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FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

OF HIGHER EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Saint Petersburg School of Economics and Management

Department of Management

Bachelor's thesis

Research and Development of the Russian Sport Betting Industry: its Features and Characteristics

In the field 38.03.02 `Management'

Educational programme `Management'

Sokolov Artemii Alexandrovich

Saint Petersburg 2019



Abstract

Sport and betting have been growing together in recent years and both are multi-billion dollars industries now. Due to the increased speed of new technologies development there was a significant change of the betting industry in the last decades worldwide and especially in Russia. The betting industry is considered to be one of the most rapidly developing sectors of the Russian economy. It began its growth in the beginning of 1990s after a long period of complete prohibition in the USSR and for more than two decades it became a full-fledged area, satisfying the need for rates of more than couple millions of people in the country. Despite the fact, the sphere is in a difficult stage of transformation nowadays, because of the country betting legalization policy on the one hand and lack of the betting regulation policy on the other hand. Since this developing sphere is poorly investigated, this study aims to describe and give key information about betting sphere in Russia. In this paper we are going to answer the following questions concerning betting in Russia: what are the inclinations of wagering improvement these days? which factors impact internet wagering market development? what's more, which socio-statistic and conduct factors impact commitment in wagering of Russians? (Sokolov, 2019)

Keywords: sport, betting, bet, bettor, gambling, legalization, online betting, bettor's engagement



Introduction

According to a massive joint research conducted by Romir, Bookmaker ratings and Levada Centre, Russian betting industry refers to a segment of the economy that includes, on the one hand, players, and on the other, betting companies that provide services to players - bookmakers (Bookmaker ratings, 2017). The volume of the Russian betting industry is 677 billion rubles ($ 10.1 billion) per year, the income of betting companies from the Russian market is 47 billion rubles ($ 0.7 billion) per year, which is 1.2% of the revenues of the entire world betting industry (Bookmaker ratings, 2017). Over the next 5 years, it is planned to increase the volume of the Russian betting industry to 1.4 trillion rubles. 29 betting companies have official licenses for betting activities in Russia, including 11 betting companies that accept online bets (Rub90, 2018). There are more than 100 Russian-language sites of betting companies in the world that provide residents of Russia with an opportunity to bet (Bookmaker ratings, 2017).

The growth of the betting market and legalization have created a need of certain regulations. What is more, certain data about betting market is important for businesses and people who are interested in the sphere. For some companies the information is crucial while speaking of partnership, collaborations and diversification. For some people knowledge of the sphere is important in case of choosing the supplier or making decisions concerning betting. In order to find out which policies should be implemented to the sphere; it is crucial to investigate the field and find out what the moving factors of the industry are. In other words, the knowledge of bookmaker companies' strategies and values as well as bettors' key features and behavior are important while betting analyzing.

However, since the sphere is poorly investigated, there is a few data concerning bookmaker companies as well as there is a lack of information about what motivate people to bet. Nevertheless, both betting suppliers and consumers have to be researched.

For this reason, the purpose of the research is to scale the pace of growing of the betting industry in Russia and define the main influencing factors of the market growth.

The objectives of the research are the following:

- to conduct market analysis of the Russian online betting market;

- to identify factors that influence betting market growth in Russia;

- to identify key socio-demographic and behavior features of Russian bettors;

- to find out whether those features influence bettors' strategies and to which extent.

On the base of the research will be defined the situation of Russian betting market nowadays including both betting companies and bettors. (Sokolov, 2019)

bet bookmaker betting



1. Theoretical foundation

1.1 The history of betting

The desire to participate in disputes is the root cause of the emergence of special entertainment structures. At the origin of humanity is the desire to gain financial reward by solving controversial issues. Structural units that are engaged in the organization of receiving interest rates on various cultural events are called bookmakers in modern society. Such companies organize public auctions, for example, in sports matches (football, basketball, hockey). Cultural and political events can be subject to controversy.

The work of the bookmakers is based on the analysis of the outcome of the event and setting a certain coefficient. Earn such companies at the rates of their customers. Profit bookmakers already laid in the coefficient itself. That is, with equal outcome indicators of the event and the rate of 100 monetary units, the payment to the client is 80-90, and the office net profit (margin) is 10-20 monetary units.

The history of the formation of bookmakers, as a type of business, began in the time of the Roman Empire. Popular entertainment at the time were fights with gladiators. It was with the advent of this type of entertainment that the first bets on the outcome of the fights arose. Firstly, they had a verbal character. The winners were wealth or other benefits (real estate, family, government) (Braverman & Shaffer, 2012).

