analysis
Rise of the machines
Whereas individual traders once reigned supreme, odds compilation is becoming an increasingly automated practice. Experienced trading managers Terry Pattinson of William Hill; Marco Falchetto of bwin.party and Simon Trim of Sporting Solutions discuss how one of the core elements of their business has evolved R o b i n H a r r i s o n
H
umans, it seems, are increasingly being replaced by microchips. Checkout staff are being phased out in favour of selfservice machines; banks need fewer tellers with so many ATMs available; and directory enquiries are being replaced by services such as Siri on the iPhone. Trading is no different, with technology developments slowly cutting down the size of bookmakers’ trading teams and many of the employees ?nding themselves replaced by automated systems. William Hill’s director of trading Terry Pattinson explains that technological developments necessitated by the rise of in-play betting has been key in prompting this change: “Five or six years ago, we would have several traders working in-play on one football match, whereas today we will have one trader overseeing 80 concurrent matches.” Despite having a much larger range of matches to cover and odds to produce, automated solutions can help fewer traders rapidly compile odds for a greater number of events, something that bwin. party’s group director of sports Marco Falchetto feels has been key to the move towards automation: “It is primarily the live betting environment that bene?ts from technological progress and signi?cant operational changes. Speed is the de?ning factor and pricing decisions can now be made quicker and far more accurately. Faster, high-scoring sports can be offered and more betting opportunities are available
Marco Falchetto
Simon Trim
Terry Pattinson
for a longer duration, human processing errors are signi?cantly reduced. Ultimately, according to Pattinson, this can all be traced back to the advent of online gambling: “The internet has changed the thinking of a trader. Prior to the internet, it was pure opinion on display, whereas nowadays with odds comparison sites it’s more of a mix of opinion and ?tting in with the market.” People power While operators can bene?t from customers spending larger amounts of money with less chance of trading errors, Simon Trim of Sporting Solutions feels that the lack of human involvement in odds can lead to a loss in value: “At Sporting Solutions we still invest in traders to oversee what algorithms produce as we believe that without the role of an experienced trader you are unlikely to maximise value. “However, the shift elsewhere has generally been
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