GAMINGmalta 36 2O16 EDITION

The Future of In-Play 2015 has been a breakthrough year for in-play betting. However, there are many more new developments to come. Itai Zak, CEO, and Tom John Light, Vice President of Business Development & Commercials, of SB Tech say the sports betting industry is just at the start of a revolutionary journey.

GOAL CORNER SPOTKICK YELLOW CARD OFFSIDE

GOALPENALTY ports betting has entered a new CORNER The sector is growing faster than ever Sera, fuelled by the meteoric rise before, with live betting now covering a of in-play wagering options. “Three SPOTKICK whole range of sports from around years ago, live betting was hardly the world, ranging from the usual known. Today, it accounts for YELLOWOFFSIDE CARD in-play sports such as football and as much as 75% of many tennis, to golf, , , operators’ turnover from PENALTY basketball, and winter sports betting.” says Itai sports. Today’s players don’t Zak, CEO of SBTech, a want to wait until the end of the leading online betting and game to see if they have won or gaming technology and lost, and they want to bet on any service provider. No matter event possible, Zak emphasises. what sport, in-play betting is This does not come without its offering punters an interactive challenges. “Operators need to and exciting betting experience. constantly offer new bet types.” GAMINGmalta 2O16 EDITION 37

New Markets depending on the developments, or cash out SBTech already provides over 1,000 unique his winnings in order to cut risk. “This makes bet markets covering over 25,000 monthly live punters feel more comfortable in placing bets.” events. “The introduction of new bet markets, SBTech even offers a cashout function, which including Free-Bets and Micro-Markets, also gives players the option to sell their bets back known as Fast-Markets, has created a new thrill to the operator. for the punter,” says Tom John Light, SBTech’s Vice President of Business Development & Managing New Risks Commercials. He highlights that SBTech is While in-play betting offers operators new offering various Fast-Markets on hundreds of in- opportunities, they also face new challenges. “In- play events per day, allowing a tennis punter to play betting has created a new kind of risk that is bet on the next point / the next game, a football related to speed. For instance, a punter can be in Itai Zak is the CEO of SBTech. He punter to bet on ‘What will happen in the next the football stadium and bet right when the goal joined SBTech in 2011, bringing more than 15 years of experience minute?’ or ‘What will happen in the next five hits, so operators need to be super quick,” Light in various senior positions in the minutes?’ with bet selections such as: Throw-In, says. SBTech offers operators ways to minimise iGaming industry and is in charge Corner, Goal Kick, Penalty, Card, Free-Kick, and these risks. The company has 100 in-play of driving the company’s strategy Goal. In-play betting, he says, has also helped traders. “Each trader has been skilfully trained and vision through the operational certain sports to achieve more prominence and in the SBTech Traders Academy and has been and commercial management of the more than 300 employees offered access to new customer segments. “For equipped with the know-how and knowledge to in the SBTech group. Prior to instance, the turnover from grew make the best real-time decisions in regard to in- his current role at SBTech, Mr more than tenfold since this sport was offered play trading. They use accessible statistics and Zak served as Executive Vice for in-play betting, making table tennis super- detailed information on the punter’s behaviour President of iGaming products exciting for the average punter.” before manually accepting a bet but without at Microgaming, which saw him in charge of the mobile and Mobile technologies have had a tremendous delaying the bet acceptance,” Light comments. retail division of the company. impact on the evolution of in-play betting. Operators also need to stay abreast of the latest “Around 55 to 60% of the revenues of our technology innovations. “You either need to have customers are coming from mobile devices. a strong provider or a strong innovation team. Sports betting lends itself to a second screen Today’s punters are smart and innovation-savvy. user experience: you watch a game on your Come to the market with a leading product or TV, and you place the bet via your mobile,” don’t come to the market at all.” This is Light’s Zak explains. “We also see a lot of activity on advice to any operator. tablets and have custom-tailored front-ends for tablets,” Light adds. Looking Ahead In the future, Zak and Light agree, the quality Live Streaming and Cashouts of the in-play betting experience will increase, Live streaming, in particular of sports that while in-play will continue on its growth do not enjoy much media attention, is seen path, covering an even wider range of events, Tom John Light has been as a must-have for sportsbooks offering in- including the live betting on non-sports events working in the gaming industry for many years with a focus on such as political elections. Mobile betting play betting. According to Light, it is a major casino operations and sports acquisition tool that encourages betting will also be more accessible across more betting. Currently, Tom acts and brand loyalty. Itai Zak emphasises that devices, with better touch screen capabilities as Vice President of Business players want to find great live coverage and and more personalised offers. “Punters Development & Commercials betting markets in one place, and SB Tech expect a personalised betting experience, this at SBTech. He is renowned for his role as Vice President means we need to cater for different gender has introduced high-quality live-streaming of Business Development at on a huge variety of games. Operators can and geographical preferences,” Zak says. FashionTV. Additionally Tom has benefit from complete technical integration Many new exciting elements will already be successfully served as CEO for with three of the industry’s leading video- launched this year. “We are seeking to make several online gaming companies. streaming providers. Offering multiple cash- our sportsbook much more mobile-friendly,” out options are also regarded as crucial in Light says, adding that SB Tech is planning attracting punters. Cashout functions increase to bring a fully responsive sportsbook design the turnover for the operator, simply because to the market, including new data-driven the same funds can be rolled over multiple visualisation graphics. “We will also launch our times. “However, they are equally important Chameleon360 which is our intuitive iGaming for the punter”, says Light because a cashout platform integrated to all known third-party can act as a stop loss for potential losing bets. providers, offering intelligent reporting and The punter can change the betting strategy super-strong CRM.” n