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When it comes to sports arbitration, many people immediately think of European football or top American leagues. And it is logical – there are big budgets, millions of viewers, hype events that bring good profits on situational traffic. However, while everyone is sitting on the classic schemes, a new trend is growing under our noses, and it is cricket.
If you’re not in the know yet, I’ll explain why cricket is becoming a top sport for traffic, talk about the benefits of cricket, and give you a couple of useful tips on sorts and approaches to creating creatives.
Cricket has long remained in the shadows for most arbitrators, but times are changing. It used to be just another reason to visit India or Bangladesh, but now it is a full-fledged trend that has been picked up even by some Tier-1 countries. For example, Canada with its huge Indian diaspora or the United States, which hosted the T20 World Cup last year. Australia has been living with cricket for decades.
The audience here is huge. The populations of India and Bangladesh provide at least 1.6 billion potential players, plus the growing popularity in other countries. And the T20 World Cup final in the states in 2024 was watched by 1.6 billion people – more views than the Champions League or Super Bowl combined in 2023 (450 million and 200 million, respectively). Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after football. The legend of the game Virat Kohli has 271 million followers on Instagram – more than Mbappe or Curry.
The money also speaks for itself: the rights to the IPL (Indian Premier League) were sold for $6.02 billion for 5 years, which is twice as expensive as the matches of the Premier League. And that’s not all: in 2023, the IPL was estimated at $16.4 billion, and investment giants like CVC Capital and RedBird Capital have already invested in teams, investing hundreds of millions of dollars.
In addition, interest in cricket is only growing: in 2023, the volume of bets exceeded $113 billion, and by 2030, $223 billion is projected. Local bettors are passionate about the matches and go not only to pre-match but also to live, casino, and new products.
And what is important is that cricket has different formats for different audiences. T20 is a standard for commercial leagues, and T10 is a more dynamic format that is actively entering new markets (USA, UAE, Africa). For example, the Mumbai Indians have already expanded far beyond India – they have franchises in the UAE, South Africa, and the United States: MI Emirates, MI Cape Town and MI New York.
By the way, we are also in the topic and support the development of this sport, so we became the official title sponsor of MI Emirates at ILT20 2025.
To be honest, cricket is a real ice machine that is not overheated yet, but already brings a stable profit. Demand is growing, and traffic is still cheap and potentially fat. If you are looking for a topic with low competition, high checks, and long LTV, this is it.
While local web in India hasn’t yet reached the level of the CIS, there is a chance to enter this niche and take top positions. India is a huge market, and although local teams are also pouring in, they work less efficiently: they test fewer connections, they don’t know how to create really catchy creatives, and their budgets are more modest. This means minimal competition and simplicity of the event.
Many people still avoid India because of stereotypes about low solvency, but let’s look at the real numbers. The country’s economy is growing rapidly, capital is turning over enormously, and there are more high rollers here than it might seem. An example is the recent super wedding of Anant Ambani, the son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, where Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates were among the guests. It’s not just a beautiful event, it’s an indicator of how much money is circulating in the country. Even if there are low salaries, there is a huge population, and I have already talked about the volume of bets for 2023.
If you haven’t poured on India yet, you should know that it is an ultra-loyal audience. Here, players cheer for their teams as if they were their own, and they are willing to bet large sums to support their favorite athletes. Loyalty works for long-term retention, which means that bettors remain active for a long time.
Another important feature is synergy with casinos. In our product, I see that players who come to betting quickly move on to slots, live games, and card games. For example, baccarat is very popular in India, so providers are already adapting content for it and releasing titles such as Cricket War or Cricket Roulette – essentially the same roulette and baccarat, but in the theme of cricket. This further warms up the audience and increases conversion.
As for the conversion rate, it is the top one on the PIN-UP Partners product. If in doubt, run our offer in a split test with competitors: if PIN-UP Partners shows lower profitability, we will compensate not just the difference, but return 110% of it.
I would like to remind you that very soon, starting from March 22, 2025, the new IPL T20 season (the most important event in cricket) will begin, which will last until May 25. During the IPL, the audience of bettors explodes, as the tournament is watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and bets, according to statistics, increase 5-10 times. This is the perfect moment when users are looking for an opportunity to place a bet, and the conversion rate to depots is as high as possible.
If you want to get good traffic to cricket, you need to understand the local specifics. Many people think that India is just another GEO with cheap traffic, but it’s not that simple. It has its own approaches, patterns of player behavior, and triggers, and if you don’t take them into account, the effectiveness will be so-so.
As for sours, the classic options work here – FB, Twitch, Kick, ASO, UAC, PPC. Also, I want to add that TikTok is blocked in India, and you can’t just take connections from European markets. Instead of TikTok, you should use TakaTak, Josh, ShareChat – these are local platforms with a huge audience and no less high-quality traffic.
When it comes to creatives, emotions make all the difference. Indian bettors are emotional, gambling, and fanatical about their favorite teams, and you need to use it. They come in well: </span
We should also emphasize the star players. Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma are not just athletes, but national icons. They have huge fan bases that faithfully follow their games, so creatives with them always get more attention and convert better.
You can also test another interesting approach – creating creatives with comparisons and intrigue. For example: “Kohli or Dhoni – who’s better?” or “Will Rohit Sharma show class today or not?”
Thus, if you want to cast a really powerful spell on cricket, be sure to take these points into account.
If you haven’t started betting on cricket yet, it’s time to start. The IPL 2025 starts on March 22, which means a huge influx of traffic, increased activity of bettors, and maximum demand for bets. During the tournament, the conversion rate increases many times over, and bets go through the roof, so this event is a real opportunity to increase profits.
Don’t wait for the competition to overheat traffic. Enter the niche right now, test connections, and scale your bays without risk. Meanwhile, PIN-UP Partners gives the best conditions for arbitrageurs and guarantees compensation of 110% of the difference in ROI if our envelope is lower than the competition.
It remains only to take the first step. Go to Cricket Bot from PIN-UP Partners, start pouring and make the most of IPL 2025! And if you have any questions, you can write to us personally on LinkedIn and Instagram.