SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Modern problems require modern solutions. And for the GR8 Tech CEO Evgen Belousov, this means creating new technology-driven products that help alleviate the headaches that gambling operators face in 2023.
After taking the stage at SBC Summit Barcelona, Belousov sat down with SBC Media to tell us how GR8 Tech is redefining igaming standards with its GR8 Sportsbook and GR8 Casino solutions.
Disrupting sports betting
The sports betting sector is one that, arguably, has been lacking some form of disruption for some time. Many companies have resorted to adding additional features to existing products in a bid to improve margins.
But in 2023, this no longer seems to be an effective strategy. According to Belousov, gambling operators need to turn their attention towards new, tech-driven solutions. This is where GR8 Tech comes in.
Earlier this year, GR8 Tech publicly offered its product dedicated to sports betting, the GR8 Sportsbook. The standalone product, which is a part of GR8 Tech’s modular ecosystem, may be a newcomer to the market but it is well worth noting that the platform behind GR8 Sportsbook has been around for some time.
By drawing upon the data and insights on the perfect user experience collected by the existing platform, the new GR8 Sportsbook aims to give GR8 Tech’s partners access to a wider range of betting options that can be localised to individual audiences.
When upgrading GR8 Sportsbook, one of the biggest issues that the GR8 Tech team noticed was that many sports betting products struggle to reduce betting latency, which can have knock-on effects for bet settlements. However, the GR8 Tech CEO believes that the company has found a way to minimise latency: through its own broadcast video signal.
By using its own broadcast video signal, initial results have shown that the GR8 Sportsbook has led to a 5-10% increase in sports turnover, and a respective 5-10% increase in GGR. Belousov also noted that when you take overheads into account, as well as the fact that GR8 Sportsbook doesn’t require “additional investment”, operators have also reported a 10% jump in net profits.
Belousov told SBC Media: “In Formula 1, it’s not the laps on the track that distinguish first from tenth; it’s the milliseconds. Likewise, in our operations, we are thinking about the entire race, the strategy, and honing the details to win those critical milliseconds. A razor-thin zone will distinguish the winner from the loser, and the pros stand out because they relentlessly polish these zones.”
Over the course of this year, GR8 Tech has also placed significant focus on increasing betting uptime – a move that Belousov believes will support its partners in increasing profits even further.
Belousov continued: “At GR8 Tech, we have decided that we will not close markets in the eventuality of sudden changes within a game. For example: when a goal is scored.
“When looking at what sports betting products are currently available on the market, we have found that many providers look to reinsure themselves and minimise risk by closing betting markets on almost all outcomes for a certain number of seconds. GR8 Sportsbook does not do this.
“There are many reasons for this decision. We believe that keeping markets open can help our partners to increase uptime, thereby giving them the opportunity to process more bets. Our data has shown that this has led to a 3-7% growth of turnover in sports, as well as a similar increase in GGR.
“Compared to mass market B2B sports providers, we close betting on the main outcomes AND markets at least 30 seconds before the end of the event or part of a match, compared to the two minutes that mass market providers close their betting markets.”
Bringing innovation to casino
Sports betting isn’t the only vertical that GR8 Tech is looking to disrupt this year. As many of us know, GR8 Tech presented its GR8 Casino product not that long ago.
In a similar fashion to GR8 Sportsbook, the platform behind GR8 Casino is one which has existed for quite some time. What this means is that the data and insights collected by the platform is being used to help users create a holistic gaming experience – something that Belousov believes is integral to finding a competitive edge in 2023 and beyond.
Belousov told SBC Media that this product was developed in response to the volume of suppliers using legacy architecture to address modern technology issues.
He said: “Considering how casinos were the pioneers of the online igaming space, many of them still have that old legacy architecture. Clients quite often have to go through quite a bit of rigmarole to address any issues that they might encounter.
“On top of this, many casino platforms don’t meet the needs of the modern-day operator. They don’t offer proper fault tolerance, very few offer a wide array of games and, in a lot of cases, providers tend to stall during peak times.”
In a similar fashion to GR8 Tech’s sportsbook offering, the CEO shared that the company has taken a number of technology-first approaches to solving these issues. The first is to alleviate the latency that many experience when using a platform.
Belousov said that the GR8 Casino product can handle up to 20,000 requests per second, with a latency of 1 transaction within 200ms across each brand. This, he believes, will enable multiple tier-1 operators to simultaneously operate on the same platform and generate peak loads without affecting one another.
As the company’s name suggests, GR8 Tech has also been pushing the boundaries on innovating within the technology side of things – particularly within the front-end of casinos.
Belousov added: “The next issue we are resolving is the user interface of a casino website. Having a front-end which is unattractive to players, or something which is super rigid, has a negative effect on the player experience and ultimately results in less bettors visiting your casino. This isn’t acceptable when looking to meet today’s user demand.
“Instead, we offer a flexible and configurable widget-based interface that allows you to build the lobby with any widgets and fill them with the content you want instead of pre-made, one-size-fit-all solutions. New widgets can be added within a few minutes, and everything can be personalised to meet the needs of individual clients.
“At GR8 Tech, we offer multiple widgets, allowing the product to fit any market needs depending on internet speeds, marketing strategies, market standards and so on.
“So what does this mean for you? Well, using a modular system that uses localised widgets can be a better sticky-factor for bettors. It means better engagement in the long-run, which translates to better LT & LTV which translates to more GGR. It really is as simple as that.”
One of the “modern” demands that appears to have found its way into the mainstream is the inclusion of gamification features and bonuses – two features that many operators choose to use to try to drive player engagement, and subsequently, revenue.
For Belousov, however, many bonus engines on the market are indistinguishable from one another, meaning that operators are not getting the full benefits of player engagement.
To overcome this, GR8 Casino deploys a range of different bonus types across the different verticals within its platform, including a live casino deposit bonuses, slots bonuses, deposit bonuses, freespins, free bets and and cash backs. Players can use different bonus types at the same time. It’s all very flexible and allows to fine-tune the rewards mechanics to the specific needs and strategies of the brand.
What next?
The GR8 Tech CEO hopes that by creating more tailored products suited to the modern day challenges for sportsbook and casino operators will provide its partners with the opportunity to grow even further.
Belousov concluded: “Going forward, we are thinking about ambitious things. For example, imagine a future where our state-of-the-art platform becomes as accessible as platforms like Google Drive, possibly free-to-use, democratising the igaming landscape. Our vision is bold, and we’re not wary of setting high bars for ourselves.
“While the specifics of that future are still in the works, the possibilities are boundless. And if what we’ve discussed today piqued your interest, imagine what tomorrow holds.”
GR8 Tech’s Evgen Belousov will be attending SBC Summit Latinoamérica, which takes place from 31 October to 2 November, establishing new contacts and sharing some of the plans for 2024.
