football league began in the middle of the 19th century in UK.
From the origin of football, it has at least about three thousand years of history, and there is no absolute guarantee that during the past three thousand years of football, there were no involvements of gambling activities. However, the earliest pool system is currently known to be developed in the UK in 1923 (Benjamin Cronin, 2016).
The initial sales method of soccer wager was issued by gambling players outside the football stadium with coupons, and fill in the prediction scores of the competition. This further expand from coupons to daily newspapers to be accompanied by pools collection agent.
In the 1960s, wager stations began to rise, offering a variety of different types of sports events, and the number of TV broadcasts of football matches increased with the growth of technology. Football wagering is no longer a special event just for football fans. It is also gradually loved by casual wagers.
Since the 1990s, the rise of Internet technology, and the popularity of mobilization becoming everyone’s daily access luxury. The convenience of wagering on football has become higher and higher, and more diverse ways of wagering have been extended. We will explore these extended models in the near future.
Summary
Once every four years, FIFA World Cup football league is undoubtedly a very important event worldwide. Whether in the private sector or in the professional sports world, it is foreseeable of becoming everyone’s topic during their daily life. And of course, the online iGaming industry is no exception either!
In the past two leagues, the GGR of football wagering has easily exceeded up to $30 billion and compared to the previous league, it has also grown significantly. Since 2014, the development of 4G network technology has greatly improved the performance of mobile devices, has become more popular. Also due to the popular rise of live broadcast technology in recent years, reaching out to more audiences. Now entering the 100-day countdown of 2018 FIFA World Cup will evidently be a major fruitful result in iGaming industry!
Reference Links - 維基百科《蹴鞠》, https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B9%B4%E9%9E%A0 - 維基百科《足球》, https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E7%90%83 - Benjamin Cronin, 2016, The history of soccer betting and the promise of big returns, PINNACLE, https://www.pinnacle.com/en/betting-articles/Soccer/the-history-of-soccer-betting-and-the-promise-of-big-returns/G5V2W8HCKZFNSLCZ - FIFA Financial Report 2010, 2011, FIFA.com - Frank Keogh & Gary Rose, 2013, "Football betting - the global gambling industry worth billions", bbc.com, http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/24354124 - Maria Camilleri, 2017, "How Much Money Is Bet On The FIFA World Cup ?", alphasportsbetting.com, https://alphasportsbetting.com/sports-betting-tactics/how-much-money-is-bet-on-the-fifa-world-cup
