Kelly Brooks, President and Founder of predictive sports platform Quarter4, offers up a review of 2020, focusing on some of the many challenges and highlights during a year that pushed the sports betting sector to new limits of innovation and creativity.
Can you summarize 2020 in terms of the challenges Quarter4 has faced and how it has overcome them?
For many in the sports betting business, this year was challenging but also presented some unique opportunities for growth. It was a shock when everything shut down in mid-March. After a few days of pausing and taking an assessment of our roadmap, we decided to take advantage of the quiet time. We poured additional focus and energy into our system so that it was stronger than before. We also knew everyone else in the industry had time on their hands, so we had conversations with potential investors and partners that may not have had time to do so before.
Could you explain more about how you’ve onboarded more than 5,000 users to the platform and how you plan to grow that number?
When the NBA and NHL seasons started back up in July, people were hungry for sports and betting. We onboarded over 5,000 users in six weeks, which was rewarding for us after months of making our site more intuitive for users. I also think that we were ahead of the curve when we introduced our technology in early 2019. Now bettors are starting to understand the potential of artificial intelligence and how it can help them in their betting, which contributes to our growth. In 2021, we’re focused on our mobile strategy. Direct communication with our customers and meeting them where they already spend time is important to us. We’re also going to be expanding our unique affiliate marketing opportunities.
How is the 4Business platform progressing and can you tell us more about the role that AI plays in that?
Our 4Business platform is constantly evolving. We have a handful of active pilots running right now with industry leaders, and are looking forward to contracts in the new year. The AI in the tool helps human analysts explore interesting patterns in the data about the people using their platform. We see it providing a leg up for large businesses in the space who want to leapfrog their competitors with premium insights. It’s also incredibly nimble, and can integrate with any system within four hours.
As an entrepreneur/start-up business what does Quarter4 bring to the US sector that the established operators currently do not?
We brought the power of artificial intelligence to the betting industry like no one had done before. When we built Quarter4, our focus was on getting the technology right that would power the predictions — but it was also important to us that the way we presented the information to our users was straight-forward and simple, not just with numbers but with personality. We know there is an appetite for that type of content as the industry grows.
Looking ahead to 2021 how do you see things shaping up for Quarter4 and the sports betting sector per se?
As fans get back in stadiums and arenas, they will find more physical spaces built for betting on location. Stadiums across the country are putting in sports betting lounges for fans. It will be imperative for our industry to stay relevant in both the digital and physical betting spaces. We see this as a huge opportunity to utilize online tools that can connect the digital experience to a physical sports betting lounge. We are also honed in on the possibilities of voice as UI. For sports betting especially, we’re exploring how it can be used most beneficially for the bettor while also protecting user identity and reducing online fraud. We think it will shake up our industry.