It’s no breaking news that Gen Z sports bettors are considerably different from bettors from other, previous generations. In fact, this does not come as a surprise, given that Gen Zers is a completely new generation that has undergone a great transformation in all facets of their lives, behaviours, styles and attitudes.
Interestingly, just as they are different in their sports consumption patterns, they are also different in their sports betting behaviours and preferences, irrespective of their whereabouts and origins. The new generation has different betting habits from previous generations, but it employs similar betting habits no matter where they bet from. So, it’s the same whether they use betting sites in Portugal or online bookies in the US.
Let’s see some key aspects, which will help us understand their attitudes towards betting.
1. They prefer watching short videos of a game than watching an entire game. They want condensed sports in one view. That’s why snapshots of a game in social media are far more popular among Gen Zers than the actual broadcasted game on TV or even the streamlined game on some sports platform. It is important for these younger sports bettors to be able to follow only what matters the most or be able to extract the juice of what is going on. They don’t want to bother or consume their time with a whole event, when what is important can be grasped in some minutes.
What’s the implication of this for betting? Well, clearly Gen Z bettors are not so much into live betting and in-play wagering. They generally prefer to place pre-game bets and outright bets and when they opt for live betting they do so in very special sporting events or in very special games, such as UFC fights that are streamed by some of the online casinos listed at online-casino-pt.com.
2. They want everything in front of them. They want an enriched experience while watching an event. This means graphics, statistics, data, AR and other visual aids which make viewing a game much more interesting and much more exciting at the same time.
What does this mean for their betting behaviour? Well, it means that they will more easily bet on sports and events for which they either have readily available information and stats or they can easily obtain information in order to make their own analysis.
Meanwhile, just as they like to have an enhanced experience when watching an event, they want to have enriched experiences when betting on the event. So, they will appreciate those betting sites or bookmakers that are not only focusing on providing betting markets, but add multiple layers of experience to these as well.
3. They are harder to entertain, satisfy and engage. They get easily bored and the fact that they are by nature disengaged, means that sports media companies, broadcasters or even betting sites need to provide them with more incentives to attract their interest and willingness to devote their time to following an event or in getting immersed in some way with the sports game.
Gen Zers are disengaged until something engaging comes up. And what can be more engaging than offering them the chance to have some substantial interest in a game, let's say? Wagering allows them to have some stakes in a sports event and when this is so they eventually get more involved and more enthused in watching and following sports.
4. They want to occupy themselves with anything that is hyped. And what’s more hyped than any sport, match, team, player or single athlete than those who dominate the discussions and hashtags on social media platforms? What’s more hyped than this over which tons of ‘posts’ are devoted and millions of comments and shares are being made?
Generation Z wants to watch sports that are really popular and which attract widespread attention in the online world. They want to know about what is being discussed and what becomes the ‘it’ subject in TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other platforms. That’s because they like to share their views, interact with others and communicate when they watch a sporting event more than they like the watching part.
What does this imply for their betting behavior? Well, quite obviously Gen Z bettors are generally more likely to pick high-profile events, hyped matches, highly anticipated games and extremely popular competitions for their wagers. They like to go with the flow, be part of what’s going on and definitely have something to say about that which is ‘going on’!
