US SPORTS BETTING IN 2023
IS MICRO BETTING THE SPORTS EQUIVALENT OF IGAMING ?
Could the evolution of the US sports betting industry help usher in a new genre of products ? Micro betting is one of the first innovations to emerge
MICRO BETTING IS a subset of in-play wagering that allows players to wager on individual moments in a game in real time . It offers the instant gratification / continuous betting opportunities of igaming but with the skill of sports betting .
Micro betting could be a key driver to increase in-play wagering of US sports to levels of that seen in Europe for basketball and tennis , with the majority of wagering activity being incremental to existing spend .
Other benefits of a high-frequency , low-price sports betting product include :
• Attracting younger customers that prefer less time commitment
• Increasing player engagement and therefore LTVs
• Increasing spend of casual players – therefore reducing reliance on high-value players
• Creating new opportunities for operators to differentiate through product , marketing and promotions
• Reduced risk with far less margin variance on a daily basis due to exponentially more distinct timeframes as compared to spreads and totals
There is currently limited publicly available empirical data on the impact that micro betting is having on the US sports betting market . However , anecdotal data suggests that operators are starting to view this as a material future growth driver .
One example of this is DraftKings ’ expansion of micro betting to cover college football ahead of the 2022 season . On the opening weekend of the season , this allowed users to bet on an “ unprecedented 100,000 plays ” across the 85 games .
PointsBet has also been a leading proponent of in-play betting , and micro betting in particular . In PointsBet ’ s fiscal Q4 2022 , the company stated that it generated 63 % of handle from in-play betting in its North American business and expects 75 % of handle to be generated by in-play in the US .
IN-PLAY BETTING – MARKET POTENTIAL
In terms of trying to quantify the potential for in-play betting , we look at our total sports betting market estimates for 2025 and take the low point of the 75 % -85 % of handle estimate of where we think that in-play could get to in the long term . We then use the same margin differential for in-play / pre-match that has been reported in Oregon
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