New research carried out by the Australian market research company Roy Morgan has shown that the Australian online betting market would be dominated by the entity formed by the owners of the Sportsbet and BetEasy brands.
As Casino Guardian reported earlier in October, the parenting company of Sportsbet – Flutter Entertainment – is aimed at joining forces with the Canadian online gambling firm The Stars Group, which currently owns BetEasy. The merger between the two gambling conglomerates is expected to form the largest online gambling operator in the world. As far as the two companies’ Australian presence is concerned, their gambling units here would dominate the local online betting sector.
As Roy Morgan estimated, more than half of the 1.7 million Australian people bet online through either one of the two companies. According to estimates from the recent research, 44% of Australian online bettors use the services of Sportsbet, and 15% of the players use prefer using the services of its smaller rival BetEasy. Some bettors use both operators’ services.
TAB.com.au/UBET also remains a leader at the online betting market, with about 35% of Australian online bettors using its platform to place wagers. Analysts from Roy Morgan have estimated that the rest of the major players in the online betting sector in Australia are Ladbrokes (19% of Australians who bet online) and bet365 (11% of local online bettors).
Two Online Betting Brands Would Hold About 52% of the Industry
The above-mentioned findings were made thanks to the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which is research being held among 50,000 Australian people in their homes on an annual basis. In the last few years, online gambling in the country has flourished, mostly thanks to the rising popularity of smartphones, which has made players more flexible.
The Chief Executive Officer of the local market research firm, Michele Levine, has shared that consolidation in both Australian and global gambling industries was continuing. According to the CEO, the recently announced merger between global gambling giants Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group would end up with the new conglomerate controlling two of the largest players in the online betting sector. Estimates have shown that the combined stake of Sportsbet and BetEasy would reach more than 52% of the 1.7 million estimated online punters in Australia, which would give it a massive lead to the second-placed online gambling operator – TAB.com.au/UBET – which has about 35% at the time.
Currently, Sportsbet is a fully-owned unit of Flutter Entertainment. The BetEasy brand, on the other hand, is relatively new. It was created in mid-2018, after The Stars Group brought together a number of popular Australian betting operators, including Sportingbet, CrownBet, William Hill Australia, Centrebet and TomWaterhouse, under the BetEasy brand.
The analysts from Roy Morgan also provided some data regarding Australian punters. According to the results of the firm’s survey, the average online bettor in Australia is a male Millenial whose personal income exceeds AU$70,000 and whose household income is usually over AU$120,000. Such bettors are usually in a full-time employment contract and fit into the so-called “big spender” category.
- Author
Olivia Cole
