Platform stability, its capacity and a quick response time are among the most important factors that operators place on their list, when it comes to making the key decision of which sports betting platform they should base their operations on. And rightly so… Platform instability and inadequate response time are, among other factors, some of the potential risks operators face; especially when facing major tournaments such as the upcoming World Cup. Issues that not only impact the betting experience negatively and significantly, but which also could carry financial implications for sportsbooks, a loss of bettors, while tarnishing their reputation as a reliable sports betting site.
Super Bowl LV served as a key indicator of how technical issues quickly snowballed into outages, with users of multiple popular sports betting apps being unable to place wagers as kick-off for the match approached. The fact is that technology is at the centre of a sportsbook operation and if the platform features flaws, users will experience delays during important moments in events.
It is with this in mind that at BtoBet we give fundamental importance to the response time, scalability of the product, its stability and robustness. And we funnel a lot of the investment in our product roadmap to ensure our partners do not encounter any issues relating to these key aspects.
A quick response time is quintessential for any successful betting operation. Sports betting in itself being a very dynamic domain is characterised by a huge volume of data, with constantly changing odds. Thus, delays on the sportsbook platform will directly impact the betting experience. Let alone that in-play odds are heavily reliant on the immediate update of statistics during live games.
The sports betting industry is also characterised by architectural and geographical challenges. It is true regulations open up markets, but at the same time they pose different requirements that need to be adhered to by operators themselves. There are jurisdictions which have in place specific legislations, such as the Wire Act in the US, requiring operators to install on-premises servers in those states where they will be active. Thus, in such circumstances operators need to have a sports betting platform which is able to deploy and scale in many places.
The platform’s ability to deploy and scale according to the regulatory requirements in each jurisdiction is paramount especially in those markets, primarily the US, where operators are running multi-state operations. There is no need for an operator to run different and independent sportsbooks, but more importantly one sportsbook that is able to scale to meet each state’s regulatory requirements.
Making reference to the issues which were reported by players unable to place their bets in the hours preceding the Super Bowl LV last year, one could easily say a platform’s stability is the most critical element for any online bookmaker intent on leveraging a major event’s appeal to drive acquisition and retention. It goes without saying that players expect to access a sportsbook and wager whenever they deem fit. And this is especially true for those major events which are characterised by a large volume of bets.
Besides a vast volume of daily transactions from online wagers, operators will face additional spikes of betting activity during these major events, with this culmination of transactions possibly putting the platform under immense pressure.
While operators target major sports events to drive their acquisition campaigns, their intention will not succeed if their betting platform is not robust enough to deal with the influx of new fans and bets placed.
Operators must ensure their platform will not collapse due to a high number of visits or transactions placed. It must be able to do both simultaneously, ensuring all performance goals are met.
Having said this, operators must have a sports betting platform capable of very high performance levels at the core of their operations. It is those operators that will be able to tick all the boxes, be it from a security or scalability point of view, and reap the benefits during major sports events –while establishing themselves as player favourites in the longer term. Players are becoming increasingly more demanding, and bookmakers must respond with the adequate technology that allows them to make quick adjustments in a nimble manner.
