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The relationship between sport and betting

February 2019

This article summarises a panel discussion at the annual CMS Gambling Conference 2019

In the UK, sports and betting go hand in hand. The industry is developing fast – the newly-liberalised American market is flexing its muscles, and the popularity and sophistication of sports betting is increasing with each passing year. Accordingly, Adam Brickell, Head of External Affairs at Sky Betting and Gaming and panel moderator, asks whether sports should carve out their own commercial return from the betting industry, and if so, how?

The panel agreed that there is no reason why, in principle, sports shouldn’t be afforded a slice of the betting pie. Adrian Ford, General Manager at Football DataCo, notes that the business of sports is all about the definition, protection and exploitation of rights. Though historically, this has centred on audio-visual rights, there is no conceptual bar to the exploitation of commercial betting rights as well.

Michael Short, Vice President and Counsel at IMG Sports, agrees with this assessment, but notes that the key issue for sports is the “integrity play.” In fact, many sports have serious concerns over how their players and sponsors would react to sports betting, and there are reputational issues to consider. That’s why, according to Jack Marsh, VP Data and Integrity at Perform, sports businesses should help rights-holders drive their commercial value by positioning themselves between stakeholders in a responsible way. In fact, improvements in technology and innovation have resulted in sports and betting operators embarking on much more collaborative partnerships than in the past. David Lampitt, Managing Director of Group Operations, Sportradar AG, notes that through such operational partnerships and technology, sports and sports businesses are able to create significant additional value.

However, this value is largely dependent on the quality and quantity of sports betting’s most important resource: data, or the statistics on which sports bets and odds are based, calculated and analysed. There are two routes to sports data access: “official” access, whereby sports businesses get their data directly from the sports leagues themselves; and “unofficial” access, whereby sports businesses get their data from third-party sources. Though official data is more trusted and secured (and also offers sports the highest degree of control), unofficial avenues can also yield impressive and interesting results. While it’s obviously preferable to get sports leagues on board with data access and sharing, the relationships between sports and data-driven businesses need not be exclusive. In fact, Adrian of Football DataCo argues that non-exclusive models can foster collaboration in the industry. In such cases, it’s important to apply the same data collection and control policies to official and unofficial data providers alike.

Ultimately, data aggregators hold a lot of power, and are increasingly willing to invest in great products and services to improve their offerings. As the industry matures, the key to success in sports betting will be to foster dialogue between stakeholders – the better to encourage creative solutions to data storage and management.

To download the accompanying brochure please click below.

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CMS Gambling Conference
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