In an age dominated by modern social media apps where people swipe and scroll endlessly, sports betting has a problem. The UI/UX of a sportsbook has rarely changed in the last decade, largely remaining in a spreadsheet format – a few exceptions aside.
That doesn’t mean that innovation isn’t on its way. Operators are increasingly tapping into microbetting to modernise the user experience and take some of the more popular and successful elements of social media.
“Microbetting is the sportsbook equivalent of what we do every single day on our phones,” said Matthew Ferrara, sales manager at Altenar. “We are so in love with instant gratification, we’re scrolling fast and not really thinking, and microbetting taps into those features we see everyday on social media, mainly instant gratification and recommendation.”
Ferrara added that with the need for instant gratification, younger bettors simply don’t have the patience for more traditional forms of betting.
“We see that they don’t want to wait 90 minutes for their bets to pay out,” he noted. “They’d rather come in and place 10 bets during a match and have repeatable dopamine hits.”
Altenar is harnessing the power of microbetting to help modernise its own sportsbook platform, which it provides to over 400 brands globally. It has integrations with nVenue and Kero Sports for a plethora of microbetting options in sports such as soccer, NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.
Ferrara identified that the traditional spreadsheet sportsbook aesthetic as outdated and noted that Altenar’s use of microbetting could be one of many solutions.
“We’re working on a dedicated microbetting experience that simplifies the betting experience, taking Instagram or Tinder as reference. Going further, companies such as Kero have tapped into the recommendation side of things, where they deliver fast-paced questions based off what is happening in the match” he explained.
“Whoever figures out that perfect blend between how to create this seamless experience and easy flow and apply it to how we use an iOS and Android system into the sports betting world, will be the company that really excels.”
Meeting these demands is essential as consumers have so many options for their mobile entertainment experiences. If players don’t find sports betting appealing, they may spend 90 minutes scrolling through TikTok, shopping on Amazon or streaming on Netflix.
Ferrara said: “Nowadays you need to keep up with the trends of the modern consumer. You see all these people on their phones all day, well let’s try to keep them on the sportsbook a little longer. Let’s take those ingredients that are proven to work and apply them to sports betting.”
As mentioned, Altenar has a microbetting solution within its own sportsbook platform. The firm has been thinking intensively about how to create a seamless experience. With microbets being placed and settled within seconds rather than hours, the technology must keep up.
“We’re creating custom microbetting layout pages where you can come in, get your quick hits, and swipe left or right on different options after setting a default stake. Before you enter the screen you can set your default stake to $10, for example. We know how fast microbets feel, so we need to have default bets sizes and custom default one-click bet acceptance custom pages specifically for microbetting.”
Microbetting is not new, but has a long way to go
As Ferrara told SBC Americas, microbetting has a long and storied history in sports betting, particularly in tennis. Players would bet on the result of the next point, which forms the basis of modern microbetting. Ferrara noted that the industry has reframed, repackaged and resold microbetting after putting some new buzz around it.
Having said that, Ferrara noted that this new format of microbetting is still in its nascence and there are many ways for the product to develop.
“There are opportunities in soccer, because we have all this high-quality, unique data at our fingertips,” he explained. “Is it a right foot or is it a left foot shot? How fast is the ball going? We need to build these models around this high level data and utilise what we have.”
Ultimately, microbetting can offer sportsbooks a lifeline from a functionality perspective. The product could also take the industry out of its rut and into a modern age of user experiences.
As Ferrara concluded: “I see the future of microbetting being creating new markets based on this high quality data that we have. After that, the future is creating that custom layout or a way for fans to interact in a way that’s similar to social media.”
Altenar will be in attendance at the Canadian Gaming Summit at the Metro Toronto Convention Center this week and you can book a meeting with Ferrara and the team by clicking here.
