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Microbetting and gamification are intrinsically linked and pose immense value for the development of global sports betting, emphasises Joey Levy, CEO of Betr, in an interview before his appearance at the SBC Summit Latinoamerica.
Due to take the stage on a panel examining the trend of microbetting, Levy spoke to SBC Media ahead of the Miami event to reflect on Betr’s performance one year after launch and offer an inside view into a newly emerging betting phenomenon.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. As CEO of Betr, what is your view on developments in South America and the burgeoning opportunities there?
Betr is laser-focused on the United States at this time. However, we do have ambitions to one day become a global business, so we are evaluating opportunities globally including those in South America.
From a leadership perspective, what are the biggest technological and operational challenges facing live international betting services?
Betr is currently not operating internationally. But more generally, challenges with live betting is often times related to the availability and quality of real-time data.
What are the essential tools in an operator’s tech kit to ensure these challenges can be overcome?
Direct-to-consumer operators work hand in hand with data companies to support their own ability to refine data to create new live betting markets, as well as with B2B technology companies that can accelerate their ability to offer new live betting markets.
For example, the company I founded before Betr, Simplebet, is currently pioneering microbetting on US sports and is also supporting internationally-facing operators who have a desire to offer microbetting on US sports.
There are several other B2B companies that are innovating in this category that DTC operators stand to benefit from working with.
Offering live betting services, do you have any concerns about the ‘integrity challenges’ facing sports and significantly witnessed across multiple markets?
We are constantly working to ensure all of our betting services operate with the highest level of integrity. Recently, we enhanced a partnership with ProhiBet, a new joint venture formed by US Integrity and Odds on Compliance, to ensure we receive industry-leading integrity monitoring services.
How intrinsically linked are the phenomena of micro-betting and gamification and how do the two complement each other?
Micro-betting introduces instant gratification to the sports betting experience and essentially creates a game within the game. For example, with microbetting on baseball, every pitch and plate appearance begins to matter – not just the match outcome.
And on an even more granular level, plate appearance markets themselves fluctuate in price, as the probability of a Walk is higher on a 3-0 count than on a 0-2 count, creating an additional level of gamification that did not previously exist.
So yes, micro-betting and gamification are intrinsically linked and both represent an important part of the future of sports betting, particularly in US sports given the stop-and-start cadence of sports like NFL and MLB.
How should operators work with key stakeholders to ensure effective protections and safeguards for businesses and their customers?
Sports betting should be all about providing entertainment value to sports fans. Our belief in this is why we are still the only regulated operator in the US to voluntarily and proactively ban credit cards as a depositing method while also limiting the amount of young customers 21-25 years old can deposit on a monthly basis.
Continuing to put the customer first and establishing the correct responsible gaming protections is central to everything we do at Betr.
How do you assess Betr’s performance since it made its market entry in January?Building on this, what scope is there for the expansion of the sportsbook intointernational markets?
We successfully launched our beta product in a handful of jurisdictions for regulated OSB this year. We then acquired our PAM provider which also came with a full turnkey platform, which will serve as the foundation for our V1 product which we remain on track to launch in 2024.
We then launched Betr Picks, our fantasy sports product, in 24 jurisdictions ahead of NFL season – and subsequently turned on our marketing engine for the first time then.
Given the geographic reach of Betr Picks and given this is the first product we have designed and developed ourselves, we are allocating nearly all of our product and marketing resources towards Betr Picks until we launch V1 of the Betr Sportsbook next year.
Betr Picks has significantly outperformed forecast and we have already more than doubled our end-of-year revenue run-rate guidance for 2023. We will evaluate international markets over time, but we remain laser-focused on the US for the foreseeable future.
Taking place between 31 October-2 November at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Miami, SBC Summit Latinoamerica features a plethora of high-profile speakers as well as networking opportunities. To check out the agenda and book tickets, click HERE.
