Russian bookmaker Liga Stavok says its online operations accounted for 60% of its business in 2017 and will likely rise to 80% in future.
On Monday, Liga Stavok VP Dmitry Pavlovsky held a press conference at which he extolled the company’s strong performance through the first 11 months of 2017. Liga Stavok was the first bookmaker to receive an official Russian online betting license in 2016 and Pavlovsky was particularly impressed by how the site’s digital division performed this year.
According to Pavlovsky, Liga Stavok’s online growth topped 500% this year, although he credited much of that eyebrow-raising statistic to growing from “a small base.” Regardless, Pavlovsky said digital operations accounted for 60% of the company’s business in 2017, and he projected the online/land-based split would eventually settle “at a ratio of 80 to 20,” based on its current monthly growth rate of 10-20%.
Of online wagers, 60% were placed via mobile devices. The company has taken wagers from over 4m customers since its launch, while November 2017 set a record with 210k customers placing at least one wager, up from the last year’s monthly high of 150-160k.
Russian punters are most interested in Russian Premier League football action, with betting volumes 80% greater than those placed on English Premier League matches. Pavlovsky said 2017’s Russian Premier League betting volume had risen 96% year-on-year, while the number of customers betting on local football was up nearly one-quarter.
With those kind of numbers, it’s probably no surprise that Liga Stavok is looking to extend its title sponsorship of the Russian Premier League. The company only signed on as League partner in June but League president Sergei Pryadkin said the deal had been “very productive for both sides” and the parties were already discussing “the possibility of prolonging the current contract,” which is set to expire at the end of the 2017-18 season.
It probably didn’t hurt that last week saw Liga Stavok named the top sports betting operator by the organizers of Mark No 1 in Russia, who run an annual consumer survey of brand awareness and trust levels. The awards are to be officially handed out at the State Kremlin Court on Saturday.
