ComeOn Betting | Virender Sehwag Joins as Brand Ambassador
Online cricket betting has been on the rise in India for the last few years. While the pandemic has wreaked havoc for nearly all industries, there are a few that have actually gained from people being locked inside their homes. With lockdowns and timing restrictions in place, Indians were forced to come up with creative ways to fill up their time. Some turned to baking, others to arts and crafts and some ventured into the world of gambling by playing on bookmakers such as ComeOn Betting.
ComeOn Betting is a household name in Europe. They have been in the gambling space for a while and have amassed thousands of satisfied customers that enjoy their platform, their games and customer service. They were also one of the few bookmakers who fully understood the potential of the Indian betting market. They realised that with over a billion people and advancements being made in cellular and internet technology meant that online gambling would be in the grasp of the population. Their prediction was true as India over the years has seen a massive boom in internet penetration along with declining mobile prices. While Apple products are still favoured by the elite, many have gravitated towards the Chinese products that have now flooded the market. These mobile handsets come at less than half the price of their rivals and offer similar levels of features. These features are enough to allow the players to access their favourite betting sites to place bets.
Cricket Betting Sites make their way into India
With so many betting sites now rushing towards the Indian market, it is now imperative for these bookmakers to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd. Some have gone down the route of providing attractive welcome offers such as free bets and in the case of online casino games, free spins on their product. Some have gone as far as to provide free money to their players to allow them to experience the site with the hopes of eventually depositing real money.
ComeOn Betting | Hire Brand Ambassadors
The other route to create brand recognition is to hire famous personalities. Betway have led the race here by hiring Kevin Pietersen to represent their online betting portion and Nargis Fakhri to represent the online casino, 10Cric have been quick to follow in their footsteps and are using West Indian Batsman Chris Gayle to create awareness for their brand. It was only a matter of time before ComeOn would do the same and they have gone for big guns by hiring the most fearsome batsman ever produced by team India – Virender Sehwag.
Viru gives a further boost to ComeOn Betting as he is widely regarded as one of the best and most recognisable batsmen ever to play for India. Known for dismantling bowling attacks be it fast or spin, Viru was considered as the next Sachin Tendulkar for India. What is surprising is that despite issues of legality surrounding Indian gambling, ComeOn betting have chosen an ambassador that is Indian and also based in India as well. This further adds complications on what can and cannot be done when it comes to online gambling in India.
As per the Gambling Act of 1867, all forms of gambling are considered illegal. Furthermore, the government has placed the onus on individual states to decide what is legal and what isn’t. Therefore you have states such as Sikkim and Goa where online gambling is legal and others where it is considered an offence, punishable by law. For ComeOn betting to have hired an Indian ambassador is a risky move despite the bookmaker being offshore. Only time will tell whether the government takes offence to this and initiates a case against Comeon.
For now, we can enjoy seeing Viru’s face and personality being splattered across display banners and landing pages on the ComeOn website. These are no doubt exciting times for cricket betting in India and with new bookmakers coming in, the market will certainly get even more competitive. This will lead to more interesting creative decisions on how to market the brands much to the pleasure of the Indian audience.