Lesson Learned: Sportsbet Dominated Greece took One of the Worst Hits, Figures Show
Published August 5, 2020 by Lee R
Live sporting events are no longer a given, and Greece's revenues are reflecting the pain.
In Greece, the challenge ahead takes shape, with a major decline year-on-year to date.
The Drop
Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) figures indicate a 40% year-on-year drop for the first five months of 2020 to €150 million.
Sports betting Operators Lose
The revenues of Greece's major betting operators Stoixman, Bet365 and Sportingbet all fell commensurately.
Online Casino Prevails
By offering gambling options, smaller operators such as NetBet understandably fared much better. PokerStars came out on top of the second tier as poker and casino games picked up during the live sport closures, doubling year-on-year revenues in 2020's first five months.
Greece's Betting Market
As for the more dominant betting market in Greece, the year started out with decent revenue take of €49.3m in January, before slipping to €45m in February. The slide continued to €36.1m in March, bottomed out in April at €29.5m, and rebounded slightly in May to $30m.
Competitors
Stoiximan dominated the market at 49% market share, with a solid revenue mark in January of €24.3m in January before dropping down to €14.8m by May.
UK's Bet365 followed at €14.3m in January and February before the sports betting sting dropped them to third place in May at €5.2m.
GVC Holdings' Sportingbet caught Bet365 by holding steady at €6.1m for May, only slightly down from January’s €6.3m showing.
OPAP's Embarassment
As for OPAP, the dominant Greek lottery and betting operator got caught with pants down futilely trying to add online casino games in May; by which time the sports shutdowns virtually nullified OPAP's online revenue in the new online sector for the first five months of 2020.
Outlook
The Greek market is a cautionary tale to operators against overrelying on live events, and a reminder of the need to offer a full slate of online casino game to sustain iGaming clients in the more challenging times that can manifest with little notice for live betting moving forward.
