Live betting has revolutionized sports betting – and political elections – by offering a more exciting and interactive experience compared to traditional pre-match betting. Major betting platforms are reporting a significant increase in live bets compared to pre-match wagers, showing just how much people are leaning towards this approach. The number of users in the online sports betting market is projected to reach 181.3 million by 2029. In Europe, live betting, also known as in-play betting, already dominates the market, making up over 70% of all wagers.
What is live betting?
Live, or in-play betting allows you to place bets during a game rather than before it starts. This real-time betting means you can react to the action as it unfolds, with constantly changing odds adding to the excitement. You can adjust your bets based on key events like injuries or game momentum shifts. However, keep in mind that there’s often a brief “in-play delay” before your bet is confirmed. This delay helps ensure that odds are accurate and prevents the exploitation of quick changes in the game. It allows betting operators to keep the experience fair for everyone. So, while you may notice a few seconds between placing and confirming your bet, this feature helps maintain a level playing field.
Key challenges live betting faces
Live betting is prevalent but comes with challenges for both platforms and users. These hurdles, however, also create opportunities for innovative software solutions and support, like those offered by software services for sports betting, to enhance the live-betting experience.
Challenge 1: Managing Real-Time Data Streams
One of the biggest challenges for sports betting platforms is handling real-time data streams efficiently. Platforms need to ensure low latency and instant updates to provide a seamless experience for users during live betting. To achieve this, companies use:
- Modern architecture solutions: Modern microservices and containerization help create systems that are fast and reliable.
- Asynchronous communication: Enables the processing of data in the background to prevent bottlenecks and reduce delays.
- Continuous monitoring: Monitoring system performance keeps everything stable, even when many people are using the platform at once.
Challenge 2: Maintaining System Scalability
During peak events, sports betting platforms face high traffic loads that can strain their infrastructure. Ensuring that systems are scalable and can handle large numbers of concurrent users is essential for avoiding downtime or performance issues. To achieve this, companies use:
- Load balancing: Spreading incoming traffic across multiple servers to prevent any one server from getting overwhelmed.
- Serverless computing: Improves scalability without the need for managing physical servers.
- Secure coding practices: Keeping user data safe is essential to maintain trust, and good coding practices help prevent security issues.
Challenge 3: Ensuring Platform Stability and Security
Platform stability and security are critical for the success of sports betting and casino systems. Secure coding practices, continuous performance monitoring, and test automation help maintain a stable and secure environment. This not only protects sensitive player information but also ensures the platform operates smoothly under heavy usage, reducing the risk of failure or breaches.
To address high traffic and ensure smooth platform operation during crucial game moments, companies should consider:
- Cloud-based infrastructure: Platforms can leverage cloud services to dynamically scale resources based on traffic demands. This allows platforms to handle large surges in user activity without system slowdowns or crashes.
- Microservices architecture: Breaking down the platform into smaller, independent services ensures that the system remains flexible and scalable, making it easier to manage high loads during peak periods.
- Containerization (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes): Containers allow platforms to run multiple services in isolated environments, providing flexibility and reliability by automating scaling and deployment of new resources as needed.
These options can help create a more resilient, scalable, and efficient live-betting platform that can handle the challenges of high traffic and real-time updates.
Essential features of live-betting platforms
Quality software features will provide users with more control, timely information, and promote responsible behavior. They enhance the overall betting experience by enabling users to make informed decisions, manage their wagers effectively, and maintain engagement with the platform.
Live odds
Live odds are dynamic betting lines that fluctuate in real-time as a game or match progresses. By offering live odds, platforms allow bettors to react instantly to the unfolding action, placing wagers that reflect the current state of play. This feature enhances user engagement and provides more strategic betting opportunities, as users can make informed decisions based on the latest developments.
Cash-out
The cash-out feature gives users the flexibility to settle their bets before an event concludes, allowing them to lock in a profit or minimize losses based on the current state of play. This option adds an extra layer of control for bettors, enabling them to react to changing circumstances and manage their wagers more strategically, enhancing the overall betting experience.
Live streaming & real-time stats
Integrating live streaming into the platform enhances the experience by providing live video feeds so users can follow the action as it happens. Moreover, real-time statistics offer up-to-the-minute data on critical aspects like possession percentages, player performance, and injury reports, helping users make more informed decisions.
Responsible gambling
To obtain a license to operate online, gambling platforms are required to implement tools that protect customers from harmful behaviors, such as excessive spending, addiction, and irresponsible gambling habits. These tools are designed to ensure that users have a safe experience, minimize the risks associated with gambling, and promote a responsible approach to betting.
Here are a few examples:
- Betting Limits: These set maximum amounts users can wager within a specific timeframe to help prevent excessive betting, minimize losses, and allow customizable boundaries for better activity management.
- Self-Exclusion: This feature allows users to exclude themselves from accessing gambling services for a specific duration or permanently, helping them regain control over their gambling habits.
- Play Break: Provides users with the option to take a temporary pause from gambling, ranging from a few hours to several weeks, to reassess their engagement and make informed decisions.
- KYC (Know Your Customer): Verifies users’ identities before gambling to create a safe environment by preventing underage access, fraud, and money laundering.
- Deposit Limits: These limits allow users to control the amount of money they can deposit over a specified period, encouraging responsible spending habits.
- Reality Check: This feature provides users with reminders about the duration of their gambling activity at regular intervals, prompting them to reassess and decide if they want to continue.
Top live-betting functionalities
Top live-betting platforms go beyond the essentials by offering advanced functionalities that create a seamless, fast, and highly personalized betting experience. These functionalities are what set the best platforms apart, as they focus on usability, convenience, and the overall betting journey.