The undoubted birthplace of the emergence of the first professional bookmaker organizations was the United Kingdom (Braverman & Shaffer, 2012). Although there is a perception that the first institution with bets on horse races was opened in the 18th century by Frenchman Pierre Auler. And during the reign of King Louis XVI, this type of gambling acquired a legal character. Basically, bets were staged on horse races and called sweepstakes. At the dawn of the 19th century there is a popularization of a new sport - football. In connection with this event bookmaking flooded the whole of London. The first points of betting appear. Two bookmakers Leviathan Davis and Fred Swindell became the founders of such organizations. With their submission, the sport becomes the main subject of controversy. In 1934, the first full-fledged bookmaker office of William Hill opens, which continues to occupy leading places in the list of bookmakers in our time (Mattew, 2016).

With the widespread introduction of the global network into the life of every person, bookmakers began to surf the Internet. The dawn of such offices occurs in the 90s of the 20th century. The first online bid occurred in Canada (Anderson, Blackshaw, Siekmann, & Soek, 2012). This event coincided with the prohibition of online gambling in America. A little later, these betting companies conquer the territory of Europe. A wide choice of operators, bonus charge systems and public disputes attracts more and more players all around the world.

In Russia, sports betting appeared in pre-revolutionary times, but the Soviet period was characterized by a lull in the gambling field. Of course, gambling existed in the USSR, but they were offered exclusively in the form of state lotteries. In 1991, the first point of sports betting appeared in Russia (Skalkin, Burikin, & Aleksashina, 2015).

The gambling type of business does not lose its leading position today. Rates are full of their, sometimes, exotic character. Now you can participate not only in sports disputes, but also make bets on the outcome of other events: the election of presidents, music competitions and even the existence of alien civilizations. Carrying away and trying to make money in bookmaker offices as customers, you must not forget about the most important thing. This business, above all, works for profit itself and in such a business is not enough luck. For winning bets, you need an analytical mind and the ability to operate with numerous data. Without these qualities, the whole undertaking will fail.

Modern bookmaker has become as flexible and accessible to a huge number of users. A large proportion of the business migrated to the Internet. It was the development of the global network that transformed sports betting. Registering in bookmaker company, bettor gets all the tools for betting and working with finances. High-quality firms offer their customers a variety of ways to deposit money, give the most detailed lists for sports events, information support and much more. Serious competition contributes to the continuous improvement of conditions for each player. Forecasters are offered bonuses, advances and other promotions.

A serious sports betting upgrade was received with the advent of betting exchanges. Now the classic principles of the bookmaker added elements of the auction. Betting on exchanges is not with the company, but with other users. This makes it possible to bet on more profitable odds, as well as use market fluctuations for profit.

1.2 Russian and world's betting tendencies and expectations

Sports wagering nowadays presents fast development. Nevertheless, if the sports betting industry has already achieved such a level, what should we expect in the near future?

For sure, the evolution and growing popularity of betting directly depend on the consumers' needs. The possibility to keep an eye on matches of your favorite teams via the Internet without leaving home attracts huge quantity of players (Hing, Lamont, Vitartas, & Fink, 2015). This implies that the future is obviously for the online sports wagering. It is secure, fast, clear and legal. The global network allows you to watch broadcasts of championship or regular matches. Nowadays, for a big part of players, sports betting is not just gambling, but also the main source of income (Wohl, Davis, & Hollingshead, 2017). Therefore, an increase in the number of virtual betting companies and rapid developments in the betting industry is, hence, expected in the nearest future. According to gambling research companies, in year 2014 in some countries traffic via mobile platforms come close to 50%, for example Hongkong had 49,7% bets were made via smartphone, 28,6% of bets in Great Britain also were made via mobile platforms (Binde, 2014). In 2016 analytics officially claimed that mobile era in the market of betting begins: by the data that was collected via 2,5 million web-sites tracking, 51,3% of all data volume was downloaded via mobile devises. Prerequisites for this were visible from different analytical studies: already in 2014 by the comScore company data it was known that the quantity of mobile users become bigger than desktop users. Also, in February 2016 Cisco company prognosed mobile traffic increasing in closest future (Abbott, Stone, Billi, & Yeung, 2016).

In addition, in September 2016 Ericsson company research was published and presents the growth of mobile traffic in 53% since September 2015 (Hing, Cherney, et al., 2015). In addition, it is explained that such growth is due to new users' connection and increasing in data volume downloading by the old users (Sokolov, 2019).

Figure 1. Traffic share forecast by Cisco

The information about mobile traffic growth really important for bookmakers. By H2Gambling Capital data analysis, already in 2017 mobile betting share was 49%, and more than 50% in 2018-2019 (Columb & O'Gara, 2018).



Figure 2. Global growth in the share of mobile online by H2 Gambling Capital

However, the situation in Russia seems to be different in comparison with another countries. The betting industry was totally banned in the whole territory of USSR and remained so in some decades after its collapse. Such state of affairs gave an impulse to an underground bookmakers' market. Those tendencies led to such situation that according to an authoritative Russian online publication «Bookmaker-rating», for year 2017, 65% of the Russian market of interactive rates are in the illegal zone (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017).

