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SPORTS BETTING
the efficiency of their trading ,” says Small .
“ The system within Alpha allows operators to take a number of different strategic directions – they can choose how they offer their odds to their customer and how they service their end customer .”
The system is doing what we might have done manually 15 years ago with one trader and one match making a decision based on the data available , only doing it at scale .
“ So , we have the system in place , the machine if you like , and overseeing that is our liability trading team who make sure the system is configured in the most efficient and appropriate way per customer ,” Small explains . “ It ’ s a bespoke solution .”
The system will “ understand the tendencies ” of each individual client and understand where they may want to “ potentially get a little bit more aggressive or a little bit more conservative ,” he continues . “ And we will configure those odds in a way to get the most out of these models on an individual client level .”
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“ The grand aim of ‘ solving ’ sports betting in the way that some high-frequency traders think they have solved the financial markets is a way off yet ”
Tom Daniel , Propus Partners
SMOOTH OPERATORS
Clyde Harris , partner at betting and gaming product development house Circle Squared , says it stands to reason that such systems will “ smooth out volatility ” depending on what strategy the sportsbook in question so desires . This is what both such AI-assisted systems promise – the possibility of not being hit by the “ low lows ” in terms of margin while also still hoping to benefit from the higher margin returns .
Tom Daniel , partner at sportsbook operations consultancy Propus Partners , goes further and notes that it is advances such as this , which have recently birthed a number of “ small quant shops ” as he describes them , that lead people to the rationalisation that over time it might be possible to “ solve sports betting ”.
“ The people working on these types of things will be making incremental improvement ,” says Daniel . “ But the grand aim of ‘ solving ’ sports betting in the way that some high-frequency traders think they have solved the financial markets is a way off yet .”
Which all leads to the question of what happens next .
Small agrees . “ This is a starting point for using AI ,” he says . “ What Alpha represents is a further mechanisation , if you like , of the sportsbook backend .
“ This process was started many years ago with the introduction of algorithms ,” he adds . “ That was the first step and what we are doing with Alpha Odds is a logical move on from that . It is about building blocks .”
It is a process which is ongoing . “ It ’ s entirely possible that we will reach a point where pricing is done by machine-learning algorithms , customer management is done by automated liability management systems and bet acceptance is done by a combination of both ,” says Simon Trim , a consultant currently working on sportsbook strategy and operations with backend provider 10Star .
“ Automation reduces the manual work on trading desks and will continue to do so , particularly in risk management
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