Ivo Doroteia, CEO, Sportingtech
With more and more people placing sports bets worldwide, and the practice on the rise almost daily, it has become an increasingly important facet of the gaming world to analyse the multitude of data that goes behind it.
Data acts as the fuel that powers the machine of sports betting today. The difference between the modern world and that of five years ago is stark – today, adapting to the “new normal” means acclimatising to a less predictable world. Data, then, becomes a valuable asset to everyday working life in gaming, allowing us to see a clearer picture of the industry at large and make better predictions for what we can expect for the future.
The process has evolved considerably over the past five years, with players wanting an experience more tailored to their own wants and needs. For example, bettors can now create their own sports bet, selecting from a wide range of markets, including things like players to score, number of shots and number of offsides, and calculating the odds as each selection is added. In turn, this has led to a greater pool of data for operators to choose from – the significance of this for a platform provider like Sportingtech is notable, as it allows for the provision of data-driven analyses of markets of all sizes.
Although sports betting data was not of little significance five years ago, the modern-day ability to provide a comprehensive profile of a player is unparalleled. This overview, which was much smaller in scope in years prior, now allows operators to leverage data to give themselves a much better understanding of their target market.
The US, especially, is seeing sports betting data rise in importance, not only in the last five years but practically on a month-by-month basis – in the post-PASPA world, sports betting is an increasingly popular phenomenon, and one that more and more states are looking to capitalise on. The provision of sports betting data to emerging markets will be a vital asset in the months and years to come, as new operators look to gain a vital insight into the habits and preferences of their players.
The US’ operators, leagues and media brands rely on automated feeds for their insights, with the industry now demanding accurate odds quickly. Catering to these demands is the only way to both attract and retain a sizable player base, something that every emerging US market will want to do.
The ever-changing nature of regulation in our industry also makes data a valuable string to the bow of an operator looking to provide an indication as to how certain products are performing. Accurate indications of player behaviour offer a key insight into how new regulations are affecting the market – the ability to show how, for example, stake limitations affect the way players bet is a vital addition to the toolkit of a platform provider. In turn, we feed this information back to the customer, allowing them to adapt and maximise income under the different regulations.
Sports betting data is not only there for the benefit of the operator - what has changed in the last five years, and undoubtedly for the better, is the emphasis on responsible gaming. Gambling regulators in 2021 put considerably more pressure on operators to provide more rigorous player protections, and the kind of data available today can determine what tools are best used and in what way. In-depth analysis of data on problem gamblers, for example, can be used to ascertain the effectiveness of devices like self-exclusion or spending limits.
The importance of data has grown exponentially in the past five years, and it is sure to continue on this upward trend as we head into 2022 and beyond. Data-driven technology will continue to evolve for the good of the whole industry, both for customers and stakeholders.
Ivo Doroteia is the CEO of software development specialist Sportingtech. For more than 20 years he has been involved in creating turnkey betting solutions for operators, as well as offering consultancy and advisory services. With his legal background, Ivo has worked closely within regulated markets, helping operators launch into newly legalised territories and advise regulators. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at Global Lottery Corporation (GLC) and Virtual Sports Betting (VSB) in Angola.
Jeevan Jeyaratnam, COO, Abelson Odds
Ask anyone over 40 years old and they will tell you that five years is not a long time, but the last five years has been plenty long enough to witness a significant evolution in the betting data supply industry. Gone are the Eastern European-based video rooms, where multiple satellite boxes were required to pick up games off-tube. Digital streams have replaced those hardware houses and though there is still a way to go to reduce latency, the number of live games that are now covered with a full data suite, by multiple providers, in a form fast enough to allow in-play betting, is mind-blowing.
The digitalisation of television and video is a key element as to how and why we have come so far with sports data. Not only are there more events covered, but the quality and speed of said coverage have improved. That is not to say that quality is everywhere, and this is also an important point; not all sports data is the same. The more granular the data, the more inaccuracies or differences there are likely to be between providers.
If we examine the utility of sports betting data on a modern online sportsbook, we can attribute the rise in importance and overall quality to the biggest product ‘innovation’ for online sportsbooks in the last five years; Bet Builder. Request-a-Bet, Your Odds, Same Game Parlay, however marketed, the concept is the same. The aim is to push punters to place single game accumulators, where the margins are multiplied and comparison with other firms’ products is laborious.