Over the past few decades, a segment of the population has formed in Russia that perceives gambling as one of the main forms of entertainment. The total number of people in Russia who have staked on sports and other events in the last 12 months is 2.3 million people at the beginning of 2017, which corresponds to 1.9% of the adult population (18 years and older) of the country (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017). The total number of residents of Russia who have gaming accounts in betting companies exceeds 3.5 million people.

In total, 13.2 million people or 11% of the adult population of the country play gambling for money in Russia (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017).

In the summer of 2009, a similar question was asked in a study by the Public Opinion Foundation. At that time, 9% of Russians said they had been gambling at least once in the past year. In this case, most often it was about playing cards, dice or dominoes with friends, a quarter of the players visited the slot machine halls, the third most popular was the purchase of lottery tickets. And only 3% of players (which accounted for 0.3% of the total population) made bets on betting offices, on the tote. Thus, over the past 8 years, the share of betting players has increased significantly (Sokolov & Rzakuliev, 2017).

For comparison, in the UK, at least 4.5 million people regularly make bets on sports and other events, or 8.3% of the country's population (over 16 years old); in total, at least 26 million people regularly play gambling for money, which makes up 48 % of population (over 16 years old) (Lopez-Gonzalez, Guerrero-Solй, & Griffiths, 2018).

1.3 Law regulation in Russia

Gambling business in Russia in 2019 is one of the most actively regulated by the state activities. The severity of the laws governing the work of the respective commercial enterprises gives many representatives of the business community a reason to talk about its actual illegality in the Russian Federation. Let's see how legitimate this thesis. From 2016, the Russian betting industry is in the process of transformation, due to the transition of the majority of large betting companies from the illegal to the legal zone. This was due to changes in the law (entered into force in 2013) prohibiting organizing bets on the Internet on the websites of companies that are not licensed in the Russian Federation and not connected to TsUPIS. The illegality of the gambling business in the Russian Federation most often means a large range of restrictions on the activities of commercial enterprises of this profile, which were mainly introduced in 2009 - against the background of social resonance that arose due to the growth of gambling addiction among citizens, especially adolescents.

Therefore, it is legitimate to speak not so much about the legalization of the gambling business in Russia in 2016 (it is not prohibited in principle), but rather about the specifics of its very strict regulation, restrictions on its management and possible prospects for their withdrawal.

Let's consider the rules of law, according to which this type of business activity is regulated and, in fact, acquires legality. The main legislative document regulating the respective type of business is the law “On state regulation of gambling activities” dated December 29, 2006 No. 244-FL.

However, this source of law does not disclose the concept of gambling. But it is quite possible to rank it as a group of activities that fall under the classification of gambling. And this concept is just enshrined in the law number 244-FL. A similar interpretation of the term "gambling business" is given in Art. 364 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - as a commercial activity for the establishment of gambling (RF, 1998).

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 4 of Law No. 244-FL, gambling should be understood as a risk-based win agreement, which is concluded by two or more parties to this agreement among themselves or with the founder of gambling in accordance with the rules established by the latter (RF, 2017).

A variety of gambling - betting - is between the participants of the gambling game (or with its founder) and involves determining the outcome of the contract of winnings depending on the occurrence of a certain event, the course of which cannot be influenced by the parties to the relevant agreement (Section 4, Article 4 -FL) (RF, 2017).

Under the general description of the game of chance, given in the law No. 244-FL, the classic games of chance are used that are organized using:

- gaming machines;

- gaming tables - with chips, cards and other gambling components.

Under the description of the betting fit betting and bookmaker - institutions that take bets on the outcome of some competitions (in most cases - in the field of professional sports).

Thus, in the Russian Federation, the most common gambling formats are allowed: draws through automatic machines, casinos, sweepstakes, and bookmakers. However, the territory of the respective games matters.

In all regions of the Russian Federation, sweepstakes and bookmakers are legal - subject to their establishment in accordance with the requirements of Law No. 244-FL and corresponding PRB. In turn, classic gambling such as slot machines and casinos is prohibited in most parts of the Russian Federation (RF, 2017). They are allowed only in specialized gambling zones.

Thus, the "classic" of gambling is illegal in all regions of the Russian Federation, except for gambling zones. Sweepstakes and bookmakers are legal in the whole of Russia.

The law establishes very strict requirements for organizers of gambling.

- To conduct a gambling business in the Russian Federation can:

- legal entities registered in the Russian Federation;

- firms with net assets of at least 600,000,000 rubles. (if we are talking about playing games in a casino format and using slot machines), as well as at least 1,000,000,000 rubles. (when it comes to the activities of sweepstakes and bookmakers);

- companies with a registered capital of at least 100,000,000 rubles. (if we are talking about a bookmaker or a tote);

- firms with bank guarantees valid for at least 5 years in the amount of at least 500,000,000 rubles. (if again it is a bookmaker or a betting).

