Tech & innovation Archives

March 13, 2023

Fredrik Elmqvist: Other side of the coin

Slots veteran Fredrik Elmqvist is turning his luck to the mad bad world of sports betting – but will it work?

Elmqvist is well-deserving of his reputation as the king of slots.

However, more than 10 years on from his epoch-making launch of Yggdrasil, the Stockholm native is turning his luck to the decidedly different proposition of sports betting in his latest project ParlayBay, which seeks to make its name as the new champions of micro betting.

The Swedish entrepreneur certainly has a nose for where the action is, describing it a “pretty interesting” time to be setting out on a venture such as this.

Elmqvist describes a US sports betting landscape that is shifting into a new, subtler gear following the marketing wars that characterised the earlier days of the PASPA repeal.

“For a few years there’s been a shift into sports betting and you see, in the United States rollout, both the need for new products and to keep the marketing costs down, as well as still [the need to] get new..

March 7, 2023

Genius Sports announces two new board appointments

Genius Sports has announced the appointments of Kenneth J Kay and Michael Messara to its board of directors.

Their appointments will take effect on 8 March.

Kay has been appointed as an independent director of the board. He will also accept the role of chair of the audit committee – succeeding Harry You – and will serve as a member of the board’s nominating and corporate governance committee.

Most recently, Kay held the role of CFO at MGM Holdings. He also held CFO roles with a number of companies, including Dole Food Company, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc and Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Kay also had board and audit committee experience through his time on the board of Summit Hotel Properties.

“This is an exhilarating time to join Genius Sports as it continues to transform the way the world experiences sport,” said Kay. “I look forward to working closely with the board as the company enters the next phase of its journey as a global leader in sports data and technology.”

Kay is set..

February 17, 2023

Genius Sports agrees data distribution deal with XFL

Sports data business Genius Sports has agreed to a new data distribution and fan engagement partnership with minor football league XFL.

As part of the deal, XFL has granted Genius exclusive rights to distribute official data from all XFL games to its media and betting partnerships.

As such, Genius Sports is now XFL’s official betting data distribution partner and free-to-play provider.

Genius Sports’ executive vice-president, Sean Conroy, said that having a comprehensive data policy is an important part of a sports organisation’s financial success.

“For every sports league, an official data strategy that drives both new revenues and fan engagement levels is vitally important,” he said. “We’re thrilled to partner with the XFL, connecting their games with the media and betting sectors while creating meaningful fan interactions through the bespoke XFL Pick’Em solution.”

genius argued that a data strategy is vital to the success of a sporting league

XFL Pick’Em

The deal also saw G..

February 7, 2023

Eyes on the prize

Marese O’Hagan speaks to Luka Pataky, chief product officer computer vision at Sportradar, about how Sportradar’s computer vision technology could revolutionise sports betting for good.

In a market as crowded as sports betting, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like computer vision must continually reinvent themselves in order to remain relevant.

Arguably, it has a well-founded basis in this space, having begun as a completely different project close to 10 years ago.

“Before this role, I was head of innovation at Sportradar, and that’s how we started this computer vision journey as well – it was an innovation project that actually grew,” says Pataky.

Pataky acknowledges that similar technologies have been around for a long time, existing well outside the realms of sports betting.

“It’s not a new area,” he admits. “Computer vision has been around for decades and in some industries it has been used a lot – manufacturing, production lines.”

In describing exactly what compute..

February 2, 2023

US sports betting: Is micro betting the sports equivalent of igaming?

As the US sports betting industry evolves, could this herald a new genre of products? H2 Gambling Capital examines micro betting, one of the first innovations to emerge.

Micro betting is a subset of in-play wagering that allows players to wager on individual moments in a game in real-time. It offers the instant gratification / continuous betting opportunities of igaming but with the skill of sports betting.

Jump to:

In-play betting – Market potential

Micro betting – Market potential

Micro betting – Current performance

Micro betting could be a key driver to increase in-play wagering of US sports to levels of that seen in Europe for basketball and tennis, with the majority of wagering activity being incremental to existing spend.

Other benefits of a high frequency, low price sports betting product include:

Attracting a younger generation of customers that prefer less time commitmentIncreasing player engagement and therefore LTVsIncreasing spend of “casual” players – therefore red..

January 25, 2023

How crypto could be embedded in online betting

Tom Waterhouse of WaterhouseVC revisits the subject of crypto wagering, and whether it could be central to next-gen sportsbook platforms.

In May, we discussed the significant opportunity in crypto betting, which is growing gross gaming revenue (GGR) at 36.6% per annum.

Online crypto operators have a similar user experience to online fiat operators. The likes of Stake.com and Sportsbet.io already record extraordinary turnover.

White label platform solutions for crypto betting operators are leveraged to the growth of crypto wagering as a whole. This means they are not exposed to the operational and regulatory risk of a single crypto wagering business.

Global crypto wagering data for total bets and GGR. Source: Softswiss.

