SPORTS BETTING FOCUS
Same games, new bets
With the sports betting arena becoming increasingly crowded, eGaming Review talked to David McKenzie, of Tailorbet, about his innovative new peer-to-peer platform
As sports betting has grown as an industry, so has the number of sportsbooks on the market. Competition has certainly become more difficult and operators need to have something new on their platform to retain, let alone attain, bettors. David McKenzie, CEO and founder of Tailorbet, talked to eGaming Review about his new peer-to-peer network betting product that looks to give control back to the bettor and a USP back to the sportsbook. eGaming Review (eGR): How are white label solutions bene?tting from the surge of in-play sports betting? David McKenzie (DMc): A lot of software companies have viewed the staggering statistics on in-play bets as a good basis to create a platform, which they can use to cater to the trend. The majority of the sportsbooks have deals with software providers to do just this because a lot of operators don’t build technology in-house due to the cost and expertise required. There is a plethora of sportsbooks in the industry right now, so white label solutions have been quick to jump to their aid as they yearn for an edge in such a competitive market. eGR: Why do you feel this is a good time to enter peer-to-peer wagering? What were the key drivers? DMc: It is a great time in the industry to launch our peer-to-peer and customised betting network solution simply because of where egaming is heading. There are also external factors coming into focus, such as the explosion of ecommerce services, and models which are now tailoring themselves to give the consumers more control in-line with the rapidly expanding presence of social media. Everywhere you look, ecommerce operators are handing more control to the consumer through social media, so why not do the same through egaming? With this in mind, we believe the next generation of sports betting will extensively follow peer-to-peer models. With Tailorbet’s customised bet functionality, it’s not simply about removing the element of control that the ‘house’ has; it’s also about empowering the consumer with the ability to create and tailor their bets the way they want them to look. We have carried out a great deal of research, which has included speaking to many sportsbooks who are constantly looking for a new competitive advantage in what is now a hugely competitive market. We strongly believe that Tailorbet will give some of these sportsbooks that advantage. eGR: What bene?ts does peer-to-peer social wagering bring an operator over more traditional models? DMc: While very successful, sportsbooks are always looking to attract new users. Currently, there isn’t an offering on the market for bettors to truly customise the bets they make. For example, if I wanted to create a bet that Wayne Rooney would achieve 10 shots on goal in one Premier League month, I might make such a bet out of passion and not out of statistical value. It’s these types of passion-led bets that aren’t always formulated by bookmakers, even though the bettors want to make them. Tailorbet’s platform allows users to create and customise their bets in the way they want. They’re interested in the social peer-to-peer aspect, which is perfectly ?tted to the social media mould of this type of betting, which we believe will still work in conjunction with the ?xed odds model. It brings to sports betting a kind of excitement and interaction you only really get with craps. The odds change with each bet and it all comes down to the interaction between consumers, not the house itself. eGR: What can you see 2013 holding for Tailorbet, in terms of opportunities and challenges? DMc: We predict that in the ?rst two quarters of 2013, we will be able to integrate our peer-to-peer offering in anywhere between ?ve and 10 sportsbooks. This is when we will expect the domino effect to begin and further integrations to follow on throughout the year as the bene?t ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????=??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q???????()Q?$?0?