And what about online gambling? Online counterparts of classic gambling games - in the form of virtual casinos and slot machines - are prohibited in the Russian Federation (clause 3, article 5 of Law No. 244-FL). In addition, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the definition of 09.10.2012 on the case number 91-KGPPR12-3 found that Russian providers are obliged to block sites offering users to play in the appropriate format.

In turn, sweepstakes and bookmakers can conduct online activities - as operators of interactive bets. In other words, by accepting cash in electronic form and paying winnings also via the Internet, while activating processing centers (clauses 3.1, 25, 26, article 4 of Law No. 244-FL, 2017).

As of May 2017, 11 betting companies have the right to accept interactive bets in Russia. However, until now, 65% of online betting players continue to play using sites of illegal betting companies (Bookmaker rating, Romir, 2017). The main obstacles hindering the transfer of players to legal Russian bookmakers are the difficulty of identification and the need to pay personal income tax.

Many well-known international players (such as William Hill, Bet365, Paddy Power) are not yet ready to create betting companies in Russia, and large offshore betting companies with Russian capital do not invest in the creation of a legal betting company in Russia (Anderson et al., 2012). The main obstacles are the need to make significant investments to start betting activities in Russia and uncertainty about the further development of the industry in Russia. This uncertainty is caused by the unpredictability of government policy and the lack of interaction between government agencies and betting companies to jointly shape the vector of industry development (Bookmaker rating, Romir 2017).

1.4 Media influence

The media and critical others are two key mingling operators that can demonstration to standardize certain frames of mind and practices related with betting. Expansion of games wagering promoting is a noteworthy industry pattern (GBGC 2013) and sports wagering administrators are progressively conspicuous among the plenty of brands paying for sponsorship and media rights which currently make up over portion of worldwide games division incomes (PWC 2011). What is more, a few investigations have recorded the developing noticeable quality of broadcast, on the web and internet-based life sports wagering advancement (Hing, Cherney, et al., 2015). Sports wagering administrators utilize a scope of advertising systems to enlist, register and hold online record holders. A substance investigation of 40 substantial web-based betting, poker and gambling club locales (Wiebe, 2008) recognized instances of enrollment systems as publicizing on web indexes and subsidiary systems, customary promoting through TV, radio and print, pop-ups and banners shows on sites, occasion or group sponsorships and imaginative guerilla marketing strategies. Join, referral links and welcome rewards are instances of enlistment methodologies, while reward and bonus programs, for example, loyalty programs, can hold clients (Wiebe, 2008).

In betting, marketing methods that work in other business sectors are ineffective. The stumbling block is the nature of the rates, which, unlike a product, cannot be bought.

Promotion of goods and customer acquisition is a key task for any business, including bookmaker. The policy is: the more customers, the higher the profit. The betting industry in the world is already estimated at over $ 1 trillion (Lopez-Gonzalez, Guerrero-Solй, et al., 2018). And this is not the limit. Market capacity will grow with the proper use of marketing strategies in the "luring customers".

The main condition for the effective promotion of the product is its quality. First-class product itself is of interest to the consumer. The task of marketers is to attract maximum attention to it so that customers fly like bees on a flower, says Sergey Portnov, general director of Pari-Match holding. “A good product will unleash itself”. But if it is “poured” with good marketing, the process will be much faster, the expert says (Lopez-Gonzalez, Estйvez, & Griffiths, 2018). - Confirmation of this - Apple. Their iPhone is similar in function to Samsung. However, sales of the device with an apple are five times higher. And this is the merit of Apple marketers”.

According to the expert, in betting a similar situation, marketing will not save the useless product. Because the players will try it, figure out what's what, and refuse (Lopez-Gonzalez, H., Estevez, A. & Griffiths, 2017).

However, blindly copying effective marketing methods in other industries will not help increase consumer demand for rates. Technique of product promotion in the field of sales is to encourage loyal consumers to make additional or more profitable purchases. As a rule, this technique takes the form of proposed additions. For example, in "McDonalds" will certainly offer to take some additional product - potatoes, dessert, sauce or something from the drinks. Such a system works well in the field of goods, but bookmaking is something else.

Gambling Insider experts are sure: the essence of the bets is what happens after the deal has been concluded (heightened excitement from watching the match, moral satisfaction in the event that he is right and, of course, a chance to win money) (Gainsbury, Wood, Russell, Hing, & Blaszczynski, 2012).

Sports betting has never fit into the standard concept of the category "goods and services." Consumers cannot purchase rates as a commodity. The concept of “services” is more likely associated with certain operations in the bookmakers (for example, depositing and withdrawing funds, customer support, etc.) than with the rates themselves.

In essence, the bet is a kind of contract, an agreement between the player and the bookmaker office on investing funds for an uncertain outcome of a future event. The conceptual value of sports betting in most cases has nothing to do with risk management or financial speculation. Gambling Insider experts are sure: the essence of the bets is what happens after the deal has been concluded (heightened excitement from watching the match, moral satisfaction in the event that he is right and, of course, a chance to win money) (Deans, Thomas, Derevensky, & Daube, 2017). In general, sports betting is entertainment for customers.

