Sports Betting Hall of Famer Sue Schneider is back with more monthly insights from the world of startups. This time she delivers some tough love for founders who don’t do their research.
After spending the past year exploring how the gambling industry, both online and land-based, fosters innovation, it seems that the industry can do better. Looking at staffing and investment decisions, it’s become clear that innovation is not necessarily a priority for a lot of companies in our industry. It could be that some are operating in stealth mode, but it seems like this should be a focus for almost every operator and supplier in the business. Identifying and working with some of these companies that are out front about the need for innovation in their respective companies and how important it is to their future is key.
What is the upside of investing in innovation services? For some, it’s about finding new products that will solve some of their larger issues. For others, it’s a way to explore opportunity gaps in the market. Still others find that it acts like a lead funnel for M & A, partnerships or investment in promising startups.
Sportradar
One of these is Sportradar, which has a dedicated Growth and Innovation Department. This effort has several projects. One is a “venture clienting” program called the Futures Hub, which pilots products from external, VC-backed startups for potential integration and acquisition.
This initiative acts as an external-facing incubator, allowing Sportradar to source and pilot technology from other sports-tech startups. Another component is an in-house innovation unit that operates with some independence to explore new ideas but remains aligned with the company’s broader goals. This is supplemented by encouraging internal staff to share insights and advance emerging trends.
Flutter
Flutter is another that has put innovation front and center. A few years back, it pumped £15 million into a technology and innovation hub in Leeds with SkyBet taking the lead on that project. They also have an effort called Alpha Hub which connects startups to their many global brands.
The Alpha Hub offers a Tech For Good Awards program. It also has a racing program which aims to support startups to engage the next generation of racing fans. Flutter allocated $820 million to technology research and development in fiscal 2024, supporting a global workforce of approximately 7,700 technologists focused on three key areas: replatforming initiatives, AI and machine learning applications and data security enhancements.
Games Global
Games Global is another company that’s built innovation into their system. It created an accelerator called RNG Foundry which fosters new founders of game development studios. In addition to capital, they offer studios regulatory sheltering, an array of technical resources and intellectual property to lower barriers to success. It can be a critical partnership to the upstart game studios since it offers global distribution. Plus, Games Global clearly benefits from getting new game content on an ongoing basis. This is done in conjunction with Velo Partners, the VC arm of the family of companies.
Rolling Insights
Another data company which has designed an accelerator is Rolling Insights, which offers the Breakaway program to founders. Its goal is to create a community around innovation, building for experimentation and founder to founder interactions. It articulates an interesting proposition, as it is building a platform that will enable thousands of others to create those innovations.
It’s evidenced by this statement on the company website: “The next breakthrough in sports technology won’t come from our team—it will come from a developer in their garage, a startup in a co-working space or a creator with an idea that nobody else believes in yet.”
Black Fire Innovation
Caesars and some other Nevada-based gaming companies have been supporters of Black Fire Innovation in Las Vegas in partnership with UNLV and the Nevada Department of Economic Development. This complex opened in 2020 and is the centerpiece of applied research and innovation for UNLV. By combining the power of big tech with the research resources of UNLV, the intention is to accelerate development in the hospitality, gaming and entertainment industries. This is the home to the cohorts of Zero Labs, a founder-first accelerator for startups in the industry. Both Sightline and GeoComply have innovation hubs in the facility as well.
bet365
Another operator who is investing in innovation is bet365. According to Computer Weekly, their Head of Platform Innovation is looking beyond the phone, referencing their explorations of the RayBan Meta AI glasses, for example. The company is taking a hard look at the computer-human interface while trying to balance privacy concerns. It’s also exploring using a large language model for coding, noting that, currently, they have a lot of staff working to maintain the legacy code. This is also an ongoing issue for a number of suppliers in the industry with legacy software.
GeoComply
The Innovation team at GeoComply focuses on leveraging AI and technology to improve internal knowledge sharing, client support and driving overall organizational innovation. It’s a small, nimble globally-based team of individuals, characterized by curiosity, the freedom to innovate above and beyond and think outside the box. It’s populated by specialized product folks that sit outside standard product teams but are part of the product and engineering organization within the company. A favorite phrase of theirs? “Can I show you what I just built in under an hour?”
The philosophy is that when you have a product team approaching challenges the same way for possibly a long period of time, it’s hard to see the sky for the clouds. You throw a new resource on it with the mandate to basically hack the status quo, then see what happens.
Galaxy Gaming
Galaxy Gaming focuses on table game content for both land-based and iGaming operators. Its innovation process usually begins with an idea, often inspired by observing how players engage with existing games or identifying gaps in the different markets. The group starts by defining what makes the concept unique: maybe it’s a new side bet, a fresh mechanic that adds excitement or a twist that simplifies gameplay for new audiences to make table games less intimidating. From there, the math takes center stage.
Since Galaxy Gaming focuses only on table games, the element of psychology plays a different role than slots studios. Table games players and slots players are fundamentally different, rooted in how each experience delivers excitement, control and social interaction. Table game players are generally more engaged in the decision-making process. They feel a sense of agency — their choices in games like blackjack or baccarat can directly influence outcomes (or at least seem to). This perception of control, combined with the social environment of live dealers and other players, creates a dynamic where skill, camaraderie and competition all play a role. That philosophy underpins the innovation efforts at the company.
So, as you can see with this sampling of examples, keeping new ideas coming to fruition in the gaming industry takes the will, the resources and leadership to make innovation a priority. What is your company doing to stay ahead of the pack?
