SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Asia betting markets are on Sportradar’s roadmap as the sportsbtech group looks to fulfill its global sports and gaming mandate, leadership asserts.
Speculation of the regulatory opening of betting markets in Asian jurisdictions such as India and Thailand, have grabbed the attention of industry leaders.
Sportradar is no different, according to its CEO and Co-Founder, Carsten Koerl. Addressing investors, Koerl explained that South and East Asian betting markets are looking increasingly as the next destination for the Nasdaq technology group.
Sportradar closed Q1 with revenue growth of 17% year-over-year to €311m while also reiterating its revenue and EBITDA targets for the end of 2025. With the firm having built up a solid basis in Europe and the US, it is now looking to Asia-Pacific (APAC) opportunities.
“We are keeping a close eye on APAC, particularly Japan and India where we see a significant opportunity if and when they legalise, and have also begun exploring Thailand and Sri Lanka where we see long term opportunities,” Koerl remarked.
Growth prospects in Asian betting
Given recent developments shortly preceding Sportradar’s Q1 earnings call, it comes as no surprise that leadership plans to keep a close eye on Asian betting developments.
A debate was recently heard by India’s Supreme Court between voices for and against the application of the GST tax to gambling, shining the light on the possibility of India modernising its gaming regulations, needed to redefine the elements of online gambling and games.
The country’s eight largest state, Karnataka, is now looking at the possibility of joining three other states in launching an online betting market. In the wider South Asia region, legislation has been drafted in Sri Lanka to liberalise the country’s betting laws.
Further to the East, legislative developments in the Thai casino space and murmurs that Japan is reopening an application window for casino licences have shone a light on future betting prospects here.
Securing a foothold in these prospective Asian betting markets of course requires excellent knowledge of local regulations, market conditions and consumer preferences. It would also require a strong product, something Sportradar’s leadership appears very confident in.
Koerl told investors that the company sees a leap from its traditional field of betting into iGaming, a ‘natural expansion’. The firm would leverage its existing sports betting marketing partnerships to help this, while also using one of the international industry’s newest, and most lucrative, national markets as a testing ground for solutions.
“Our iGaming strategy in Brazil is to offer a fully integrated 360 degree solution that drives growth across the entire player lifecycle,” Koerl said.
Regarding its sports betting product, Koerl added that the firm aims to introduce a ‘premium product’ for the 2025/26 football season. Its agreement to acquire IMG Arena, a major media rights holder, will also ‘further enhance our growth strategy and enhance our sports content in football, basketball and tennis,’ he said.
“We intend to seamlessly integrate this content into our product offering so that on day one we can quickly monetise these rights,” Keorl continued.
Over the past several years, Sportradar has built itself up as one of the leading tech and data suppliers to the international betting industry, alongside the likes of rivals Genius Sports and Stats Perform.
The sportstech and data space, like any other sector, is also home to disrupters, however, like 2023-founded Statsbomb and latest newcomer ALT Sports Data, the latter of which has secured notable deals with Formula One and bet365.
In Sportradar’s case, the firm has built up a particularly strong pedigree in Europe, but the US is its standout where it has partnered with three of the country’s four major leagues.
Growth in new geographies, where Latin American or Asian betting or otherwise, is now clearly a prospect being considered, but the firm will not be the only firm, operator or supplier, to be keeping a close eye on India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan.
“The expanding global sports betting market continues to provide a strong tailwind, with an expected CAGR of 11% through 20276. Established markets like Europe continue to grow strongly,” Koerl summarised Sportradar’s outlook to investors.
“The US, as you know, continues tog row even faster and given that we cover three of the four biggest sports leagues, the NFL, NBA and MLB, with approximately 70% of the betting GGR of the top four leagues, we are uniquely positioned to capitalise on this growth and expand our leading position.”
He concluded his presentation saying: “With another quarter of record revenues, we are off to a strong start of the year. Our unique scale and competitive advantages underpin our strong execution and financial performance. We continue to see strong and durable growth ahead.”
