Technological innovations have been a key driver in propelling the sports betting market to new heights. Today, these innovations are still changing the way we wager on sports, the markets available, and the overall betting experience. Here are the six most prominent technologies transforming the sports betting market in 2022.
- Mobile Betting
If you check out any app store, you’re likely to see hundreds of mobile betting apps that promise their customers the best gambling experience. These mobile apps have dominated the sports betting market for several years, as it is easier and more convenient to use your smartphone to place wagers.
Sports betting apps have helped to rapidly grow the market revenues, as they offer a better user experience than other options. Mobile betting also allows users to browse multiple betting markets privately while giving them 24-hour access.
Punters can also use their mobile phones to access the latest Betting News Thailand, a trustworthy Asian sports website with the latest news on various games and leagues. The website offers great sports betting and online gambling news in Asia and around the world.
- Augmented & Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
AR and VR will serve several important purposes in sports betting for online sportsbooks and retail bookie shots. However, the biggest advantage is what these technologies can offer to sports bettors, making the market more popular than ever.
The use of VR and AR will change how sports betting activities are done in retail sportsbooks as they’re still extremely popular around the world despite the rise of online bookies. These technologies are allowing operators to manage their business without meeting the customers face-to-face, allowing retail sportsbooks to remain open in the current landscape.
Augmented reality is also serving several crucial purposes for sports punters. Imagine watching a football game and trying to browse the internet to look for stats on a certain player or team. As such, augmented reality takes accessibility to the next level.
Instead of browsing a website looking for the stats you need, AR makes this information pop up on your screen. You can focus on any player or team, helping you to get quick betting options and making watching a game more enjoyable.
- VAR
Video Assistant Referee refers to match officials who review the referee’s decision in a match using cameras set around the stadium, including those that feature slow-motion replays. As such, the VAR team automatically assesses a questionable decision from every angle whenever it occurs. That includes offside calls, penalty calls, accidental handballs, and backing into jumping players.
While VAR enhances fairness in games, its main issue is that it disrupts the betting process. However, sportsbooks are working hard to cut the time it takes to suspend bets after a goal or a red card is given. That has helped bookmakers improve the way they conduct their business as they weren’t adequately prepared when the technology was first introduced.
- Blockchain
Blockchain solutions are being utilized in various industries to improve security and help businesses conduct their operations in a decentralized manner. In the sports betting industry, this technology is helping sportsbooks save their customers’ transaction details in distributed ledgers that are transparent for everyone involved.
Sportsbooks must ensure that the betting data is produced securely with all the bets settled speedily and safely. Fortunately, blockchain technology automates their business processes using self-executing smart contracts based on certain publicly described conditions. The system interprets and executes the events at reduced costs.
Besides offering faultless bet execution and intensifying data security, blockchain technology resolves liquidity issuers for players and bookmakers. For players to deposit their money to start betting, the payments go through various phases including the customer, payment gateway, and company.
The payment gateways are essential under normal conditions, but the transaction fees can be a bit high. However, using blockchain digital currency players get higher payouts and operators enjoy better margins as the fees are reduced.
- Social Betting
Nothing feels as good as discussing your bets with your friends and other online punters. Many punters want to discuss how a particular bet ended, especially if things went the way they had hoped. That’s why social betting is becoming huge in the sports betting market, with operators adding options for their customers to chat with each other and even share their betting lists on social media.
Sports punters can also find several social betting communities that allow you to share your ideas on betting and learn from other experts. Unfortunately, social betting is yet to gain traction in some parts of the world, but it’s growing tremendously in the US and Europe.
- Live Streaming
Live streaming is a valuable asset in online sports betting. It gives punters the option to watch games live from the bookmaker’s website or app, making it easy to place bets on live games. That means you can explore the live in-play betting market, even when you can watch the game on TV.
What’s the Future?
The future of the sports betting market is looking quite promising, propelled by various tech innovations like the blockchain, live streaming, and others listed above. These innovations benefit both the gamblers and bookmakers, helping to maintain this multi-billion-dollar business.