In October, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, sports betting parlays accounted for the casino/sportsbook’s biggest win percentage. That total includes single game parlays (SGP), which are beginning to trend in the nascent US market. In order to create an attractive SGP product you need data, specifically, you need player prop data. The advances on that front during the last half-decade have been impressive. Those trends have not gone unnoticed, the leagues and organisations now want an ever-increasing slice of the pie, and it feels like we have reached a crossroads, where official data is in danger of pricing itself out of the market. Just as New York may miss its channelisation targets, due to its 51% tax rate decision - fuelling the off-shore market - the leagues and organisations charging sky-high prices for official data may also be stoking the fires of grey market data providers.
Five years ago, the notion of sports organisations having a specific data feed for bookmakers was fairly unheard of, fast forward to 2021 and all the major organisations are looking for remuneration from betting companies for the data their competitions and athletes produce. Examining the distribution of the official soccer data rights during the period, we can see that there are now three main combatants for the top competitions in the sport. Stats Perform, Genius Sports and Sportradar now consider it a vital part of their long-term strategies to own rights to different competitions within the top tiers of the sport. In fact, two of those firms are embroiled in a court case with each other over the use of unofficial data.
Even the athletes are starting to cotton on to the fact that their efforts are providing sportsbooks with revenue streams. Led by ex-manager Russell Slade and Global Sports Data Technology Group, a lawsuit signed by over 400 professional footballers, staking its claim to intellectual property rights, is currently in motion.
Over in the US, certain states are mandating the use of official data, which is having the effect of making data more expensive for everyone. Genius Sports is currently paying around $120m annually for NFL data rights, an almighty jump from the $20m per annum that Sportradar had been paying, a fine illustration of just how much more important official data rights have become in the last five years.
Jeevan Jeyaratnam is the COO of Abelson Odds, a B2B supplier, which forms part of the Abelson Info group. He has over 16 years of industry experience, including, approaching ten years overseeing the growth of the company’s Goalscorer Pricing & Settlement (GPS) feed. Formerly of Super Soccer Ltd he helped engineer the sale of that business to its GPS partner Abelson Info in 2017.
Dima Reiderman, COO, BtoBet
Data is now considered the world’s most valuable resource. And the sports betting industry is no stranger to this phenomenon. One may go as far as saying that nowadays, the entire betting experience, the appeal factor it has to the players and the eventual Player Lifetime Value resides in a sportsbook’s ability to leverage the sports data at its disposal.
Up until recently, the major emphasis for any bookmaker lay in the volume of markets available in its offering. However, trends change in accordance with the requirements and demands of today’s players. Simply displaying a wide range of odds without any additional content or features will not suffice for a large segment of players these days, and this is where access to sports data comes in handy.
Players nowadays expect content which is both enticing and stimulating, and data-driven tools such as live match trackers and other visualisation tools have become an important part of the product for any bookmaker, as they seek to grow the influence they have on the players’ betting behaviours, resulting in increased engagement levels.
These tools are essential to provide an immersive betting experience, with access to live data and detailed insights helping punters make more informed betting related decisions.
Should one make reference to in-play betting, punters are more likely to wager on the outcome of specific match-related events, such as the number of corners, free-kicks and offsides if they are readily presented with detailed statistics relating to these specific areas of a live sports event.
It is in this context of fan engagement, and player acquisition at scale, that sports betting data is not only useful, but is ultimately king. To put it simply, the more data you have, the more betting lines which can be created, which will eventually result in a heightened and more stimulating player engagement.
Importance of sports data for in-play wagering and fantasy sports
And this is particularly true when it comes to in-game data streams.
In-play (or live) betting has radically changed the foundations of sports betting. It has turned watching sports into a gamified, lean-in experience, providing the opportunity for media organisations to build and deliver an increasingly engaged audience. And it is a key asset for operators in growing their addressable market and delivering a desirable customer experience.
Offering bets on something that is going to happen in the next few seconds of the game, such as whether a football player will transform a free-kick into a goal, or whether a pitch in baseball is a ball or strike, or whether a tennis player will be serving an ace, represents the best bet for gambling platforms. But, these wagers require accurate in-game data, disseminatedinstantaneously.
At the same time, sports data has boosted the growth of fantasy sports, which as a true skill game where the operator’s interest does not reside in the match’s outcome, is based entirely on the statistics derived from live sports events. The key to success and differentiation for any Fantasy Sports site resides in the sports data itself. And we already have clear examples of operators, such as FanDuel, who have mastered the industry, allowing them to control the vast majority of the daily fantasy sports action.
