SSG Publishes 2022 Sports Betting Industry Study

International media and technology company Spotlight Sports Group has issued its second annual report reviewing the sports betting and iGaming industry worldwide, which focuses mainly on the regulated European and US markets.

‘BetTech Ecosystem’ – Edition 2022

For the second year in a row Spotlight Sports Group (SSG) authored a research paper called ‘BetTech Ecosystems’, which reviews the sports betting sector, including a wide range of stakeholders in the industry. After a very successful edition in 2021, SSG has expanded the included information adding seven additional sub-segments and 127 new stakeholders. There is a notable increase in the number of service providers in comparison to the previous report.

The Content category has seen the highest boost with 75%, closely followed by Data, which is up 63%. iGaming providers also jumped by 56% year on year. The developments in the E-commerce and Platform Provider categories were less with increases of 32% and 27% respectively, while Trading was left behind with a moderate year-on-year increase of 13%.

Alan Davis, who is Head of B2B Marketing at SSG, discussed the ‘BetTech Ecosystem’ report’s 2022 edition by saying:

We had an incredible response to last year’s BetTech Ecosystem and we’re delighted to be back with the 2022 version. This year we’ve made it bigger and better by expanding the visual and adding industry commentary. While this is not definitive, we feel this gives a snapshot of the industry-leading into the new football seasons on either side of the Atlantic.

Alan Davis, who is Head of B2B Marketing at SSG

The report has been compiled internally by SSG researchers, however, the study received contributions from external industry experts as well.

Key Findings

The SSG study highlights that similarly to 2021, a few topics still emerge as significant in 2022 – the prominence of the market in the United States, ownership of technology as opposed to outsourcing, and the Ontario market with its new possibilities. Despite the main focus falling on the US and European markets, emerging markets such as Latin America are also gaining momentum. What is seen as a major issue for the industry is the rising global inflation, which is affecting households’ disposable income with less of it allocated to gambling activities.

One of the three key findings points to the changes in US gambling regulations in the different states and how that affects the market. Another major topic is the probability that sports betting will become regulated in some territories in Latin America with big appetites from global operators directed at Brazil. The third key finding points out that a major issue that sports betting service providers are experiencing is the difficulty of player retention, which calls for better differentiation, personalization, and improved platform content.