Dec 9, 2020 (UNI/TNM): Cricket is played in 105 countries but 12 countries are full members of the International Cricket Council, the global governing body for the sport. The first cricket match was played in 16th century in South-East England and the English empire has made this game popular in many countries except for the Americas.
While American sports fans are crazy about basketball, baseball and soccer, England, Australia, South Africa and South East Asia has millions of cricket fans. India alone has more number of cricket fans compared to rest of the world and this is the reason behind Indian cricket control board (BCCI) being the most powerful and highest earning cricket board across the world.
Not only cricket fans, India is also home to one of the largest communities of cricket bettors. Sports betting has been popular across India for decades but online platforms have started gaining market share in the recent years. Over the past couple of years, betting on live horse racing events has become immensely popular in a limited number of Indian states and could multiply its international fanbase. In general, betting online can be regarded as an option for every Indian by now. The segment has witnessed immense growth in the recent months as lockdowns announced to reduce the spread of COVID-19 pandemic meant that people had to stay at home.
Placing bets on sports events has been made easy by online platforms that offer quick access and reliable data for all live sports events. With easy access to data, sports fans have more information to make informed decisions. The sports betting platforms offer reliable apps for both Android and iOS devices and online access to their members.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of online apps has increased across the world. Even as lockdowns were eased in many countries, a lot of employees are still working from home. Many industries that can offer remote working option to their workforce, have been able to improve productivity during COVID-19 pandemic. This is another reason for massive rise in the stock market valuation of many technology companies during COVID-19 pandemic.
Telecom operators in India started offering additional data for their consumers as work from home culture led to higher data usage. With more data and more free time, the time spent online has increased. This has led to higher usage of online sports platforms and streaming services. Even before COVID-19 started spreading across the world in March 2020, online gaming platforms were gaining market share. But, after pandemic, many platforms have registered strong growth in their user base.
The recent match between boxer Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. ended up in a draw but the viewership numbers for pay-per-view match have broken records for online viewership for such events. The match between boxing legends was played without a crowdat the Staples Center, in Los Angeles. While the world deals with the pandemic, we might see many business segments emerging as winners while many will have to evolve in order to survive. Surely, the services that can be delivered online, will see a strong growth in post COVID-19 world.
