While the use of official data continues to be a recurring theme in the rapidly growing US sports betting space, the major sports leagues are still heavily focused on making sure that people still love watching their sport – live, on television or streamed.
That’s just one of a number of views expressed by theScore Founder and CEO John Levy who features prominently in the first SBC Magazine of the year, which is now available to download HERE.
Talking about how the major sports leagues’ official data supply deals might impact the growth of the US sports betting market, Levy said: “The leagues want to participate in one form or another. Everybody talks about data but I think the real issue as far as the leagues are concerned is they want to make sure that people still love watching their sport – live, on television or streamed.
“The name of that is engagement, and what’s proven to be a real positive influence on engagement is having people bet on sports. So, ultimately I think the leagues see the benefits of sports betting and have come around to that – Adam Silver first from the NBA, years and years ago recognizing this.”
He added: “Whether they do it through official data, and how they share or participate remains to be seen but I think the big effort for them is to ensure the engagement of the fan. They also know that for as much as everyone’s trying to figure out what their piece is, sports betting is an existing business, people bet on sports offshore – a lot in Canada and some in the States.”
Levy’s article precedes a sports betting guide to the industry’s early year gathering in London at ICE, featuring insight on key topics for this year’s ICE VOX which will include LatAm expansion and the second wave of US market adopters.
But that’s just the start, with SBC Magazine taking a tour of the biggest issues facing companies involved in sports betting, casino, payments and marketing. Inevitably, responsible gambling, emerging markets and tech advancements are a running theme across all four.
An extensive list of experts following Levy’s interview includes SuperBet CEO Johnny Hartnett; Optima CEO Jacob Lopez; Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl; Better Collective CEO Jesper Søgaard; SBTech President Melissa Riahei; and Keith O’Loughlin, SVP for Sportsbook and Platforms at SG Digital.
The magazine also brings to life a number of debates from recent SBC conferences, for example an operator and charity clash over the future for CSR initiatives and what impact the launch of ‘The Hundred’ – cricket’s fourth major format – might have on betting trends for the sport.
For all this and more, download your copy of the SBC Magazine today by clicking HERE, or come by the SBC stand S3-207 to pick up a hard copy next week.