The closest thing to the concept of "promotion" in the sports betting industry is the possibility of choosing a betting line, whether it be buying extra points in bets (most common in the US and Asia) or betting on the difference in points, writes Gambling Insider (Gambling insider, 2018). In essence, the client is offered to make a higher rate at a more favorable price (coefficients with a higher theoretical possibility of winning), thus the criteria of the classical system of product promotion are fulfilled. But the offer of additional points in the stakes is not the key strategy of bookmakers. Most likely because adding a few extra points to the spread rates is unlikely to increase the players' desire to bet more.

The basic concept of effective promotion of betting products can be widely applied to the market pre-match rates, says Gambling Insider (Gambling insider, 2018). In fact, prematch can become fully customer-oriented. This will allow players to dictate the conditions for bets themselves, choosing from a wide range of additional options. The bookmaker may offer to reduce the risk: to return funds in case of losing the bet in the last seconds of the game or when a key player is injured. Or, on the contrary, to increase the amount of winnings: bonus in case of winning the team with a certain advantage or departure of the opponent from the further stage of the competition. Thus, the promotion of goods in the world of the betting business is possible mainly due to the introduction of a wide range of options for players.

Representatives of the Russian betting do not consider it expedient to focus the attention of customers on the pre-match rates. “The business process in the FON company is designed in such a way that prematch is absolutely organic, without delays, flows into live. We are moving away from raising consumer demand for rates by some specific financial motivations. We try to give additional non-financial incentives for the game”, claims Head of Strategic Development and Marketing, BC FONBET Dmitry Malkov (Tkachuk, 2015).

Popular in any business industry instrument of retention and attracting players - loyalty programs - are actively used by domestic bookmakers.

But they use fundamentally different approaches in the formation of marketing strategies. Some rely on financial incentives: they introduce cash reward systems, discounts, bonuses, gifts. Others focus on the game. They introduce non-financial incentives that help increase interest in confrontation with the bookmaker and make more bets.

1.5 Demographic and behavior factors

Ability to get bookmakers in touch via smartphone, laptop or another digital devise by internet increased the quantity of previously untouched demographic groups (Lopez-Gonzalez, H., Estevez, A. & Griffiths, 2017). Comparing with previous research papers regarding bettors' portraits which presented for the most part elderly blue-collar men, the amount of fresh common surveys claims that present sports betters are about to be a young adult male with the age between 18-34 years (Humphreys & Perez, 2012). Some studies with massive transborder samples figured out the tendency that 90% among all online bettors are male with a mean age of 30-32 years old (Gainsbury et al., 2012).

Concerning behavior factors, latest researches highlights frequency and expenditure on sports betting and a range of sports betting behaviors. Normative factors comprised exposure to sports betting advertising and promotions, and normative influences on sports betting from significant others.

There are quite a few fundamental concepts in betting, the understanding of the meaning of which is extremely important. Most of them are debatable, not having an unambiguous generally accepted interpretation. Betting is not just arranged in principle. But it will not be easier for a beginner player if he also uses outdated and inaccurate definitions.

One of the empirical concepts, which is largely dependent on the experience gained by the bettor, is the so-called perfect line of bookmaker (Hing, Russell, Vitartas, & Lamont, 2016). The probabilities reflected in the coefficients that coincide or are as close as possible with the real alignment of the forces of the opponents. When the player after will give the result of the match and a preliminary assessment of his score: the bookmakers were right. And it may still add at the same time “as always,” depending on emotional perception. In the ideal line there are at least two dominant factors - the mathematical alignment and the player's emotions.

The bookmaker develops two lines on two different models (Welte, Barnes, Wieczorek, Tidwell, & Parker, 2004). The first one takes into account the mathematics of football, the second - behavioral factors. If the majority of the players bet on the favorite in most of his matches, despite the actual sports events, it makes no sense for the bookmaker to offer the players to take a closer look at a particular match, which may not be as simple as it seems. The line will be set anyway according to the predictions of the behavioral factors' analysis model. Even when a team has a really high chance of winning, but the behavioral factors (that is, preferences) of bettors do not speak in its favor, the coefficient will in any case be overstated to even the line and offer players what they need from the stakes - bright and memorable. of emotions. This behavior of the bookmaker can confuse professional bettors who may be suspected of an overestimated divorce rate. But in fact, such a scenario is not expected here.

The ideal line from the point of view of the bookmaker - which itself will make a bet for the player, accurately calculating his motivation and the amount of money the bet which the player is willing to risk. It anticipates the actions of the average player, persistently and at the same time unobtrusively letting unsuspecting players make a bet on the desired outcome for the bookmaker. Of course, this does not always work, not in a hundred percent, and even, probably, not in 2/3 of cases, because there are a lot of factors and combinations of them with each other too. But since the preferences and gaming style of bettors are usually not subject to drastic and serious changes in a short period of time, it can be said that the behavior of the players in the overwhelming number of cases will not be a surprise for the bookmaker.

