28 B 2 B
Essential Guide to ... EiG BUZZ SPORTS
SPORTRADAR
Working the Zones
Buzz Sports’ commercial director John Docherty talks about the unusual new live betting concept of ZonePlay and how it works both online and in shops.
W
here do you see the biggest poten- tial for ZonePlay - online or in betting
shops? ZonePlay is a game for players to access as they decide. Overall we see that today’s player makes the access decision. That being the case we are looking to develop without limiting the interface - we are happy to work with operators however they decide their players are most com- fortable. We are able and indeed keen to provide
access through any interface - we see spe- cific market sectors that will be most comfortable with using our LOLA termi- nal in shops (UK and overseas) and others that see usage easiest online or mobile.
Which is the harder sport to trade - soccer, cricket or tennis?
Each sport is very different but the pri- mary difference between sports is the ‘gap’ between points. In tennis, a player serves and the point progresses to a win- ner, there is then a gap before the next point is started. Cricket likewise, a ball is bowled, the batsman plays it, then there is a pause as the next ball is prepared. Foot- ball tends to flow much faster and to have fewer fixed gaps, but of course is a much more fluid game.
In your tennis product the customer can bet on ‘winning zones’. How are these de- fined?
The winning zone is the place the point is scored - where the ball bounces before going out - the easiest example is to look at the layout online.
So bookmakers take the liability for the bets and you supply the in play prices? Buzz Sports is a service provider we do not operate as a bookmaker and do not hold licences. The Buzz model is based on income share in the same way as most casino and poker products. We do the in- frastructure which includes compiling the odds.
Is the interface ZonePlay’s greatest strength? Our greatest strength is the integrated system and service that provides every- thing to our partners. Clearly, the inter- face is a major strength because it is so in- novative but it cannot work on its own - we need to have the full system and sup- port backup to work with it.
On the forefront of live betting
With 5,000 live betting events this month alone, Betradar has been taking the industry’s latest craze very seriously.
portradar is one of the leading supplier of sports and betting- related data; providing com- pelling products, services and solutions with its brand Betradar to the bookmaker world, and through its Scor- eradar brand to the international media in- dustry. Formed in September 2001, the company now has 350 full-time employees in 12 countries. More than 300 bookmaker clients, including over 25 state lotteries, in more than 50 countries across five conti-
S
BEACH VOLLEYBALL IS ONE OF THE MANY SPORTS THAT BETRADAR TRADES LIVE
BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2011 Live betting
nents rely on Betradar’s quality services and solutions.
The latest product highlight is the exten- sion of pre-match and in-running markets available for many different sports. Among other features, this upgrade contains a vast extension of football markets that encom- pass player, booking and corner-related betting markets as well as many new goal- related markets. Betradar’s portfolio has grown to in ex- cess of 100 different betting markets and
currently includes live coverage for foot- ball, tennis, basketball, ice hockey, hand- ball, volleyball and beach volleyball. In total, the coverage amounts to over 4,000 live events around-the-clock each month. With regards to live betting opportunities, Betradar’s plan is to cover and offer over 5,000 events per month within this year; of which 3,000 alone will be football matches. Betradar said its live betting turnkey so- lutions can be tailored for all types of busi- nesses - from small retail outlets to big on-
SPORTING SOLUTIONS Trim fit to push Sporting Solutions onwards
The new MD of Sporting Solutions, Simon Trim, has major ambitions for a business unit which has established itself as the ‘power behind the price’.
S
porting Solutions, the burgeoning B2B trading services division of the Sport-
ing Index Group, already supplies over 10 sportsbooks including William Hill, Totes- port and Skybet with a market-leading out- source pricing service. Last month, Simon Trim was promoted to managing director, highlighting the growing importance of the group’s whole- sale operation as sports betting operators increasingly look to outsource elements of their trading operation. Trim, 41, who had been trading director at Sporting Index since 2006, originally joined the group in 1998 after previously working at William Hill and Ladbrokes and was instrumental in implementing the orig- inal Sporting Solutions concept and has played a crucial role in taking the product forward.
Sporting Index Group CEO Warren Mur- phy described the appointment as a ‘signifi- cant strategic development for the compa- ny’: “Simon has led our trading team with distinction for five years and has been a key member of the team behind the early suc- cess of Sporting Solutions.
“The rapid growth of our B2B business has been driven by our unique modelling and sports trading expertise, backed up by
great technology. No-one is better placed to take the business forward than Simon. He has a clear vision of how the industry will be in years to come, and knows what it takes to deliver it.” Trim said he is excited about the future, building on the foundations already laid: “Over the past five years Sporting Solutions has established an unrivalled B2B in-play service by leveraging the incumbent strength of the Sporting Index trading floor. Unlike our competitors, we know how to price and we know how to trade. Our rapidly expanding partner list is testa- ment to both the product and service that we provide and I’m delighted to be taking up a role that will provide additional B2B focus within the group.”
That partner list now includes a raft of new names with Sporting Solutions recent- ly announcing deals with Blue Square, 888sport, Goldbet and betinternet in the past couple of months. Trim says they will be receiving a service which is second-to- none, but there is much more to come. “We work very closely with all our sportsbook partners - be they big or small – to ensure they get the most accurate in-
play prices available, smoothly integrated into their own trading systems. We already cover 22 sports in-play - that’s a breadth of service unmatched elsewhere. “My goal is to establish Sporting Solu- tions as the pre-eminent B2B supplier of choice. We have some really exciting prod- uct developments to unveil over the next few months and I’m confident that our part- ners will receive a quali- ty of pricing, cover- age of markets, and margin gen- eration that is unsurpassed elsewhere.”
NEW SPORTING SOLUTIONS MD SIMON TRIM
ACTION IMAGES / PETER CZIBORRA LIVEPIC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48