Found this article in the citizen online,written by Brent Graham
WHAT have Ladbrokes, Victor Chandler and Sportingbet got in common? All three are big offshore bookmakers with well-known brands, who took licenses in South Africa as a means of spreading their footprint.
While Sportingbet appear to be thriving, both Ladbrokes and Victor Chandler have closed up shop and are in the process of leaving or have already left our shores.
Ladbrokes.co.za punters received notification two weeks ago that the South African website had ceased trading and the company were going to pay out on all balances; but would be taking no further part in the local sports betting or horse racing arena.
On the face of it, and given that Victor Chandler had also entered this market only to pack it in within around two years, this seems like a hammer blow for the local industry.
In my view, the answer is an emphatic “No”! While I have little doubt that both layers would suggest the market is not as large or perhaps growing as quickly as expected, I believe the reason for their departure could be down to their own failings rather than a problem with the market itself.
There are no doubt other factors at play as well, but I believe the depth of competition within the local market could well have been underestimated; and the apparent assumption that local punters would automatically flock to a powerful overseas brand was flawed.
Let’s start with the local online market where we have a host of respected players competing for your punting rand. Betxchange, World Sports Betting and Hollywood are long established South African brands that have had an online presence for many years and in more recent times the likes of Voltbet have entered the market and made brilliant use of social media and out of the box strategies to grab their share of the pie.
These companies compete with each other aggressively and each has its own strengths whether that be their range of markets, prices (odds) or customer service. It may well have been that this market was perceived as being a soft touch due to the lack of internationally recognised brands but that in fact is far from the case and we have a very strong and efficient local offering.
If the local market was underestimated that need not be a reason for failure and I suspect the real issue was perhaps an attitude that a simple “White Label” of a successful international product would be enough to attract and retain customers. Now is an opportune time to look at Sportingbet the original overseas entrants who are now major players in the local online betting space. What are Sportingbet doing differently to what Ladbrokes did?
I was not initially all that impressed with Sportingbet as while they came with a website that carried thousands of markets and in-play options (betting when the match or event is already under way) they were late out with Super Rugby prices and getting a bet on a domestic cricket match was not an option.
Gradually they started to build on their base offering adding more and more local focused markets and today it is Sportingbet who are first out with Varsity Cup Rugby prices and they are also very early with Super Rugby odds and pre-season carried a range of Super Rugby and South African team specials the likes of which were only rivalled by Betxchange.
Brent Graham has been betting on sport since it was legalised in 1994 and he writes previews and blogs at
www.goodforthegame.co.za
You can contact him at brent@goodforthegame.co.za or follow him on Twitter @BrentGraham. This article is his opinion based on his experience in the local betting space and he has held accounts with Ladbrokes and Victor Chandler and continues to hold accounts with all bookmakers mentioned in the article.
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