Betting on the Future: The Changing Fans Experience with Sports Gamification

 

• What are the odds that PSG's Leo Messi will score a hattrick when guarded by Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk in a Champions League game

• Will Manchester City score 2 goals in a Premier League game when Thomas Tuchel is on the sideline for Chelsea

• What are you willing to wager that Barcelona will have 60 percent ball possessions against Real Madrid in El Classico? 

Those questions pose not only the topics for some soccer pundits debates, but also the future of the sport for the millions attending or watching games. For those are the sorts of questions many might be wagering on midweek nights and over the weekend across Nigeria where sports betting has become not only federally legalized but popular throughout the country of over 100 million active sports enthusiasts. 

And several bookmakers has developed a wagering structure for fans that allow them stake with their mobile devices and provide betting kiosk just by their next door. 

There has been a cultural shift with the new age fans and the way they follow as well as engage with their favorite Sport. Before now, it was more of a fan's sheer passion for the sport and rooting for a team he so loved. . So we have ardent and loyal fans who keep supporting a team whether they win or lose. That's fast changing now-a-days. 

Fantasy games and sports betting are gradually inducting a new culture - the Gamification of Sports. 

The new age fans are more interested in monetizing their knowledge and passion for sports. And both technology as well as  the media are fueling this paradox shift. 

Networks have already begun to give this new fan, interested in specific elements of a game, a rejuvenated experience. For its broadcasts of the XFL, a sport which likely had a larger proportion of its audience interested for monetary purposes due to its lack of any history, ESPN decided to display the point spread and over/under on its score bug. Keeping fans abreast of live odds, not just pregame lines, is one of many ways to drive up fan engagement in this era. 

Gamification is another area several networks and teams have embraced, challenging fans to answer questions or make picks for the games that the networks air for a chance to win money.

Gamification can be the most powerful tool to help fans stick around for broadcasts because it promotes the thrill and predictive nature of sports betting reducing the risk of losing money. In that way, it allows people to compete in every game even though they may not be able to afford to wager on every game.

Sports have always produced a social environment, whether at the park, at the bar or on your couch with close friends. Sports betting has helped connect fans to the game in a new way, and it has helped build a strong community around predicting hundreds of outcomes inside of one contest. Each consumer now finally has the chance to prove what they know and see where they stack up against fellow fans and experts. 

As the landscape of sports media shifts, it’s important to recognize that consumers haven’t gone away, they just need to be reached in different ways. Sports consumers are more polarizing now-a-days. Apart from supporting their favorite team, they are more critical as to the odds and where to stake their money for likely win - more of a reward for knowledge  than a reward for passion.