SPORTS BETTING
Top tips for sports betting start-ups
Having helped clients from the casino sector set-up a sports betting offering using Sportradar’s ORAKO all-in-one sportsbook solution, Jacob Lopez Curciel, SVP of managed sportsbook services at Sportradar, shares his top tips for operators launching an online sportsbook.
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here’s an increasing trend emerging amongst online casino operators who are moving into the sports betting industry looking to secure a share of a hyper-growth market which delivered global betting turnover of more than €1.4 trillion in 2021. It’s a move that makes sense. Online casino operators have large customer bases who wager across a range of digital devices, so they have an opportunity to cross sell and upsell a sports betting product to engaged customers.
ADOPT A START-UP MENTALITY Launching a sportsbook comes with an entirely different set of challenges to running and maintaining an established online casino business. Entering this hyper-competitive marketplace requires a start-up mindset built on three key principles – build, measure, and learn. This process is a continual loop that allows your business to innovate by learning quickly and incorporating knowledge that you gain from each iteration of your service. An agile, start-up mindset enables operators to deliver a functioning product quickly with fewer operational costs while providing a better customer experience.
KNOW YOUR PLAYERS When launching a sportsbook service, it’s important to keep the needs of the customer front of mind. Your sports betting customers will have different interests, preferences and needs, and what effective engagement looks like will vary depending on what these are. Having the right technology that can understand the players, and give them the service that they want, is key.
For example, we know that sports betting markets are fast-moving, and many bettors expect up-to-date odds so that they can make quick, yet well-informed betting decisions. If this expectation is not met, casino operators risk the success of their sportsbook endeavour. The slightest delay in updating markets can have a negative effect on the user experience and could result in the customer leaving the platform entirely and betting with another competitor.
DON’T IGNORE COMPLIANCE Of course, the casino industry is heavily regulated in the same way that the sports betting industry is. And while it may sound obvious, I must emphasise the importance of knowing and complying with the regulatory framework of the market in which you operate. It is the operator’s responsibility to ensure its business meets the licensing and compliance requirements of that jurisdiction. Regulation differs market-by-market with operators needing to implement new and enhanced controls and guidelines, comparing both operational and technical regulatory requirements in different locations. The enterprise processes here, such as re- engineering and software development, require a flexible solution like ORAKO, which is compliant in most jurisdictions worldwide, including those with major betting markets. As a committed sports betting partner, Sportradar takes compliance with regulatory requirements seriously, and it’s a top deliverable in all product development lines to ensure operators comply with regulatory requirements on time.
SET-UP WITH A SCALABLE PLATFORM THAT PRIORITISES INNOVATION
It is crucial that operators use a platform which is optimised for intense business operation loads and supported by an architecture and infrastructure that can scale out in real time. This means that an operator’s technical and operations teams will not need to worry about peak times, special events, marketing campaigns or the amount of betting opportunities offered through their service to players. Operators should look to provide their customers with a stable and reliable solution that can handle real-time updates across its entire betting offering. The slightest delay can and will have a negative effect on the user experience.
PUT MOBILE-FIRST & PRIORITISE IN-PLAY
Mobile is driving expansion and penetration across all markets. That’s why operators
should prioritise a mobile first strategy to deliver against demanding growth goals. For operators, that means offering their players the same features and functionality on mobile as they would do on desktop. Live betting markets, live streaming and dynamic content all need to be optimised for mobile and accessible to the end user anytime, anywhere to ensure a positive customer experience.
The popularity of mobile betting goes hand-in-hand with the growth of in-play. The two are intrinsically linked, with mobile being a natural place for in-play wagers over the course of a sports match. In-play betting is huge and will only continue to grow as more markets open and regulate for sports betting. To give you an idea of the size of the opportunity, we offer more than 200 in-play markets on a single soccer match and provide the marketplace with more than 25,000 betting opportunities in soccer each month. Of course, there are some countries where in-play betting is not permitted. If you’re operating in a territory that doesn’t currently allow betting in-play, then you need to be preparing for its introduction, as it is likely to be the next big thing as the regional betting landscape develops. A strong in-play offering requires more than a large number of betting markets. Engagement tools like live match trackers, dynamic widgets, and live streams engage customers’ more deeply and for longer periods of time, enhancing the overall in-play betting experience.
The sports betting industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10.23%* between 2022 and 2027, and I strongly believe that there’s opportunity for more players to enter the market. This industry is not for the faint-hearted, but applying these five insights to your operation will get you off to a good start and provide a solid foundation to build on.
*Source: Online Sports Betting Market: Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2023 – 2028)
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