Bet smarter, not harder: Stats must play a bigger role in the sports betting experience

With The Unit’s COO Alan Bruce

There have been many positive and proactive moves made in the online sports betting industry since its inception, but there is one key area where most in the industry are still coming up short.

In the days prior to the introduction of online betting, the process of making smart betting decisions was far more complex, with information not so readily available. The onus was on the bettor to walk into a betting shop and place their bet or make a bet over the phone, which could potentially be based on horse racing form guides or information they had read in the newspaper about an upcoming football match. On the whole, though, this was a setup that was certainly advantageous to the operator.

What the internet has allowed us to do is build that bridge between the player wanting to place a bet and having the tools at hand that inform the end user with enough information to be able to be confident in what they are betting on. For example, any football fan with a smartphone can look up recent form on whichever app they prefer to use which will show them league tables, results and granular statistical information, ranging from the players which have scored the most goals to those who are making the most tackles per game, and everything in between. xG (expected goals) is a commonly used statistic used in-play which can guide the bettor, based on the likelihood of the opportunities a team is creating leading to a goal.

While there will always be some players who like to take a punt based on gut feel, should a player want to give themselves the best possible opportunity to profit from their betting, they should have the means to do that using the data at hand.

It can be better

User-friendly stats and form guides are generally absent parties in sports-betting apps. When a user goes into the average app, the list of available bets and offers will be presented to them, with very little information to guide them on the reasons why those odds are what they are. The player is expected to do a majority of the analytical work before making a reasoned choice.

For the most part, the expectation is the user will browse other apps to gather the information that will guide them on which specific bets they would like to make. Aside from the odds of the bet itself, the sports betting operator is essentially relying on unrelated apps and sites to walk the player to the sports betting app by hand. This isn’t ideal as it takes the user away from the betting opportunities and can be a distraction in the journey to placing a bet. Do other ecommerce sites work like that? Domino’s, for example, doesn’t require you to use another app to give you the information to order a pizza delivery. On the flip side, Amazon provides user reviews to help customers make more informed purchases.

A retort to that may be: Why should the operators do anything to help players beat them? Well, the simple answer is the whole process is made redundant if the player never makes a bet in the first place; operators are exposing themselves to the risk of players being enticed elsewhere to bet if they are using third-party sites to find relevant information. The risk to the betting journey being abandoned if the user visits elsewhere in the meantime is greatly increased.

Designing better betting tools

This is something where we are finally starting to see some development. The bridge we mentioned earlier can be constructed by affiliate groups, as well as the data providers the operators utilise.

A standout example is the launch of Sports View from Spotlight Sports Group. Smart View combines complex horseracing data such as previous form, draw, pedigree, trainer and jockey. These are then factored into providing attributes for each runner, and an overall Smart View score. With this information at hand, the bettor can make a much more informed decision about where they are placing their wager.

In football meanwhile, the likes of Stats Perform can provide information via its Opta brand, so players at Sky Bet can request unique player stats-based markets like shots, passes and tackles when betting on a game of football.

Opta possesses an extensive historical database which can not only help Sky Bet price markets up in the first place, but also help the player understand why a market has been priced up in such a way, and creates a much more personalised experience.

The rise of in-play

Where this kind of information is particularly valuable is in the process of in-play betting. Across the past two decades, in-play has gradually caught up and eventually surpassed the more traditional pre-event betting.

According to Optimove Insights, live betting accounts for more than half of all bets placed in several major markets. The study, which examined data from 3,794,500 sportsbook bettors across the US, UK, Greece, Italy, and Spain, found that 54% of all bets were placed live.

It is not just in the field of quantity of bets where in-play has nudged ahead, but also in total betting spend. Optimove Insights’ data showed that in the US, for example, live bettors spent an average of $1,583.90 per month, compared to $846.20 for pre-match bettors.

Opta tried to take this a step further last year with the launch of Opta Points, giving the ability to track and transparently quantify a player’s impact live and at scale, with 19 data points providing an overall player score. This can further inform the bettor while making bets during a game.

What we want to see

The innovations mentioned above have been very useful, but we still want the apps themselves to be better. We envision an online sportsbook interface that effectively merges the betting app with the sports data apps people may use to follow live scores and results. The ideal scenario would be for the betting app to show league tables, form guides, and detailed stats on each team, such as their xG, shots per game, saves per game etc. This will allow the end user to make more informed choices and will enhance their betting experience.

This is a development we at The Unit would like to lead. We specialise in building cutting-edge apps, platforms and products, along with innovative marketing services that empower businesses to stay ahead of the curve. With our industry expertise and agile approach, we deliver results, enhance performance, and drive success for our clients.

Our teams have been delivering software development services for several years and together with our customers, we have designed, developed and delivered custom applications from interactive widgets to beautiful frontends and complicated backends. We are an innovative company that hopes to change the way statistics form part of online sportsbooks frameworks.

With our team’s experience, we can help bring together the realms of sports betting and sports statistics. This won’t just give the user a better idea of how to spend their money, but also create an improved betting experience which can only benefit the industry.

Get in touch here to see how The Unit can help you stay ahead of the curve with betting app development.