As the world of online sports betting continues to grow in popularity, InterGame looks at what product is currently on offer to enable land-based operators to compete for business
Sports betting could be considered one of the most popular and accepted forms of gambling worldwide. The growth of online sports betting is undeniable but there are still those who prefer to go down to their local bookmakers and fill in a betting slip and it is this clientele that the hungry bookmaker needs to encourage to keep coming back.
Sports betting has deep roots all over Europe and the US and introducing gamblers to new forms of betting through online terminals and virtual betting can be tricky. It is essential for software developers to present something they can relate to easily and are able to get the hang of quickly - otherwise they will lose interest.
According to Jurgen Paierhuber of CBC-X in Austria, while there are certain markets where it mainly provides branch systems, it has found that betting terminals are generally the most popular way to run betting operations.
"Basically the popularity of betting terminals depends on the internet infrastructure in the respective country," he said. "The better the internet lines are, the more popular betting terminals are in comparison to branch systems."
According to El Bet’s Dank Vukovic: "Terminals have evolved together with the IT industry. The single biggest advances are in the communication segment where higher connection speeds opened opportunities for some of the additional services such as live content streaming, which were not technically plausible even five years ago.
"There are both direct and indirect benefits that a terminal can bring to a location. There are financial benefits directly related to the terminal’s services such as advertising or handling fees and there are indirect benefits a location can see from a terminal in the sense of increased traffic and revenues."
Betting terminals have changed accordingly to the ever-growing needs of the betting market. While in the early days a comprising betting offer was sufficient - therefore making the terminals more simple - now, with the wide range of betting options such as live betting, races and games, the terminals are more complex and resilient.
"One of the key features of modern betting terminals is that they should be permanently online," continued Paierhuber. "This reduces waiting and breakdown times and allows punters to permanently bet and/or control their bets and/or check their wins.
"Also, as the betting offer has increased over time both in terms of special bets as well as the different types of bets it is recommended to have at least a second screen attached to the terminal. The hardware within the terminals should of course be top notch and constantly maintained and updated to provide stable operations 24/7."
Funworld is another company that concentrates its efforts on the production of high-quality betting terminals with permanent internet connection. It provides complete betting terminals with a modern design and a broad range of bets including classic sports bets, live bets and race events.
The terminals are available as a full-sized standing terminal (Touch2Win II), featuring a double screen monitor, or a counter-top (Touch2Win Club) - opening the doors for betting offices or pubs and bars.
"Betting terminals have developed in such a way that they don’t only offer sports betting but other kinds of entertainment such as poker or bingo if allowed by the legislation," said Funworld’s Rudolf Pesendorfer, director of Bet-solutions.
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"Betting terminals can bring new customers to a location and can change a bar or pub into a real betting office over time," he said. "Players like sports betting because of the possibility of winning and experiencing an exciting event. Live bets in particular provide this thrill and high-tension as the event happens in real time so the players can experience the outcome of a sports event closely.
"Betting terminals will become multifunctional terminals more and more - live bets and short-term betting will also become more popular, making sports betting more dynamic."
When asked what the main appeal of a betting terminal is to the player, all the companies InterGame spoke to felt it mainly relates to privacy. According to Tassilo Tanzer of Cashpoint, the privacy over stakes and tips etc is very important to players.
"The social aspect of licensed betting offices aren’t important to many people any more," he said. "These days you can get all the information you need about specific players, forms and more from newspapers and online. Time has changed and punters enjoy their privacy more and more. Your teams, your bet and your stake stays private.
"They can also place their bets through betting terminals whenever they want," he said. "We are operating in countries where you have 24 hour licences and where you can place bets almost as comfortably at home via your internet but still cash in.
"If you install betting terminals in an AGC or FEC (where allowed) it is an upgrade of your product range. You do everything so that the customer doesn’t have to leave - in the UK for example a betting facility opens the door to run four B2 machines, which you aren’t allowed to do without the betting terminals."
Virtual sports betting is a more recent addition to the world of betting shops and was initially used as a filler to compensate for cancelled horse races, but has increased in popularity as a valuable betting experience in its own right.
Inspired Gaming, based in the UK, is the creator of one of the world’s most graphically advanced virtual sports betting and gaming products. It’s Virtual Gaming has generated in excess of £3.5bn in betting turnover since its introduction in 2002, equating to circa £525m in gross win.
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Inspired’s sports betting offering includes virtual horse racing and greyhound racing, which have both been developed through research with industry experts in order to create the most realistic racing product available. Also on offer is virtual football, motor racing and speedway.
IVG’s latest development is the use of real racecourses as backdrops for its virtual horse race events - virtual races in real places. With minimal virtual components the level of realism is unrivalled, according to Inspired, and is being adopted across the Inspired development pipeline.
According to Steve Rogers, Inspired’s virtual racing division director, the enhancement of both the quality and variability of the virtual events on offer from Inspired has enabled the betting operators to vary the content throughout the day. Events can be run every three to five minutes, ensuring there is always a new opportunity just around the corner. The advancement in the graphical content along with the automated commentary has ensured that the Inspired products continue to attract customers.
"The scope of the events available in virtual racing has really changed," said Rogers. "Horses and dogs have always been popular, but the landscape has certainly changed with the addition of virtual football, motor racing and speedway.
"The quality of graphics is also getting better as technologies advance. At the heart of IVG’s products is our unique proprietary software including high-end 3D visual graphic systems created by our BAFTA award-winning visual effects team. It is imperative to keep ahead of the game and keep re-inventing in the core products as well as looking for new opportunities to tie with live sports betting patterns."
Vukovic adds to this: "We see the betting terminals together with online betting, as the future of the market. There is already an existing tendency for large operators to shift their business to terminals at the expense of the betting shops as they have become a proven method of increasing company revenue while decreasing overall operating costs. The operating cost has largely become the single biggest issue for sports betting companies due to the very competitive markets."
Sports betting will remain popular with punters as long as the bets on offer are appealing - how they choose to place their bet, however, will be down to the continued improvement in technology from manufacturers and software developers. The key to all of this is simple - make it fun, make it simple but most importantly make the bets desirable.
First published May 2010
