Member Article

How new technologies are improving business in sports gambling

Smartphones have revolutionized all aspects of the gambling industry, but perhaps no sector has been affected quite as much as sports betting. Until relatively recently most online casinos tended to place most of their focus upon developing casino style games for smartphones. Enjoyed via dedicated casino apps, games such as slots, roulette and blackjack naturally ported over to the smaller screen. However when it comes to sports betting the take-up on mobile platforms took a little longer - but make no mistake this format is without question the future of sports betting.

In Match Play Is Only Getting Bigger

There’s no doubt that the ability to places bets while sporting events are being contested has already changed the face of sports betting. In-play gambling can be applied to practically every sport going, with soccer, tennis, gridiron, basketball and boxing being very notable forerunners. With certain operators offering ever changing odds not just on new wagers but also those the player has already taken out (early cash-out etc), this style of gambling has added even more vest to an already extremely popular market.

As streaming technology becomes ever better with mobile devices expect gamblers to increasingly demand for in-play betting on ever more sporting events. The only thing preventing many sports being broadcast entirely live is legislation and broadcast rights. Take soccer for example - there are cameras at every league game in most leagues, why not introduce a streaming service of any game with in-match betting?

The technology is already pretty much here, it’ll just take demand (and of course a positive balance sheet for all concerned parties) to make such a shift happen a decade or two down the line. It’s not impossible that bookies will battle out for the specific rights to broadcast certain teams. Currently, bookmakers are competing their bonus code offers, but in future this might shift to live streaming offers instead.

Fingerprint & Voice Technology Will Revolutionize Mobile Betting

Mobile betting is above all about one thing - convenience. Many bookmakers have been experimenting with players being able to add funds to their balance by text, yet placing bets still requires logging into an app or website. Fingerprint technology could speed up this transfer of funds from bank account to betting account. There are some early experiments taking place with using voice recognition to place bets too, however this will likely be a few years away yet.

Wearable Technology & Sports Betting

Despite having been around in one form or another for a couple of years now, the truth is that there’s still plenty of work that needs done in making glasses and watches an essential accessory to a smartphone. The most likely way these devices will influence mobile sports betting is going to be how odds are displayed - likely during play. A gambler could be able to carry on watching the event while also being notified of shifts in the market as the match unfolds. Likewise smartwatches could be used if not to place bets, again to notify players of similar shifts in prices.

How Far Will Social Media Affect Mobile Sports Betting?

This is a difficult one because after all placing a wager is essentially a private financial transaction, and not necessarily the kind of notification everyone would like to broadcast across social media. Much more likely is to expect social media - especially on mobile apps - to be linked into betting accounts keeping customers up to date with the best prices and offers. There’s a good chance such services will become increasingly personalized too.

How About Virtual Reality?

It’s expected that smartphones will soon be powerful enough to run live immersive VR match day experiences, quite possibly with a very social aspect. Being able to give everyone the chance to enjoy the virtual best seat in the stadium or by the ring is potentially going to be absolutely huge. Providing the streaming can be handled by an individual’s personal smartphone this could easily become the next great revolution in sports broadcasting. Naturally expect betting companies to be heavily featured among the sponsors too.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Albert Tuman .