As of yet, the industry is far away from truly leveraging all the data it can extract in relation to sports and we are just scratching the surface in terms of the in-game bettor and, more than that, the evolution to what kind of bets there will be. Yet this is set to change in the short to mid-term, with new markets such as the US, highlighting the local punters’ thirst for sports-data driven wagering.
Dima Reiderman joined BtoBet’s ranks from parent company, Aspire Global, where he served as Chief Operations Officer for over two years. Throughout his career he has garnered wide experience in strategic leadership and a strong industry knowledge, playing an integral role in the growth and success of Aspire Global throughout his seven-year tenure. His experience and leadership are focused on developing and delivering technology-driven business services and solutions, providing outstanding client service, and driving profitable revenue growth. His main aim is not only to ensure that BtoBet excels with its sportsbook product in new markets, but also to maintain leading positions in emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America.
Malte Hegeler, OddsMatrix CEO (EveryMatrix)
Take a careful look under the bonnet and you can see the engine that drives sports betting has evolved a great deal in the past five years.
Data is the fuel that powers sports betting today, particularly in markets such as the US where operators, leagues and media brands rely on automated, low latency feeds to generate highly accurate, hyper-speed odds and markets to attract, engage and retain millions of hungry sports fans 24/7.
As the user experience has become more personalised through the widespread adoption of BetBuilder-style products across multiple sports, from a platform perspective the power of data-driven analytics has grown hugely to become both commonplace and invaluable for operators in tandem with markets becoming increasingly competitive.
Data-driven marketing insights, so crucial to retention and growing market share, are now gained from a unified, 360-degree view of the customer. The increasing potency of such understandings – which were previously either siloed or managed on a case-by-case basis – can be leveraged in many ways.
Personalisation – tailoring individual or like-minded customers to their preferred betting interests – can now include creating bet suggestions based on a specific sport, location, participants, odds ranges, a certain time or day, a particular market and whether the preference is for pre-game or in-play betting.
Risk can now be considered from a site-wide perspective, as opposed to relating to a particular product, and there have been great strides taken in automating risk management. The best solutions in assessing risk associated with an individual are dynamic and occur close to real-time, starting from the moment of registration and lasting the entire customer journey.
The possibility of managing risk based on cross-product betting behaviour was more difficult to envisage five years ago. While not necessarily a new concept, the running of unified, automated risk assessment that combines every data point from a given sporting event has become easier to achieve thanks to modern-day advances in parallel and cloud computing. The detailed profiling of customer types leads to the building of complementary marketing plans, with the delivery of tailored bonuses and promotions now able to be triggered by a host of specific behaviours.
When it comes to the betting offer put in front of the customer, recent data improvements have had a positive impact. The sophistication of data collection has allowed for improvements in odds modelling and the creation of cutting-edge derived and proposition betting markets such as time range, player or micro markets. Respective examples include a yes/no market on a corner being won in a particular section of a football match, over/under on LeBron James blocks in basketball and a field goal being made or missed in NFL. It has also led to a reduction in time delays for live betting. This is particularly the case in American football and football, where the position of the ball has a strong correlation to the likelihood of a particular team scoring in a defined time.
Computer vision – which can automatically recognise events as they occur – is increasingly playing a wider role in gathering more data than ever before, allowing bookmakers to offer better odds, at faster speeds and with lower margins, to the benefit of customers.
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, data analytics is also playing a leading role within responsible gaming initiatives. With gambling regulators in established markets increasing the pressure on the industry to provide more stringent player protections in recent years, large-scale data has been supplied by operators to researchers to ascertain the effectiveness of tools such as voluntary spending limits and personal messaging.
As we head into 2022, data-driven technology will continue to drive growth and innovation, however I also expect developments in data analytics will continue to better identify the most vulnerable customers for the benefit of all stakeholders and the industry’s reputation, but only if we all push towards the same, common, sustainable goal.
Malte Hegeler leads the product development for EveryMatrix across all its sports products. Having a deep understanding of bookmakers’ needs, thanks to his 10+ years of experience in trading and sportsbook development, Malte is a key contributor to the recent revamp of OddsMatrix’s front-end and back-end capabilities, as well as the launch of the Esports Services in 2019. At the end of 2021, Malte Hegeler assumed the role of OddsMatrix CEO.
