Since the SCOTUS decision to allow states to legalize sports betting, comparisons have been drawn between the newly regulated US market and the European sectors.
In a chat with Ed Miller, who oversees Sports Betting, Analytics, Trading, and Product Development at DeckPrism sports, he gave us an insight into the key differences between US and European punters. We also discussed some of the opportunities that in-play betting can present for the new market, and the upcoming launch of DeckPrism in August.
SBC: Much has been debated about how European – specifically UK-style betting – will fit into the emerging US sports betting market. In your opinion, what sets US sports fans and their UK counterparts apart?
Ed Miller: Despite it being underground in most of the country until recently, the USA has a deeply ingrained sports betting culture that’s a bit different than what’s in the UK. Apart from the obvious, like the use of American odds rather than decimal odds, I think Americans have a slightly different sense of fairness.
For Americans “a bet is a bet” is a core concept. Whereas bettors in the UK seem to accept the concept of cancelling a bet over a “palp error,” I think that idea will always rub Americans the wrong way. This difference will affect the way operators do business in the USA from operations to customer service to marketing.
SBC: In previous articles you’ve talked about in-play betting. How do you see this shaping up in US sports and is it something that fans will embrace?
EM: Again I think it comes down to fairness. Americans will love in-play betting, but only if they feel like they’re getting a fair shake. Present-day, in-play betting with many operators in the USA means constant bet delays and rejections.
While this is fine for a novelty product, Americans won’t bet seriously with an in-play product if they know that half the time they won’t actually get the bet they want.
When in-play is dealt with real limits and–most importantly–with zero delays and bet rejections, Americans won’t be able to get enough of it. What I expect to see is that some operators will deal in-play the European way with delays and rejections and others will deal the American way, during timeouts and with no delays and rejections. And you’ll see much higher betting volumes at the operators doing it the American way, and eventually everyone will switch to that model.
SBC: Could you tell us more about your DeckPrism platform and how that will work?
EM: DeckPrism is a B2B in-play odds provider for American sports. We focus on the five main American sports–NFL and college football, NBA and college basketball, and MLB. We will provide real-time odds to operators, and our motto is “the right line at the right time, every time.”
Our focus is on the customer experience–what American customers want is an opportunity to bet in-play for real money at information parity with the sportsbook and without having to worry about delays and rejections.
We enable operators to provide this customer experience by offering lines at timeouts–when both sportsbook and bettor have the same information about the game.
And then by delivering what will soon be industry-leading predictions at those timeouts created by our best-in-class algorithmic models and personally vetted by our small but elite team of traders.
Americans want a fair market at timeouts to bet into, and we enable operators to offer that experience to their customers by providing consistent lines they can rely on.
SBC: When do you plan to launch DeckPrism and what will be your key message to potential sports betting customers?
EM: We launch in August. And I’d say the key message is to put the customer first. If we as an industry stay focused on what’s best for the customer, everyone will have the best outcome.