OpenBet takes BetBuilder to next level with in-play offering
This article first appeared on SBC News.
Building on the significant success of its pre-match offering, OpenBet’s new in-play BetBuilder allows bettors to create customised wagers as matches unfold.
Luke Saunders, Vice President Commercial at OpenBet, outlines how this latest addition will provide players with an enhanced betting experience and help the company further extend its global customer base.
SBC News: How will OpenBet’s new in-play BetBuilder offering help operators provide players with more engaging and exciting in-play betting experiences?
Luke Sanders: Just as SportCast’s pre-match BetBuilder revolutionised sports betting and reinvigorated a stale pre-matching betting experience, in-play BetBuilder naturally takes this popular form of entertainment to the next level. It features all the benefits of the pre-match version and allows bettors the flexibility to add in-play selections for the whole match.
BetBuilder has fundamentally been about taking down barriers within the betting landscape, allowing customers create a narrative and place the exact bets they want to. That shouldn’t stop at kick-off time, and with In-Play BetBuilder, players can react to the match they’re watching, adjust their narrative and enjoy even more thrilling moments.
As we have seen across Euro 2024, BetBuilder continues to grow in popularity. Bet slips generated through SportCast’s BetBuilder showed a significant 470% increase compared to the 2021 tournament, illustrating its enduring demand.
Across the pond, the experience has taken the US market by storm in the form of same-game parlays. In-play BetBuilder provides operators with increased engagement opportunities, with SportCast’s product underpinned by unrivalled expertise in this space.
SportCast’s BetBuilder has been a key driver behind OpenBet’s recent growth, with numerous commercial deals signed leading to our customer base growing by more than 40%. We’re confident that the new in-play offering will allow us to further extend our operator network and strengthen relationships with existing partners.
SBCN: What leagues or competitions will you offer?
LS: We have been live throughout the summer and all the major competitions will be available from August, including the likes of Argentine Primera División, the English Premier League and Brazil’s Serie A. As a global provider, we will continue to expand our offering in order to meet the requirements of our worldwide operator network and their customers.
SBCN: Who is the target audience for operators?
LS: Operators know their customer bases best, but we anticipate there will be two main user groups with which in-play BetBuilder will resonate strongly. Customers who favour the pre-built version of BetBuilder will inevitably enjoy this new experience and the ability to place even more outcomes within their betting slips.
We of course expect existing in-play bettors to find the product appealing, providing them with more flexibility on how they see each game unfolding. For example, if a player comes off the bench when the score is 1-1, they can create a BetBuilder slip that incorporates the individual scoring, picking up cards and the team winning. Ultimately, the target audience for in-play BetBuilder is still predominantly a recreational customer base, though this can vary across regions.
SBCN: How will this be particularly appealing to Brazilian operators when the market opens?
LS: We have already seen how popular SportCast’s Campeonato Brasileiro Série A BetBuilder has been since their launch, with approximately 1.9 million related bet slips processed by OpenBet’s BetBuilder from April to October last year.
Brazilian football leagues are hugely popular with bettors and Serie A made up 28.3% of all LatAm soccer slips in the six-month period. We will continue offering compelling and competitive new products when market regulation is finalised and believe this popularity with our current licenced partners will translate to local market operators too.