Big Debate: Will the tech titans launch an online sportsbook within the next five years?

Yes

Alex Kornilov, MD, Betegy

Seeing big technology get involved in sportsbook in the coming years, especially in the United States, is inevitable. And in many ways, it is already happening.

After all, it’s all about entertainment and media, which is what big tech represents. Take a look at the major players like DAZN and Amazon Prime, and you can see that they’ve already got the ball rolling on taking ownership over sports.

For big technology companies, betting is just another entertainment product as part of the sports package, and given their strength of brand, they will be able to garner far bigger margins, both via existing loyalty and economies of scale.

The main difference right now between operators and big tech is that the industry is five years behind the wider world in terms of what’s possible.

Picture Mr Bezos looking to make a move into sports betting. He has the server, speed, capacity and reach to deliver a global operation, personalised like never before, as well as the cash reserves to back it up.

Big tech will also have a real advantage over customer onboarding. Plenty in the US, for example, had a strong opinion on the outcome of the Super Bowl, but were unlikely to bet from home as it’s still an alien concept. That can be changed instantly with very little effort on their part.

In effect, this reflects the direction the industry will be taking over the next decade, and the winners will be decided by the ability to deliver the best personalised experience. Lottery could be where it starts – and I would also keep an eye on China making a big move, via their State brand.

Last but not least, if you wanted another hint – Mr Segev certainly thought DAZN would be a great place to join after Entain, so I could even argue we’re looking at even less than five years. Add Sky’s entrance into the market with Sky Bet too, and we’ve got a strong case to be made.

No

Brandon Walker, head of US, Amelco

Do I see big tech getting involved in sports betting? Without a doubt. Do I see them launching their own sportsbook soon? Probably not.

When it comes to sports betting in the US, what we’ve seen post-PASPA in terms of demand and requirements by the big-name operators, the name of the game is always ‘solid foundations’ – this means a product that is built to provide for a decade or more.

The majority of rosters you’ll see for tenders feature a very limited list of big-name sportsbook suppliers for this reason – they’re the only ones that can offer a product that can truly deliver on the level required.

To reach that point as a supplier takes anything up to a decade – and requires a constant evolution from the inside to ensure what you have is constantly scalable, efficient and not to mention the best out there.

Big tech knows this, and I believe they’ll stick to doing what they know best and they’ll get involved in betting on their own terms, without creating their own in-house products and cashing in on the entertainment-side of supply instead.

US-based FuboTV’s recent acquisition of the upcoming multi-state betting operator Vigtory is a great example of this, which is a merger of a streaming service for sports, with an already-running sportsbook operation powered by a third-party supplier’s platform.

Of course, if big tech wanted to launch a sportsbook of their own, there’s plenty they could do to offer a seriously competitive edge when it comes to UX and UI – but whether they want to start from the ground up and build it themselves is an entirely different matter.

What it boils down to is that they would be competing with teams that have dedicated the last 10+ years to building a product that outmatches anything that can be achieved in-house. Of course, the elephant in the room for this is the possible acquisition of a big-name supplier. But that’s another question.