Product innovation in sportsbetting.
What’s next?
Liam Casey – CEO – Tailorbet
liam@tailorbet.com
@betonliamcasey
My background – what qualifies me?
….+ multiple industry B2B suppliers.
Betting evolution – a simple view.
Tailorbet’s view of betting evolution & innovation.
The evolution of sportsbetting – time.
How sportsbetting product has evolved over time.
Limited pre-match on desktop
1996
Limited pre-match on basic mobile
Increased pre-match on desktop & mobile
web
Addition of limited live markets to desktop +
initial Exchange growth
Time
Addition of increased live markets to mobile
native & web app
Significantly expanded secondary markets +
initial growth of UGC.
Growth of “super-live” markets in additional
to regular live markets.
What’s next?
Amount of available markets
Present
The evolution of sportsbetting – sample.
The first online Sportbook in 1996…
1 x bet on the homepage!
The evolution of sportsbetting – sample 2
…now looks like...
Massive increase in immediate opportunities.
The evolution of sportsbetting – factors 1
Product evolution in sportsbetting has historically been
dictated by – external & industry factors.
Innovation is directly linked to these factors.
The evolution of sportsbetting – factors 2
Internal (industry) factors are not necessarily
unique to the betting & gaming industry though.
But - the industry has become commoditised.
Really?
For example, this is the first thing a customer sees…
Similar offers, similar products, same
games, same times, same channels.
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So – is innovation required?
www.tailorbet.com
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What does the industry think? Challenges.
“It's tough to innovate at the best of times but
seems especially so now unless you are a very small
niche provider (with an innovative product) or you
are Betfair with seriously powerful and protected inbuilt IP that actually fosters innovations like Cash
Out and Price Rush.”
Head of Product. Mid-sized Sportbook.
10 years experience.
www.tailorbet.com
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What does the industry think? Challenges 2.
“Sportsbook companies don't really want to take
risks, it lays in the nature of offering a sportsbook.”
Head of Product. Large Sportbook.
12 years experience.
“I'm not sure there's been any real product
innovation since the Exchange…”
GM. Large Operator.
20 years experience.
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What does the industry think? Challenges - 3
“If I was in charge of innovation at any large
company I would likely stop going to yearly
conferences that are exclusively my own industry.”
“(We are in) an industry where buying tech &
product off the shelf, rebranding, then relying on the
same tired marketing to make a difference is the
norm…”
Company founder & CTO. Gaming start-up.
15 years experience.
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Industry thoughts. What can we do?
“Intelligent and profile driven user interface that
responds to the pattern of each customer.”
MD. Mid-sized betting company.
15 years experience.
“I’d go as far to say that all tier one sportsbooks and
platform providers are way off the mark with true
customer experience”.
CCO. Large public betting company.
15 years experience.
Industry thoughts. What can we do - 2
“When someone cracks true and deep
personalisation they will be innovators in online
gambling but as of now I think we're probably 5
years behind global etailers…”
Marketing Director. Betting & Gaming.
15 years experience.
“It is not beyond the realms of possibility to have
thousands of unique configurations of…content but
if your overall customer experience is stuck in the
'90s then...wake up.”
CCO. Large betting & gaming group.
15 years experience.
Industry thoughts. What can we do - 3
“I want greater genuine engagement with
customers. Our brand has been around for 10
years, but our tech feels twice as old…”
Commercial Director. Betting & Gaming.
15 years experience.
“We’d like to be able to anticipate needs, not just
react. User-generated content & P2P is a start for
us to see what customers create…”
Head of Sports. Large betting & gaming group.
12 years experience.
Industry thoughts. What can we do - 4
“The dichotomy is that we all want the next big
thing, but we don’t want to pay for it, and we
don’t want to spend the time & money
developing it…”
CEO. Betting & Gaming.
15 years experience.
“We’d like to be able to anticipate needs, not just
react. Tailorbet (and P2P) is helping us give our
customers much more choice, with little work from
us…”
Head of Sports. Mid-tier Operator.
12 years experience.
Outside the Betting industry. A true innovator.
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience
and work back towards the technology – not the
other way ‘round…”
Steve Jobs
“We're gambling on our vision, and we would
rather do that than make "me too" products. Let
some other companies do that.”
Steve Jobs
What is driving innovation in the vertical?
Specific technical factors:
Market factors:
These factors have much in common with
overall sportsbetting product evolution.
Some industry innovations picked out by experts.
Cashout & Price Rush
Marketing offers &
brand execution
“Super live” markets
User generated markets
and auto matching &
settlement
Innovative pools betting
How does P2P betting drive innovation?
•
•
•
•
•
Gives the customer complete control
This drives customisation & personalisation
Gives the customer far wider choice
Generates risk-free revenue for Operator
A solid defensive move against your
customers using other Exchanges
• Allows you to market in new ways
• Reduces Trading overheads
www.tailorbet.com
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Outlook: what are the innovation battlegrounds for sportsbetting?
Data
warehousing
capabilities
Personalisation
&
customisation
Brand
experience
VS device
experience
Market
“spread” –
covering all
the bases
Frontend
Frontend data
integration
In house
“through
the stack”
expertise
Flexible &
innovative
partners
Moving to
“real time”
data
analysis
Legacy
infrastructure
Backend
“Through the
Platform”
There are innovation challenges in every area
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What’s next? Blue sky thinking…1
Proper manipulation of Big Data removes
historical (industry) customer revenue
group segmentation.
It’s done on an individual customer basis.
www.tailorbet.com
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What’s next? Blue sky thinking…2
Improvements in frontend + data
integration drives unique real-time
homepage configurations per customer.
Amazon.com for gamblers.
www.tailorbet.com
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What’s next? Blue sky thinking…3
User generated content (in partnership
with the right platform) allows gamblers
to choose exactly what they want to bet
on, at what odds.
The customer has more control.
www.tailorbet.com
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What’s next? Blue sky thinking…4
Fragmentation of viewing habits (of
consumers) as Sports content becomes
more embedded in different social media
channels.
Eg: Whatsapp / Twitter Video / etc.
Operators need to understand channels.
www.tailorbet.com
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The innovation Holy grail?
The Holy Grail?
• Personalised & customised frontend
• Driven by all relevant customer data
• With real-time delivery of markets
• And the option for the customer to
choose pricing or dictate content
• With an experience that is optimised to
support the access channel
• Via a brand they trust
www.tailorbet.com
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Summary / Conclusion
Top areas of desired innovation:
• Frontend integration with big data
• Customisation of betting experience
• Let the customer needs dictate
• Speed of markets delivery
• More markets & greater customer choice
• Reduced risk & volatility via greater choice
www.tailorbet.com
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About Tailorbet
www.tailorbet.com
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Tailorbet - Other
Typically 2 weeks for wallet integration but we
can provide an iframe version in a week.
Built “mobile-first”,
fully responsive
across all devices.
Commission is earnt as a %
from the winning bet. You
generate income as long as
your customers are involved.
www.tailorbet.com
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Contact
blog.tailorbet.com
liam@tailorbet.com
www.tailorbet.com
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