DataReportal's 2024 "Digital India Report" states that the country has a population of 1.44 billion, with 751.5 million internet users and 462 million social media users.
How does the country with the world's largest population base perform in the sports betting market?
Despite having the largest population, India significantly lags behind Brazil and Nigeria in terms of sports betting site traffic, even trailing behind Australia, which has only 27 million people.
According to Semrush traffic data, Indian users seem to prefer participating in online casino games and lottery tickets. Considering that the IPL (cricket), beloved by Indians, is off-season in November, it may be that Indian sports betting users only participate during cricket events.
Is Online Gambling Legal in India?
According to the "Public Gambling Act" enacted in 1857, offline casinos are illegal. Considering there was no internet back then, online gambling is actually in a legal gray area. In recent years, India has attempted to restrict online gambling, but it seems to be a rule without much enforcement.
India is a highly decentralized federation with 29 states and 7 union territories. The states have considerable power, and if a state legislature passes a ban on online gambling games, users in that region would be engaging in illegal activities; however, Indian states do not have the capability to block online gambling operations targeting Indian users.
Active Sports Betting Platforms in the Indian Market
9Wickets
Formerly an official mirror site of Betfair, after Betfair terminated their pool partnership, their official site still mentions Betfair's drive. Wickets is a cricket term, and their business definitely comes from traditional cricket countries. Searching for 9Wickets on social media, a lot of Indian users discuss trading cricket on 9wickets.
9Wickets was established in Bangladesh in 2020, with an operating license issued by the government of Bangladesh. Currently, their main markets are India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Kenya, etc. They distribute their network through an Agent model, which is very popular among Indian sports betting customers.
9Wicket platform charges a 3% transaction commission on winners, lower than the 5% on the Betfair site. They offer Indian customers trading options in cricket, horse racing, football, and tennis.
Lucky Sports
A Taiwan-based company focused on the Indian betting market, relying on Sportrader's data, has developed a set of sports betting kits. The client has a fully controllable transaction management system, offering JavaScript embedded seamless integration in sports betting widgets, allowing free conversion of access styles. The prominent scoreboard makes it easier for customers to act, and streaming live enhances in-play betting.
The product's best risk control system relies on Sportrader MTS service to enhance betting. Enjoy six key advantages of the system: increase profit margins, reduce costs, flexible trading, stand out in competition, improve customer experience, and low risk.
Additionally, they provide Indian users with a dedicated cricket exchange market service, but obviously not as competitive as 9wickets.
Partner brands include luckykismat, Gugobet, ipl365, vegas11, Gullybet, Jeetwin, etc., which specifically offer sports betting and online casino services for the Indian market. Observing the integrated distribution style of the web platform, most are likely operated by Chinese brands.
SABA SPORTS
SABA platform has designed a dedicated cricket site for the Indian market, providing Indian users with cricket top services and live streaming.
SABA has set up social media accounts for the Indian region on Instagram, distributing content to Indian cricket users and promoting their brand.
Operational Recommendations for the Indian Sports Betting Market
Strengthen Localization Services
In India, English and Sanskrit are the main service languages. In the sports betting market, Indian users really only love cricket, and services that strengthen cricket content are very popular. Indian users have the habit of using sports exchanges, and naturally, there are many users who like to compare prices. New virtual and esports cricket products fill the entertainment gap during the main cricket event off-season.
Strengthen Mobile Services
If your customer base is not the professional level of North America and Australia, an easy-to-understand and smooth mobile access system is very important. As an emerging market, Indian users access the internet more through mobile devices, and it's convenient for customers to bet on cricket events anytime, anywhere through SMS or mobile client device pop-up services.
Active Customer Marketing
Using exclusive community networks like Discord, Telegram to better manage existing user groups, instantly publish brand promotional information, quickly respond to user questions, and actively provide feedback. Through social media like Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok, targeted content distribution increases IP exposure and attracts potential incremental user groups in the region.
Support some local valuable internet KOLs (internet celebrities) for product sales, actively participating in interactions on social accounts. Learn from McDonald's brand spirit, appropriately leveraging trends to add value to the brand.
If you reach the top standard in the Indian market, consider doing vertical in-depth content. Podcasts with valuable content on Youtuble are very popular in emerging markets, like the HomeTurf podcast by Bet9jia company in Nigeria.
User Spending Power
When considering the Indian market, the population base is one aspect, and the consumer spending power of users is another. India, the world's most populous country, has an average median annual income of $1,235, with 90% of the population earning less than $3,900 a year. From the perspective of user spending power, it's incomparable to Australia, where gambling is widespread. India's high-paying industries are concentrated in IT and elite fields such as doctors and lawyers, but these users have higher national mobility.
Conclusion
Focused on sports betting and online casino businesses in India, companies from neighboring countries or regions around India are many. Cricket, as India's national sport, is the soul of sports betting products in the region, and all marketing strategies revolve around cricket-centric services. The widespread adoption of mobile internet in India brings more mobile customers.
However, as a developing country, the general spending power of users is not strong, and the average customer value may be low. As a decentralized country, the style of gambling products operated in the Indian market is deeply influenced by surrounding areas, with Chinese, South Asian, and Southeast Asian forces all wanting a share of this market.
