SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Following the recent OpenBet partnership with deep data specialists StatsBomb, SBC News spoke to Luke Saunders, Commercial Director at SportCast, for an exclusive interview regarding the deal and how it will shape the pioneering BetBuilder, pre-built BetBuilder and singles product offering.
SBC: How important is cutting-edge deep data for operators’ trading and predictive modelling in an increasingly competitive market?
LS: Deep data is becoming increasingly essential within the global sports betting industry and nowhere is this more evident than with player performance statistics. Having access to high quality and relevant data on player performance enables sportsbooks to offer increasingly granular markets, which were previously impossible to price or settle.
Through our new partnership with StatsBomb, we can now offer new and exciting football markets – such as player shots on target, assists, tackles – and are looking forward to taking our operator partners’ sportsbooks offering to the next level.
When looking for a deep data specialist to sharpen the SportCast product suite, we had three primary considerations.
It goes without saying that we need the data to be accurate. If a bet is placed on Kevin De Bruyne to complete over 60 passes in a game, every pass matters and it’s imperative for both operators and bettors that it’s settled accurately to maintain confidence in the product.
We also require the data to be consistent, as this plays a vital role when pricing up markets. For example, when setting odds for how many shots on target or assists Erling Haaland will have during Manchester City’s next game, we take into consideration (amongst other things) historical trends and prior performance, so it’s imperative that the data has been collected to a universal and consistent high standard so we’re comparing “apples with apples.”
Transparency dovetails with the two key considerations above. It is crucial that bettors can understand why a market has been settled in a given way, and that starts with visible definitions. Essentially, it’s about communicating to bettors up-front what constitutes a given stat (e.g. does winning a penalty constitute an assist if the penalty is scored?) and having an independent source where the user can verify that data.
SBC: What differentiates StatsBomb from its competitors on the market?
LS: StatsBomb runs a first-class operation. There is a robustness to their methodology that stems from their industry veteran co-founders Ted Knutson and Charlotte Randal. The pair’s extensive experience has allowed them to apply best practices to StatsBomb and how the company captures and distributes deep data.
They are supported by a global team of dedicated and experienced professionals, offering five analysts per game alongside semi-automated collection tools, which ensures the accuracy and consistency of the data they supply.
It’s this approach that has established StatsBomb as a market leader in supplying deep data across multiple industries, while continuously growing a global presence. It comes as no surprise that they are trusted by some of the world’s biggest professional clubs, including Manchester City, Liverpool, and Real Madrid, to name a few.
SBC: With StatsBomb’s data and trading now integrated across SportCast’s BetBuilder, pre-built BetBuilder and singles product sets, how is this set to enhance the overall betting experience?
LS: As I’ve already touched upon, the data supplied by StatsBomb is far deeper and more sophisticated compared to the data that is collected by a traditional in-play supplier who is primarily focused on the score and clock. This will allow us to offer deeper market types focused on player stats – shots, assists, tackles, etc. – and other granular markets like goal method and location, which are already incredibly popular with bettors. This will allow our operator partners to tap into the growth of consumers who follow the performances of players as much as the teams, which we believe will be a powerful tool for acquisition and ongoing engagement.
These new markets expand our already industry-leading BetBuilder coverage, which will drive the number of selections and odds of each bet, and in turn deliver stronger margins for operators. These markets are also ideal for our pre-built BetBuilder, as we expect them to resonate with the more recreational customer segment that has engaged with the product historically. Every market will also be available as a single, outside of the BetBuilder set, demonstrating our confidence in the quality of the underlying pricing.
SBC: StatsBomb has a reputation for crafting narratives around the performance of players – how is this content combined with SportCast’s leading expertise going to affect customer engagement and retention?
LS: This new content goes to the heart of SportCast’s fundamental ambition to reduce barriers in betting, and to allow users to place the bets they want, when they want, providing a truly personalised and unmissable betting experience.
Player markets unlock new components of a match which bettors can engage with, giving them the chance to craft and bet on their own narratives around matches, something we believe will only drive engagement and retention rates.
SBC: What uptake are you expecting for these new and innovative markets in advance of the World Cup?
LS: The sportsbooks that we’ve been speaking to have universally signalled the need for new and differentiated content for the World Cup and the feedback to our expansive market offering is that it very much fits the bill, providing genuine innovation within the outsourced pricing space.
Consequently, we’ve already seen incredibly strong uptake from our operator partners, with dozens signed up from Australia to America, demonstrating the value our products can drive in advance of the biggest customer acquisition event of the year.
We’ll also be supplying a significant number of new partners for SportCast and expect this trend to accelerate beyond the World Cup, as these markets become must-have content on domestic competitions, too.