Partly and roughly speaking, the ideal line programs the players. But only in part. In fact, only monitors their preferences, analyzes these moments and gives what is in demand. Bettor only thought that today the bookmaker most likely would give the desired team a bet for the n-factor, as the bookmaker had already picked up the bettor's expectations a week earlier, anticipated and gave the formula:

A = n + 0.10, (1)

where n is the coefficient of factors (Killick & Griffiths, 2018).

The players in their mass do not really go for the coefficients that emphasize the sporting success of a team. For them, the emotional component of sports betting will be much more important - risk, excitement, enjoyment, the desire to cut down money in an easy way. Players do not really think about what exactly reflects the coefficient, whether the price for a team corresponds to an objective picture of the market. At the same time, rip-off rates do not always have a significant effect on the formation of the line, they can adjust it somewhere, drop the coefficient - in general, it also happens. But in such a way that a direct, excessively large number of amateurs would decide and under them the bookmaker would sharpen his analysis models - hardly. The ideal line of the bookmaker is not at all about making amateur not keep from betting, but somewhere very close to that.

Since a number of investigations regarding betting psychology showed that one of the most important factors is risk appetite (Kornilov, 2003). There are several techniques for risk appetite evaluation. Among the most popular ones are:

a) Risk Readiness (RSK) by Schubert - the technique gives 25 questions and respondents should answer to which extent they are ready (2 points) or not ready (-2 points) to do this or that action;

b) Test “Can you take justifiable risk?” from «Forchun» magazine - the technique primarily concerns the risk of investing in various projects and securities. It provides us with five questions that describes various financial situations and each has several variants of answers. It also has a key that looks like matrix and divides respondents into five groups of risk appetite;

c) Method for determining risk appetite by Kogan Wallach - The purpose of this questionnaire is to determine how a person makes decisions in risky situations. Twelve simplified life situations are proposed, each of which can be solved in two ways: the first does not bring much benefit, but guarantees something durable; the second brings a financial gain, a better social position at work, an increase in prestige, a card gain, etc., but contains a certain risk;

d) Methodology "Investigation of risk appetite" by A. G. Shmelev - the questionnaire gives fifty statements and respondents should evaluate to which extent each statement fits their personality;

e) Methodology "Measuring Rationality" - the technique consists of two parts and is built as an element of mass survey technology and designed to assess the method of adoption and promotion of the objectives of the subjects.

The techniques are quite similar; however, they should be chosen in dependence on what the aim of the investigation is.

Research question statement.

Game and wagering have been becoming together as of late and both are multi-billion dollars businesses now. Because of the expanded speed of new innovations advancement there was a critical difference in the wagering business in the most recent decades worldwide and particularly in Russia. The wagering business is viewed as a standout amongst the most quickly creating areas of the Russian economy. It started its development in the start of 1990s after a significant lot of complete disallowance in the USSR and for over two decades it turned into an undeniable territory, fulfilling the requirement for rates of more than couple a huge number of individuals in the nation. In spite of the reality, the circle is in a troublesome phase of change these days, as a result of the nation wagering legitimization approach from one perspective and absence of the wagering guideline strategy on the other hand.

The development of the wagering business sector and authorization have made a need of specific guidelines. Also, certain information about wagering market is significant for organizations and individuals who are keen on the circle. For certain organizations the data is essential while talking about association, joint efforts and enhancement. For certain individuals' information of the circle is significant if there should arise an occurrence of picking the provider or settling on choices concerning wagering. So as to discover which strategies ought to be actualized to the circle; it is pivotal to research the field and discover what the moving components of the business are. As it were, the information of bookmaker organizations' methodologies and qualities just as bettors' key highlights and conduct are significant while wagering dissecting.

Throughout the following 5 years, it is wanted to build the volume of the Russian wagering industry to 1.4 trillion rubles (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017).

Notwithstanding, since the circle is inadequately researched, there is a couple of information concerning bookmaker organizations just as there is an absence of data about what persuade individuals to wager. By the by, both wagering providers and buyers must be investigated.

Since this creating circle is ineffectively explored, this investigation means to give key data about web-based wagering in Russia. In this paper we are going to respond to the accompanying inquiries concerning wagering in Russia: what are the tendencies of betting development nowadays? which factors influence betting market growth? and which socio-demographic and behavior factors influence engagement in betting of Russian bettors?

Methodology.

The research consists of the two main parts: betting market investigation and bettor's investigation.

The investigation of the betting market is pragmatic which means it contains both quantitative and qualitative data. The strategy of the research is inductive: starting with various factors concerning betting market in Russia were given a full systemized information. As it was already mentioned, the research conducted on the macro level.

