SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A top five sport in the Kambi global partner network, tennis is a key growth market for all sportsbooks, as its worldwide fan base now reaches +1 billion watching and engaging with ATP and WTA tournaments.
Tennis popularity is easy to explain, as the sport has lived through a ‘Golden Era’ in which star athletes such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams on the women’s side played at the apex of the sport.
Yet, as the ‘Big Three’ and Williams reach the autumn of their careers, tennis sees a new crop of stellar talents including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, alongside female counterparts Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff drive the game. Hence for sportsbooks tennis remains a safe bet in maintaining its popularity with punters.
Day Two of the Kambi Sportsbook Festival provided a comprehensive breakdown on “Gaining an advantage and unlocking the potential of tennis betting” This is one of the most competitive markets bookmakers offer.
Tennis, the big winner of betting live evolution
Philip Mardh, Head of Tennis at Kambi, leads a team of six dedicated traders analysing all elements and variables of tennis. “Put simply, we live, breath and sleep tennis,” he cited his team’s personal connection and love of the sport.
Mardh explained that of all betting markets tennis has had the “biggest evolution from its early markets days”, which were limited to “wagering on pre-match and tournament winners should they be offered”.
Yet from 2006 onwards, tennis became the biggest beneficiary of live sports APIs, which allowed bookmakers to expand their offering with “live betting with basic models and a limited offering”.
Though by 2009 “live betting had surpassed pre-match wagering in terms of turnover”, as today tennis offers the deepest selection of “instant play markets including wagering on next point scored, game won to even betting on serves.”
As stands, Tennis sits comfortably on the podium of Kambi’s sportsbook network’s monthly turnover index behind soccer and basketball.
Instants are the game changer…
“But betting on tennis, like the sport itself, is full of intricacies that need to be analysed in order to gain success”, was an acute observation made by Richard Pratt, Head of Tennis Trading at Kambi.
Providing insights of tennis as a live betting product, Pratt underscored the customer engagement of volatility of tennis, which “accounts for more repeat bets per user than any other major sports”.
“This means that the user that switches on to watch-and-bet on tennis, stays switched on, and will wager on the changing circumstance of the match.”
In Pratt’s analysis, tennis is described as a wagering market with no binding or definitive trends, which is witnessed in the geographic make-up of players wagering on the sports, spread across Europe, Asia, North and South America.
The trend is further reflected in the breakdown of tennis markets, as beyond ‘match winner’ markets, players wager on bet types related to next game, point, set winner, correct game score, correct set score and game to deuce.
Yet, Pratt cites “instants as the difference maker for tennis matches”. Case in point “point-betting, which has now taken almost 10% of live betting turnover”.
“As an instant market, point-betting has been a success for Kambi and its tennis punters,” he said. “The players love it as bets are settled almost immediately.
“For clients, points-betting does not attract sharp action, as it’s very easy for us to price accurately as the derivative of a player winning a point is very much the same as winning a game.
“From these aspects, it’s very much an ideal offer, and to be honest we are struggling to find one which is better.
Click here to fully watch the Revolutionising Sports Betting: How AI Is Enhancing The Sports Betting Experience session.