Existing wagering platforms

Many fiat operators rely on white label sportsbook and igaming platform solutions, such as Kambi, OpenBet and SBTech.

A selection of white label sportsbook and iGaming platforms built for fiat operators. Source: Waterhouse VC.

Howev..

January 20, 2023

Genius Sports enters NFL data and betting deal with TSN+

Genius Sports has entered into a partnership with Canadian sports channel The Sports Network (TSN), wherein Genius will supply TSN’s streaming platform TSN+ with its proprietary data feed for NFL games.

Under the terms of the agreement, Genius will deliver its real-time overlays to TSN+ which will include graphics and visualisations as well as its Next Gen Stats (NGS) data.

Since April 2021, the sports data business has been the official data partner of the league – an agreement which was expanded to include streaming options for US operators in November 2022.

Read the full story on IGB North America

January 19, 2023

Kambi to pursue efficiencies as it aims for €150m profit goal

Kambi expects to pursue a more personnel-light strategy within its trading department by 2027 as it pivots to an algorithm-led approach in order to hit an ambitious long-term operating profit target.

Kambi this morning revealed a €150m (£130.9m/$161.9m) earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) target for 2027 and, in a capital markets day, executives outlined how the business intends to reach that figure.

The business also revealed that it expected revenue in 2027 to be between two and three times the size of its 2022 revenue. As the relative growth in EBIT would be larger than the relative growth in revenue, this suggested that Kambi hopes to increase its profit margins as it expands.

Now, the supplier has provided more detail of this, with a pivot towards more algorithmic trading helping to drive the projected increase in efficiency.

Kambi embracing algorithmic trading

Kambi deputy chief executive Erik Lögdberg described this pivot as “third-generation sports betting”. He said th..

January 19, 2023

Kambi to pursue efficiencies as it aims for €150m profit goal

Kambi expects to reduce the headcount of its trading department by 2027 as it pivots to an algorithm-led approach in order to hit an ambitious long-term operating profit target.

Now, the supplier has provided more detail of this, with a pivot towards more algorithmic trading helping to drive the projected increase in efficiency.

Kambi embracing algorithmic trading

Kambi deputy chief executive Erik Lögdberg described this pivot as “third-generation sports betting”. He said that currently, most spo..

January 19, 2023

SimWin announces strategic partnership with Sports Illustrated

Metaverse-orientated fantasy sports business SimWin Sports has announced a new strategic partnership with Sports Illustrated (SI).

Under the deal, Sports Illustrated will become SimWin’s official presenting partner with a variety of branding opportunities and integrations across its platform.

“We are delighted to partner with SI, an authority in the sports and culture realm, as they continue their foray into the metaverse sports space,” said SimWin Sports CEO, David J Ortiz.

“This partnership will provide SimWin an exceptional opportunity to enhance its presentation and broadcasts while optimising engagement with the rabid fans SI has cultivated for generations.”

Metaverse

SimWin’s metaverse proposition sees virtual athletes playing on teams owned by well-known sports and entertainment figures. Some individuals active on the platform include former NBA greats Magic Johnson and Tracy McGrady as well as former NFL stars Jerry Rice and Marshall Faulk.

In 2019, the SI trademark was..

January 12, 2023

Super Group approves $25m share repurchase

Betway parent company Super Group announced that its board of directors has approved a $25m (£20.5m/€23.2m) share repurchase scheme.

Super Group said the scheme is set to run until 31 December 2023, though the board reserved the right to extend or shorten the timeframe at their discretion.

The operator also emphasised that the announcement did not legally bind it in any way – noting that Super Group was “not obligated” to repurchase any shares, and that repurchases if any would be made from time to time on the open market at prevailing prices or “in negotiated transactions off the market”.

“Our debt-free balance sheet is strong and we actively consider using cash to drive long-term shareholder value through investment and through returning cash to shareholders,” said CFO Alinda van Wyk. “We believe a modest share repurchase programme is an efficient potential use of cash depending on market circumstances.”

The share repurchase scheme happens after a fraught Q3, in which declines in..

January 5, 2023

Fanatics confirms Amelco will power its sportsbook

Sports apparel giant Fanatics will use Amelco’s source code to power its sports betting product, the business announced in a Massachusetts licensing meeting.

Fanatics had long made its intentions to enter the world of sports betting known. The business was part of an application for a licence in New York back in 2021, while last year it created a betting and gaming arm and made a number of major hires within this division.

The business has also applied for a number of licences. Besides Massachusetts, it also received a retail betting licence in Maryland and is approved in Ohio.

Amelco source code for Fanatics

However, the technology it intended to use had remained unknown. Reports claimed that Fanatics would use Amelco’s source code as far back as April 2022, but at the time the operator said that there was no deal in place with the supplier.

Later reports alleged that Fanatics would acquire German sportsbook operator Tipico and use its platform, but Fanatics opted not to comment ..

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Tag: Tech & innovation