The purpose is to describe trends and features of the Russian betting market nowadays. To reach the goal various kinds of data were analyzed.

To identify trends and factors that influence betting market growth in Russia market analysis was conducted. It includes context analysis of the articles written about the sphere during the last 10 years to find out the main trends in the sphere. What is more, descriptive statistics used to show the values of the market nowadays in comparison with the past as well as to show the future trends. That sample provided by the open data-base resources about betting such as Rub90 and Bookmaker ratings. What is more, the competitor analysis of the main market players conducted and shows the specific of the Russian betting market. On the base of the market research main factors that influence betting market growth in Russia identified.

The next part of the research is pragmatic as well. The inductive strategy of the research aims to investigate factors that influence bettors' engagement providing information from personal to general. The research conducted within a group of people engaged in betting. The data was collected by the use of an online survey. General population - the amount of people betting in Russia - is about 2.3 million people (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017). It means that the sample of the research should be not less than 100 respondents (10% confidence interval). In our survey we asked 166 respondents. The questionnaire can be seen in Appendix 1. The respondents were found in the telegram channel «Switch cash», that is owned by my friend, and consists of 166 people engaged in betting. Since only 1.9% of the adult population in Russia are related to betting (Bookamker ratings, Romir, 2017), gaining a random sample was not relevant. For this reason, it was decided to require respondents who had been subscribed and bet during at least previous 6 months. On the base of the survey regression analysis was conducted. While regression analysis we decided to check the following hypotheses:

- Hypothesis 1 - Marital status has negative influence (married people are less involved in betting);

- Hypothesis 2 - The level of education has negative influence (the better education the respondents have, the less they are involved in betting);

- Hypothesis 3 - Occupation has positive influence (the better job the respondents have the more they are involved in betting);

- Hypothesis 4 - Financial situation has positive influence (the more money the respondents have the more they are involved in betting);

- Hypothesis 5 - Risk appetite has positive influence (the more the respondents are ready to take risk the more they are involved in betting);

- Hypothesis 6 - The attitude of close people to betting has positive influence (the more people close to respondents are involved in betting the more they are involved in betting themselves).



2. Description of the results

Analysis will be useful for every participant of bookmakers' market and will help to identify the tendencies characteristics for the industry. The information below is structured information about changes in offline and online bookmakers' market in Russia (structure of incomes, dynamic of audience growth, leading bookmaker companies market shares).

2.1 Competitor analysis of the main players in the market

By the data of big Russian betting analytical company, in 2017 attendance of bigger part of leading bookmaker companies web-sites grew in two and more times because of their TsUPIS connection and active advertising (Rub90, 2019).

Thus, average monthly attendance of web-site of “FonBet” bookmaker company grew in 171%, its attendance index come close to the leader of online betting market “1xBet”, which have 5,2 million attendances in December 2017 (Rub90, 2019).

Furthermore, the positions of the first two companies have significantly strengthened compared with the previous year due to a successful advertising policy.

The “League of Betting” ranks third in terms of the number of sites visited, the audience of which increased significantly (from 1.3 million to 2.7 million visits per month) (Rub90, 2019).

Quite a serious growth in 2017 was shown by the sites of betting companies "BetCity" and "Winlinebet", whose attendance increased by 1.8 and 1.6 million visits per month, respectively.

Also, newcomers are “BingoBoom” and “Bwin” (Rub90, 2019).



Figure 3. Dynamic of internet audience growth

Despite the increasing growth of online betting markets, there are still some physical points. Speaking of the number of the betting points, in the beginning of 2018, there were 6,951 points for receiving rates in Russia. During the year, the number of faculty increased by 1.7%. This growth rate of the PRB network is lower than last year, when there was an increase of 13.2%. According to federal tax records, at the beginning of the year, 5003 PRBs were registered, which is about 72% of the number of PRBs that appear in the register .

Figure 4. Number of points receiving bets in Russia

Speaking of the PRB growth dynamics we can mention the following: at the beginning of 2018, the top three leaders of the Russian betting market did not change. Still leading "Fonbet", which increased last year the number of PRB by 1.5%. In second place is “BaltBet”, which showed a decrease in the number of clubs by 9.7%.

In the third place is “Bookmaker Pub”, which also reduced the number of its PRB (by 7.9%).

Significantly improved the position on the market "SportBet", increasing the number of PRB by 28%. However, they do not have any online-planforms.

Figure 5. Quantity of licensed PRBs in Russian market

If compare the leading positions in both online market and PRBs it can be seen that the leader of the online market is 1xBet while among PRBs it is FonBet. It should be also mentioned that BaltBet is one of the leaders speaking of the amount of PRBs while its position in online market is very low. It may show that they just started the process of migration into the Internet.



2.2 Influence of FIFA World Cup 2018 on Russian bookmakers

The FIFA World Cup is the main event of the sport “four-year”. Moreover, the 2018 World Cup has become the most popular and popular among the last major tournaments (compared to the World and European Championships) (Rub90, 2018).

