IGB: Hybrid-trading solutions for sports betting

Hosted by FSB’s CEO Dave McDowell, the panel included Keith McDonnell CEO of KMiGaming, William Woodhams CEO of Fitzdares and Karl Riley a Sports Betting Marketeer & Consultant, who has worked for a number of top tier companies over his career including 188Bet, Coral and BetVictor.

In this webinar, speakers discussed about modern sports betting technology and how flexible trading solutions can help operators to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.  

The seminar covered:
• The pros and cons for fully-managed trading and licensed software solutions
• How hybrid-trading can be used to take control over certain aspects of the sportsbook
- Examples where other companies have used hybrid-solutions to differentiate their product
• A true modular approach, can we take technology efficiencies one step further
      o Breaking out the Horse Racing Product
      o Breaking out the Data Automation Module

Dave McDowell introduced the following issues:

The history of sportsbetting supply:
-Software license model: In the late '90's: Operators purchased their own hardware, licensed the software, paid to have the software installed and configured, hired their own trading team.
Pros: Full control over everything, proven for scale. Cons: Expensive, long lead time to implement, requires huge trading team, time and materials for any change. (OpenBet, FInsoft)

-Managed trading services (MTS): They gained popularity over the last 10 years: Supplier handles all data feeds and trading, and the operator gest a turnkey solution for sports betting. Pros: Efficient, low start-up costs, no need for in-house traders. Cons: Little control, network pricing, same product everywhere, often limited by the supplier's UX.(FSB, SBTech, Kambi).

-Hybrid-trading: FSB has been delivering this model for 4 years now: Start with a turnkey MTS, but the operator hires a small team of traders who control certain aspects of the system. Pros: Full control of core product, highly efficient for the longer-tall, better ability to differentiate from MTS. Cons: None, with the right supplier.

-How does modern sports betting work:
Data automation platform: Manage a multitude of data feed suppliers, run real-time pricing algorithms, output normalised data to the bet acceptance platforms.
Bet acceptance platform: Holds current market state and odds, bet acceptance and risk management, APIs for the fron end UX.

Speakers then commented about the different methods, their challenges, solutions and marketing impact: Overnight management, custom data feed, different margin strategies going best price and VIP services.