The Effects of Tech and Personalisation on In-Play NBA Betting
In-play betting is an exciting way to place bets on sporting events. When it comes to NBA betting, a growing number of people are placing their wagers during matches. Both personalisation and technology have a role to play in this growing trend.
Tech and personalisation affect NBA in-play betting. © Alexei_other, Pixabay
Pre-Match and In-Play Bets
There are two types of sports bets: pre-match and in-play. Many people who bet on sports prefer in-play bets, where you place a wager on an event while it’s taking place.
Why is this the case? Because once an event starts, there’s no telling what might happen. Everything that takes place, from a goal being scored to a player being benched, can affect the odds.
If you’re favouring a particular team, the odds for that team can improve depending on what happens. Though at the same time, the odds can worsen. Live betting can therefore produce better odds than if you place pre-match bets.
Of course, there’s no guarantee this will happen, which makes placing in-play bets very unpredictable. The fact that you have no idea how the odds will change makes in-play betting appealing to many sports bettors.
Another point to make about in-play betting is that it can give bettors much quicker gratification than pre-match bets. With in-play bets, you can know the outcome in no time at all.
However, with pre-match bets, you could wait days, weeks, or even months before the event takes place and your bet’s result is confirmed. This depends on how far in advance you place the bet.
A growing number of NBA fans who have signed up to one of the best sports betting sites practise in-play betting. So what role do personalisation and technology have to play in this?
Personalisation
Many operators of online sportsbooks want the betting experience to be as personalised as possible. They want to be able to offer members bets and bonuses that are specially tailored to their own preferences and tastes.
Lots of companies, not just those in the gambling industry, use data from people’s profiles and account activity to create personalised offers. These are meant to have higher engagement than standard, non-personalised ads.
For example, let’s say there’s a sportsbook member who enjoys placing bets on the NBA. That’s all he does at the sportsbook. Using data, the operator would then send him details about bets for upcoming NBA matches.
The member is likely to check out these bets and may place some because they’re in line with what he wants. What if the operator didn’t look at the member’s data?
In this case, the NBA bettor could be shown bets for all sorts of markets. This wouldn’t be effective because the bettor might not be interested in placing bets on sports other than basketball.
In other words, with personalisation it’s about finding out what a member likes and showing them bets and offers that match their preferences and wants. Data has a crucial role to play in this.
When it comes to NBA betting, operators can show members bets for certain players and teams and occurrences that fit a member’s betting history and preferences.
Technology
Technology, of course, enables operators to use personalisation. Without computer programs and algorithms that study members’ data, operators couldn’t determine a member’s preferences.
The problem is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to this. Different companies use different data platforms to help them give members personalised offerings, though some of these are more effective than others.
Some betting sites, for example, might use simple programs that provide basic analysis of a member’s data. Others might employ AI tools that give a much more in-depth summary of what a member wants from a sportsbook.
The US sportsbook FanDuel is an example of a betting site that’s effectively using data to personalise its offerings. It aims to make the betting experience for sports, not just the NBA, the best it can be for customers.
FanDuel’s operators know that for maximum engagement, they need their in-play bets to respond to what happens in matches as quickly as possible. When something happens in-match, it can take just 2.5 seconds for the odds to update.
The way betting sites gather and analyse data is constantly being improved. Operators like FanDuel want data processing to be as effective as possible so that members placing in-play bets can benefit from it.
Again, not all operators have the same capabilities for processing data. Some have an advantage over others, and these will end up attracting more customers and more in-play bets.
The Rise of NBA In-Play Betting in the US
In the US, a ban on sports betting was deemed unconstitutional in 2018. Since then, many states have formally legalised the act of placing bets on sports. The country’s sports betting industry is still growing.
In many other countries, in-play betting is more popular than pre-match betting. This is because of the fast-paced nature of placing bets during an event, not to mention the short wait for results and potentially better odds.
The NBA is particularly suitable for in-play betting because of the large number of bets you can place while a match is taking place.
It’s been estimated that in the US, only 35% to 40% of bets are placed in-play. This figure can be around 70% to 80% in many other countries. There’s room for in-play betting to grow in the US.
NBA matches should help drive the growth of in-play betting in the US. While pre-match NBA betting already attracts many bettors, lots of them haven’t yet discovered the benefits of in-play betting.
Undoubtedly, in-play betting will continue to grow in popularity throughout the USA, where sports betting is legal. Sportsbook operators should be prepared to capitalise on this trend by using the best technology and personalisation methods.
Personalisation and technology are already encouraging people to bet in-play on NBA matches. People are shown specially tailored promotions and special bets that match their preferences.
More sportsbooks will use these in the coming years to promote in-play betting (not just for the NBA) and increase engagement in general. FanDuel is already a few steps ahead, but many other sites will no doubt try to catch up.
