For the first time since 2006, Nigeria will not be present at the FIFA World Cup. The Eagles will not be amongst the five nations to represent Africa at the Mundial following their disappointing exit at the hands of West African foes Ghana during the qualifiers in March.
It’s only the second time in seven tournaments that the Super Eagles will be missing from the tournament.
The effect of Nigeria’s Qatar 2022 no-show goes far beyond the football field, with the impact being felt by many other industries.
Take the transportation sector for example. Had the Eagles qualified, many more Nigerians would have travelled to Qatar to support the team, which would directly boost the transport sector.
Same can be said about the telecoms industry. With many people away from their friends and families, the volume of phone calls would have also gone up during the tournament.
Media houses are also being hit, as they are not able to leverage on the Eagles to get in those lucrative World Cup deals. The impact of Nigeria’s failure on the business of sports betting companies is a fascinating study. Will there be a relative lull in sports betting activities in the country due to Nigeria’s absence at the tournament?
‘Leye Ayodele, editor at My Betting Sites Nigeria opines that Nigeria’s presence at the World Cup would have caused a big spike in online betting numbers during that period.
“Nigeria not going to the World Cup is a big blow for betting companies”, Ayodele said. “The extra buzz and awareness generated by Nigeria’s presence at the biggest football event in the world would have drawn more people to betting, and increased the revenue of the betting companies”.
Despite Nigeria’s no-show, Ayodele still expects a general increase in betting activities during the World Cup, compared to what we have at the moment.
“I still think the betting numbers will increase during the World Cup, but not as much as it would have had the Super Eagles been there”, the betting expert said. “Don’t forget that the World Cup features four straight weeks of non-stop football with an average of three to four matches per day”.
“The frequency and intensity of sports betting, especially online, will be huge during that period,” he continued.
The MBS Nigeria editor revealed that the site is already getting many visitors to its World Cup Betting page, with Nigerian bettors already seeking the best World Cup odds and bonuses.
“Our World Cup betting page gets almost 200 visitors per day, and that number will be much higher as the tournament approaches”, he said.
It will be interesting to track just how much different the World Cup betting numbers would be, compared to non-World Cup periods.
The numbers are already massive, with Nigeria being one of the top betting markets in Africa.
With popular competitions like the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League currently on, Nigeria bettors are not exactly starved of football matches to bet on.
Will the absence of the Premier League during the FIFA World Cup pull down betting activities in the country? Or will the magnitude of the World Cup and the relentless schedule of the tournament cause a significant rise in the volume of bets placed during that period?
We are going to find out very soon.
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