Trends we are seeing in the global marketplace 

The sports betting industry is huge and continues to grow at pace. In 2021, global sports betting turnover was estimated at €1.4 trillion. Increasingly we are seeing businesses from outside of the industry enter the sports betting marketplace looking to capitalise on its popularity. Broadcasters, casino businesses and state-owned lotteries are setting up sportsbooks in order to serve customers, create new revenue streams and drive growth.

This increased level of competition is prompting established operators to review how they are showing up in the market. Sportradar is always looking out for the clients to help them drive more efficiencies and create a customer experience that engages bettors more deeply. 

In a saturated marketplace, there is an increased use of artificial intelligence-driven personalization as operators seek to differentiate their customer offerings. The AI provides operators with a better understanding of their customers – what events they have previously bet on, the type of content those customers are interested in. 

This combination of deep, customer insight and advanced AI enables operators to deliver personalized betting experiences tailored to the interests and preferences of individual customers, at scale. 

The importance of the timing to market for a sportsbook in a new region 

Speed to market is crucial for all operators, regardless of whether they are setting up in a newly regulated market, or a mature one. The quicker an operator launches to market, the sooner they can start bringing in revenues. 

For those operators who are setting up in a newly regulated jurisdiction, first mover status is key. If customers do not have an existing relationship with a sportsbook or another betting provider to choose from, then there are significant customer acquisition opportunities to be had and the possible market share available is much higher. 

What’s more, the sooner an operator gets their sportsbook up and running, the sooner they can refine their service, understand the areas that need developing, and find out how customers engage with their products. This continual loop of build, measure and learn allows operators to innovate by learning quickly and incorporating knowledge gained from each iteration of their service. 

Key things operators need to consider when setting up their offering 

The flexibility of your technology is a key consideration. For operators setting up a new offering, a platform, that is optimized for intense data loads and supported by an infrastructure that can scale in real-time, is crucial. It means that bettors will always be able to engage with their sports and place a wager regardless of an event’s popularity. 

Additionally, operators should look to provide their customers with a stable and reliable solution that can handle real-time data to update betting markets instantly. The slightest delay can have a negative effect on the user experience.   

Investing in technology is expensive and product-wide and just not possible for some sports betting businesses to keep the pace of competition. Through ORAKO, Sportradar’s award winning all-in-one sportsbook solution, operators have access to our full suite of advanced products and services, reducing their need to invest in additional technology or innovation, freeing the operator up to squarely focus on scaling their business and achieving growth.  

How AI-Powered sports betting is shaping the industry

It is clear that the digital ecosystem cannot be understood without AI. And, realistically, what we’re doing with AI today is going to change in the next few years. 

At Sportradar, AI is embedded into the core of the ORAKO solution. Since the company’s 2022 acquisition of Vaix, the artificial intelligence specialists for the igaming industry, we have integrated the technology extensively across our range of services, and I believe it’s going to transform the user experience, changing how bettors engage with sports betting products in the future. 

Moving forward, operators will personalize their products to meet the interests and preferences of individual customers rather simply include customers in segments. With ORAKO, the AI driven player journey starts when the player gets first time to the site or application, and not when the customer registers and logs-in, which helps not only personalizing but in the conversion of those visitors into customers. 

The technology allows us to provide different components with different preferences and filtering capabilities, while also helping us make sure that the product the customer sees is relevant to them. It is how I think the user experience should be. The actual interaction between the player and the product should be intimate and to achieve that, AI is allowing us to process much faster and to understand much better in real time what the user is going to do.