Quick Bet Placement
With one-click betting options and streamlined confirmation processes, users can place their bets quickly and efficiently, ensuring they don’t miss out on opportunities during fast-moving events.
Fire Bets
Fire Bets are specialized, high-stakes wagers designed for experienced users looking for thrilling betting opportunities with potentially higher rewards, often placed on unpredictable, fast-moving events.
Multi-Betting Options
Advanced platforms enable users to place bets on multiple events simultaneously, offering greater flexibility and a richer betting experience. This functionality caters to more experienced users who wish to diversify their wagers.
Build Your Bet
Build Your Bet functionality allows users to combine different selections from the same market into a single bet, creating customized wagers that increase their potential returns and make the experience more engaging.
Odds Change Notifications
Platforms notify users when there are significant shifts in odds, helping them stay informed about the latest betting opportunities and adjust their strategy accordingly.
Secure and Fast Payment Processing
Leading platforms prioritize efficient financial transactions, offering multiple payment methods with quick deposit and withdrawal options, ensuring that users have a smooth and secure experience when managing their funds.
A rewarding UX through responsive UX, UI and backend
The success of a live-betting platform depends heavily on the user experience. A responsive design ensures users can access the platform anytime, anywhere using a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Fast load times and smooth performance are crucial, as delays or lag can lead to missed betting opportunities and frustration. Real-time updates are essential, providing users with the most current information and odds to make informed decisions.
Sports betting tech essentials
Developing a robust live-betting platform requires sophisticated technology. Real-time data integration through APIs, low-latency data delivery, and a reliable server infrastructure are essential to handle high volumes of data and user activity. Advanced algorithms like Dynamic Pricing, Predictive Analytics, Odds Calculation, and Machine Learning Models use computational techniques to adjust odds based on live sports data continuously. They handle real-time updates and market conditions to manage risks and provide responsive betting options.
A robust live-betting platform requires seamless data integration, real-time information, strong security measures, a user-friendly interface, and scalability for high user traffic. Achieving this demands synchronization between data feeds and the user interface to provide accurate and up-to-date information to bettors. Security is a top priority, as the platform must protect sensitive user information and financial transactions against potential threats. Investing in these technological capabilities not only enhances the platform’s performance but also sets it apart in a highly competitive market, offering users a seamless and engaging betting experience.
Future sports betting trends
The future trends in the live-betting industry highlighted in your passage focus primarily on advancements in AI, machine learning, and immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Here’s a breakdown of these trends, along with supporting evidence:
AI-Driven Predictive Analytics:
Trend: AI and machine learning are increasingly used to analyze vast amounts of historical data and real-time game information to predict game outcomes. This helps users make more informed bets.
Supporting Evidence: Recent studies have shown that AI can analyze complex patterns in sports data, improving prediction accuracy by identifying trends and anomalies in player performance, weather conditions, and game strategies. This gives a competitive edge to betting platforms that integrate AI, making the experience more data-driven and tailored.
Example: Companies like DraftKings and FanDuel are exploring the use of AI modules to offer real-time suggestions and odds updates during games. This could allow users to adjust their bets based on the unfolding dynamics of a game, enhancing the overall betting experience if fully implemented and in compliance with regulations.
Personalized Betting Experiences through Machine Learning:
Trend: Machine learning is leveraged to analyze user behavior, preferences, and betting history to offer a customized betting experience.
Supporting Evidence: Machine learning models can analyze user interactions to provide personalized betting recommendations and suggest odds based on past preferences, similar to algorithms used in e-commerce and streaming services.
Example: As of 2019, Bet365 has been exploring the use of machine learning techniques to enhance its Early Risk Detection System (EROS), aiming to improve the detection of at-risk behaviors among users.
This initiative reflects a broader industry trend where major betting platforms are increasingly integrating machine learning algorithms to predict user preferences and tailor their interfaces and recommendations, thereby enhancing the betting experience for each user.
VR and AR Integration:
Trend: VR and AR could transform how users experience live sports betting by creating a more immersive environment. This could allow users to watch games in virtual stadiums or interact with live statistics overlaid in real time through AR.
Supporting Evidence: The global AR/VR market is expected to grow substantially, with applications in entertainment, gaming, and sports being key drivers. As technology evolves, the potential for creating immersive betting experiences is becoming more feasible. For example, AR glasses can overlay stats during live sports broadcasts, offering a more engaging way to view data.
Example: Companies like Meta and other VR platform providers have explored the idea of experiencing a game through VR, where users can “sit” in a virtual stadium or see live stats in an AR overlay. This trend is not mainstream in the betting industry but holds differentiation and user engagement potential.
These trends reflect how technology is reshaping the sports betting landscape, offering new tools and experiences for users. As these technologies mature, they have the potential to significantly enhance user engagement and transform how betting enthusiasts interact with games and platforms.
Choose the right live betting partner
For bettors looking to make the most of live betting, it’s important to partner with a team that offers a comprehensive range of services backed by reliable technology. As the industry continues to innovate, working with experts who combine cutting-edge capabilities with robust security and a user-friendly experience is crucial for thoroughly enjoying the benefits live betting has to offer.
To learn more about enhancing your sports betting platforms, get in touch with our experts by filling out this contact form.
About the authorAlexandru Oana
Software Delivery Director
For the past 6 years Alexandru has been working as a software delivery director, specializing in the betting industry. Cooperating with clients from all over the world on various betting platforms projects, Alexandru is a team player and leader with strong interpersonal skills. Devoted to delivering projects with the three "ons ": on time, budget and quality, he is effective working under pressure and always pays attention to details.
