Although it’s still in infancy, the Metaverse is here, and it’s poised to become the next gamer changer—especially for India’s online betting landscape.
Metaverse has arrived, and it’s more than just a buzzword
The mainstream world has opened its doors to Metaverse, the once niche concept of a centralized virtual world that’s existing in parallel to the physical world where people can directly interact with each other via digital avatars. This year, we have seen this digital world careened into the mainstream landscape as perfectly demonstrated by Facebook’s decision to rebrand as Meta.
Investors are also capitalizing on this virtual boom and are reportedly snapping up real estate in the metaverse world. That’s not surprising: digital currency investor Grayscale has estimated that the global market for goods and services in the metaverse will soon be worth $1 trillion.
In India, Meta’s top executives are forecasting “great early adoption” in the mobile-friendly country. Vishal Shah, vice president for Metaverse at Meta, said in a recent media briefing: “India has been an early adopter for us for years now. One of the reasons we have invested for years in the Indian market is for exactly these reasons. Some based on scale, but largely because of what we are seeing in the market from an entrepreneurial perspective, from a creative perspective.”
How can Metaverse change betting in India?
With the rising interest in the Metaverse—both in the concept and in real-world applications—there’s reason to believe it’s only a matter of time before sports fans experience front-row cricket game action from the comforts of their homes.
Metaverse is poised to usher in a new era of online gaming, and sports betting in particular will greatly benefit from technological innovation. Sports betting is considered to be the largest real-money gaming market as well as the biggest entertainment segment in the Union, according to the recent study by media company ENV Media.
The research, which utilized proprietary data from ENV Media’s sports betting affiliate Bet India, showed that sports betting is largely enjoyed by younger male players generally located in larger urban areas such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. This correlates with the growing popularity of trends like Metaverse in the country, which is moving in a mobile-first trajectory thanks to the wide availability of affordable mobile devices and cheap internet.
As ENV Media analysts explained, “The growing and inevitable importance of technology is one foregone conclusion. Those who seek, consume, and, ultimately, bet on sports content, have gotten used to doing it online, out of their own hands. The younger generations will increasingly determine tech-based demand.”
An estimated 33% of desi consumers are willing to place more bets “if it were easier to do so,” according to research data. Now imagine a world where the Metaverse is fully rolled out, allowing sports fans to enjoy any game from their couch—and yes, players can turn the time they spend into money. This is a digital opportunity that inspires the young generation to make their play for their fortune. The question now is what stand the central government will take, given its outdated and conservative view on how online gaming shall be regulated. At the moment, it’s still a guessing game on what the legal scene will look like in the near future although many industry stakeholders hope that the time for the liberalization of the betting market is coming, as guided by India’s Constitution.
