SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Operators are under more pressure than ever to spread their resources across, and deliver, within rapidly growing regulated markets. Alistair Boston-Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Bede Gaming, explains how important it is for brands to select the right technology to get the most from their sports offering.
Let’s not beat around the bush, seeking geographical expansion or product diversification are increasingly on the horizon for operators. Yet, more often than not, it is easier to identify the end goal than it is to identify the process.
Whilst necessary to understand where you want to be, it is vital to understand the means in which to attain this. This is where a digital platform comes in.
The issue is that many brands don’t consider all the options before committing to such a significant project of finding a suitable platform. Selecting the right digital platform is one of the most important decisions an operator will make, as it is a crucial part to their success.
Ultimately, this is what underpins the entire digital operation – it is the core and heartbeat of the whole customer experience, so choosing the right digital platform partner to future-proof your operations should be at the forefront of your strategy.
Overcoming Market Challenges
The market today is fiercely competitive with new territories opening across Europe, the US and Latin America. While at the same time, existing regulated markets and their regulators are maturing and forcing both operators and suppliers to work harder, invest more resources and scrutinise their practices in line with tightening responsible gaming measures.
It is a challenging time for operators the world over, as brands look at ways to expand out of often saturated, traditional core markets. With resources spread so thinly across multiple global jurisdictions, a digital platform today must provide maximum flexibility and scalability. Operators are focusing on creating highly engaging player experiences, underpinned by flexibility, scalability and complete robustness on compliance and responsible gambling.
There are two key options: do you look inwardly to develop your products and your own platform or do you look outwardly to hire experts? Both have their merits. One knows your brand inside out and keeps all your operations central; the other provides subject matter experts with deep knowledge of the technology and compliance measures needed to succeed in significant regulatory headwinds.
We would naturally argue the latter but it is about ensuring brands have the best tools at their disposal to ensure success, whilst also having crucial breathing room to focus on their core strengths. The right platform is the key to maximising potential in the growth of your offering and therefore one that needs to be seriously considered, particularly when adding another facet to your brand, such as a sportsbook.
Taking Sportsbooks to the Next Level
Sports is the go-to product for brands to offer with the consistent development with regulating markets and its ubiquitous presence in our lives and guaranteed reach to a diverse audience.
In its simplest form, there are two significant actions: ensure you have the right sportsbook to suit your product goals and ensure you have the right platform to power that sportsbook. The platform should have the ability to cultivate highly engaging new player experiences and one which seamlessly lets them transition through devices.
When launching or adding a sportsbook, differentiation is essential in order to stand out from the crowd; choosing a superior platform naturally provides an appropriate solution to enable this. Ultimately, your platform is the power behind your product, so forming a strong technological partnership is key to keeping ahead of the curve. Legacy platforms aren’t always adaptable to the current environment, so choosing a modern provider is absolutely essential.
The rise of newly regulating territories has caused a shift in characteristics of a digital platform, with speed and flexibility being the chief drivers of both short and long-term success. This is predominantly where legacy digital platforms often tend to fall short, as they are unable to offer their partners the level of flexibility and speed needed to almost instantly go live.
Powering Up Your Offering
There has been an explosion of sports deals in the past 12 months, most notably in the US, due to new markets regulating, causing a boom in the industry. With the right platform, operators can create an experience tailored to their target market, delivering opportunities to cross-sell in a way that both broadens a brand’s access to players while also heightening the overall gameplay experience.
Our omnichannel platform provides the necessary agility to future-proof your offering whilst also allowing real time data capture to instantaneously react to players, maximising the player experience. The ability to react swiftly to a range of different player events allows operators to target an active audience and interact with players for both marketing and responsible gambling purposes – reinforcing our vision to be ‘the safest place to play’.
The flexibility of our technology is at the heart of our approach – we offer a supplier agnostic platform built around open APIs. Our platform provides access to an unparalleled range of casino and sportsbook content, all via a single integration. Operators have the autonomy to focus on their brand(s) and market positioning and select from a variety of providers across both sportsbook and casino that best fit their long-term growth strategy.
Choosing a platform specialist that can deliver best-in-class solutions provides the uncontested foundations for success. Numerous companies have attempted to develop proprietary sportsbooks and fallen short, more often than not it comes down to it simply not being an area of sole specialism and resource.
So when you’re looking at matching a sportsbook to your iGaming aims, make sure you’re also looking at a trailblazing platform to complement it and help your brand achieve those significant digital ambitions.