If we consider the entire array of sports betting during the 2018 World Cup, the share of the rates specifically for the 2018 World Cup football has exceeded half and amounted to 58% of all bets (Rub90, 2019).

As before in large tournaments, there is a prevalence of Prematch bets, which goes against the general trend of an increase in the share of Live bets.

The popularity of Prematch on Euro and World Cup, in contrast to the matches of the regular top championships, can be explained by the following factors:

- A small total number of matches causes an increased interest in each separate one.

- Fans, expecting a particular match, pre-form their opinion about its result (and express it in stakes) even before the start of the game.

- Rates accumulate within a few days before the match.

Nevertheless, interest in the match grows as you get closer to it, so most of the bets in prematch were made on the day of the game (more than 50% of them - in the last 4 hours before the match).

The most popular rate of the 2018 World Cup was "1x2" (its share is 50%) (Rub90, 2019). This fact can be explained by the same reasons as the prevailing rates in prematch. Players form a personal attitude to the match and give preference to the team they believe in.

If we compare the playoffs with the group stage, we can see that the stages and ј were more popular at the 2018 World Cup compared to the 2014 World Cup (largely due to the participation of the Russian team in these stages) (Rub90, 2018).

At the same time, Ѕ and the final were significantly more popular at the 2014 World Cup. Which is easy to explain, since the headlines of the 2014 World Cup semi-finals (Brazil-Germany and the Netherlands-Argentina), as well as the finals (Germany-Argentina) sound much more attractive to a football fan than the headings of the semi-finals (Croatia-England and France-Belgium), as well as the finals (France-Croatia).

World Cup 2018 was the most successful for Russian bookmakers in terms of profit (Tonyan, 2018). The main factors that influenced the turnover were: the venue of the championship (in Russia) and the unexpectedly successful performance of the Russian team, which few people expected. Both factors caused an increased interest of the Russian players, which influenced the growth of the amount of bets.

In addition, this championship turned out to be highly profitable for bookmakers due to the profitability of individual matches, which was the result of a large share of unpopular results among players (the loss of a favorite and a draw result). By the way, it was the Russian national team that became one of the leaders in producing such results.

The most profitable match for bookmakers is Russia - Croatia (Rub90, 2018). In this match, two of the most undesirable results for Russian players occurred: most of the time ended in a draw, and the Russian team did not pass to the next stage of the tournament. In the event of a clear victory for the Russian national team in regular time, this match would be the most profitable in a tournament for players.

2.3 Russian bettors' analysis

According to the results of completed survey socio-demographical factors are following:

82% of all the respondents are male and 18% are female. Researchers attribute gender shifts in the player structure to the fact that men are more likely to participate in games where they need to rely on abilities and knowledge (for example, poker and other card games), and women are more likely to play games where the result depends from luck, such as bingo and lottery.

40% of them with the age between 25-34, 29% are between 35-44, 16% between 18-24 and 14% are 45 and older.

Figure 6. Bettors gender

Figure 7. Bettors age

What about education, 59% have higher education, 18% with specialized secondary, 11% with secondary, 10% have incomplete higher education and 2% with another education.

Figure 8. Bettors age

Most of the respondents (68%) are married and 27% are single. Another 5% are divorced or widow/widower. At the same time, players abroad are more often unmarried or unmarried, unlike Russian betting fans. Researchers attribute this to the fact that this type of people has fewer obligations, as well as more free time to watch sports programs, to relax with friends and to bet.

Figure 9. Bettors marital status



Talking about occupation, 58% work for hire, 20% have their ow business, 12% are students and 10% are not working at all.

Figure 10. Bettors occupation

Most of the respondents (38,7%) evaluate their financial situation as “generally financially secure”, for 32,3% buying large household appliances is problematic, 19,4% financially well enough, 6,5% lives extremely sparingly and 3,2% were difficult to answer.

Figure 11. Bettors financial situation



According to the results of completed survey behavioral factors are following:

The reasons for betting are following: the bigger part of the respondents (54,8%) bets on sport as a way of entertainment, with the reasons of one-time extra reason and make the game broadcast more interesting bets same shares of players (38,7%), less bettors (19,4%) bets for company with friends or colleagues. 9,7% use betting as constant additional income, and only 3,2% of respondents calls bets as a main source of their income.

Figure 12. Bettors reasons to bet

What about betting activities? Players annually make more than 650 million bets totaling 677 billion rubles (Bookmaker ratings, Romir, 2017). Most players (70%) make bets from one to several times a week, in turn, about a third of the players only a few times a month. On average, per player accounts for 9.2 gaming days per month.



Figure 13. Betting activities

More than a third of players makes only 1 bet during the day. The remaining two thirds of players make two (25%), three (17%) and more bets (19%) during a game day, which averages 2.7 bets per game day 20. Thus, on average, one player makes 25 rates during the month, 300 - during the year.

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