Sports translation: which are the most popular sports for betting around the world?

Last week, we looked at things to consider before initiating your sports translation. We discussed the most popular sports around the world, in terms of viewer numbers and global reach.

By understanding which sports excite people most around the world, you have a good idea of which events to promote as an online betting brand throughout the year.

Today, though, we want to take a slightly different approach and list the most popular sports for betting specifically. This tells where the money is being spent, regardless of how many people are tuning in to watch any given event.

Pre-sports translation: a quick recap

Before we run through the most popular sports for betting, let’s quickly recap on last week’s list of the biggest sports in viewer numbers:

1. Football
2. Cricket
3. Basketball
4. Tennis
5. Rugby
6. Formula 1
7. Boxing

When it comes to sports betting, that list will still serve you pretty well. However, there are some important sports for the gambling industry that aren’t on that list.

To get a better idea of which sports generate the most revenue from bets placed, we’re going to look at where most of the money is being spent in a few key continents. The idea is to understand which sports you should prioritise in your marketing and sports translation efforts, based on the most profitable events in each of your target markets.

The most popular sports for betting in the US

The US is a great example for today’s purposes. You can’t really call American football a global sport but it dominates the betting landscape in the US with its 320+ million population.

            Source: Statista.com

So, if you’re targeting the US market with your online betting site, the above statistics are very important and unique to any other market in the world.

The most popular sports for betting in Europe

Moving over the pond to Europe, football is still the favourite sport, but there’s been something of a boom in betting on tennis over the last half a decade. The sport has now jumped ahead of basketball to become the second favourite among gamblers in Europe.

Source: EGBA.eu

On a more local level, the same thing applies to the UK, where football still reigns and tennis is now the second favourite sport for betting.

The table above shows data from Perform Group, which provides live streaming and data to bookmakers, telling us the number of streams played on the biggest sports betting sites in Europe.

The most popular sports for betting in Africa

According to the 2014 Gambling Outlook Report for Africa – South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are the biggest markets across the continent but sports betting in particular has seen a massive rise in Africa in recent years.

Football dominates once again but horse racing is a growing market in many countries. Another key development is the rise of African sports betting companies moving into the European market – with a strong emphasis on Premier League Football. Kenya’s SportPresa is now an official partner with three teams in England’s top league: Everton, Hull and Southampton.

Localising for regional preferences

There’s no denying football is the global leader when it comes to sports betting, but this isn’t always the case on a more local level. If you’re targeting US gamers then the emphasis shifts over to American football and other US sports before “soccer” becomes a priority – which means you might want to localise your sportsbooking site and content to match local interests.

Horse racing can’t be ignored either. As the third most popular sport for betting in the US (the second biggest horse racing betting market in the world), this is a global sport for any online betting firm. Here are your top ten markets for horse racing:

1. Japan: £22.9 billion
2. USA: £11.18 billion
3. China (inc. Hong Kong): £6.86 billion
4. UK: £5.16 billion
5. Australia:78 billion
6. France: £3.69 billion
7. South Korea: £2.22 billion
8. Italy: £1.46 billion
9. Malaysia: £920 million
10. Canada: £790 million

Sports translation isn’t your only consideration either. Sports are a seasonal phenomenon and your content will want to adapt to the most in-demand events at any one time. Football grips the world when the FIFA World Cup kicks off but other sports often take preference in parts of Asia in between competitions. The same can even apply to some European countries where basketball, volleyball and other sports are the most popular all-year round.

Aside from knowing which languages to translate your site and other resources, it pays to understand the sporting landscape in each of your target regions as the year progresses. This tells you which sports and events to feature most heavily in your website content, email newsletters and other marketing channels.

Football is the safe bet for most online sports betting brands but localising your content to peak specific interests will increase player numbers, encourage people to bet more and get them coming back for the next round.