iGaming Business magazine In-Play Focus 2018 | Page 19

In-Play Focus 2018
GET ON-STREAM
WITH PERSONALISATION
The level of personalisation evident in music-streaming apps such as Spotify is a bellwether
for how sports-betting apps will need to develop to meet their users’ rising expectations
for bespoke services, writes BtoBet’s Davide Ruggeri
In-play betting provides the capability to offer odds on
any match, at any time and to any customer, on any
device. It is not just betting, but also entertainment –
and it is already a technological challenge.
The gambling industry has successfully implemented
technology to provide for the abundance of choice
that is expected by the user. But what is needed now
is the next stage: a move towards personalising the
extraordinary availability of betting opportunities into
an offering that provides the user with a proposition
designed to appeal just to them.
Here, the application of machine learning and
artifi cial intelligence (AI) will provide new tools. It is
through these techniques that the data can be suitably
understood to serve up an offering that can match the
user’s preferences and previous transaction history with
upcoming betting opportunities.
One of the best examples of personalisation is Spotify,
which has established a primary place in consumer
culture. It doesn’t just offer the world’s music on a plate,
but curates selections for each person according to their
previous engagement with the app – all displayed
on the space available on the typical phone screen.
Such personalisation is exactly what should be
happening with a sports-betting app, whereby new bet
offers and potential betting opportunities are offered up
to the user on their mobile device using recommendation
engines and advanced personalisation, plus interaction.
All this available technology implies radical changes
for large and small operators. Player management,
acquisition and retention are all areas in which machine
learning will be making its mark. By analysing past
player behaviour, operators now have the tools to know
when to advertise further bets, which bets to offer and –
very soon, we believe – which odds to give them on
an individual basis.
Bookmakers want to offer the ultimate betting
experience to their bettors, but which technologies do
they need? First comes flexibility. The technology must
allow them to take control of their operations and make
use of adaptability. They need customisable front ends
and access to risk and management tools across all
betting products.
In response to the growing need for personalisation,
operators must be able to confi gure tailored betting
offers and set their preferred risk parameters across all
sports, tournaments, events and odds types. In addition,
they will need to apply optimum trading strategies to
generate both high-quality turnover and attractive
estimated margins.
It is crucial to stand out from the homogeneous
offer of the rest of the market, and here AI and
machine learning can play a key role. The vital aspect
is data: technology needs to be deployed that can
collect and store all the necessary information points
about a player’s usage of all channels available.
That would allow for detailed reporting of the player
profi t-and-loss on all given events, allowing for
greater analysis of performance and the ability to
fi ne-tune or modify their trading strategies to better
achieve any predefi ned goals. It also involves the
potential deployment of sophisticated AI-driven
risk-management software.
Personalisation in this way provides the operator with
a customer-management system that enables them to
better service and understand individual players.
Importantly, this isn’t just an operator benefi t.
As we can see from the wider app economy and
the success of Spotify and others, this service is now
expected by the consumer. You can either similarly
personalise your offering – and thrive – or let others with
more customer-focused offerings steal your customers.
Davide Ruggeri is
director of BtoBet Sports.
He previously worked
with Italy’s top
bookmakers, where
he was instrumental in
the launch of legal sports
betting in the country.
Together with his BtoBet
Sports team in Rome,
he ensures a secure
and fl exible risk
management service
tailored to any compliance
and business growth.
iGamingBusiness | Issue 109 | March/April 2018 | 47