The killer quartet of sportsbook performance

The possibilities offered by sports betting in North America have created stiff competition. Beyond big casinos and media giants like Disney, we see retailers like Fanatics aggressively trying to establish themselves in the market.Brought only by a New York sportsbook $425 million in gross revenue First four months of 2022.

However, operators in the rush to get licensed and launch quickly often underestimate the quality of their platforms. In early 2022, as thousands of bettors flocked to a sportsbook that had just opened in New York, we saw a glitch on his betting platform. This is a direct result of underdevelopment.bettor experienced technical problems Login errors, unable to bet or cash out, etc.

For example, Caesars faced a high volume of complaints about glitches, their customer service department couldn’t handle the load, and they eventually disabled their online chat option.

on average, just 52% of bettors Make two or more deposits and only 4% stay loyal Over a year with a betting company. These issues and bad experiences for bettors can cost sportsbooks a lot of money, ruin their reputations, and lose bettors as a result. Poor response times, instability, and other factors can result in millions of dollars in processing losses.

To mitigate such potential risks, performance testing should be the cornerstone of the development process for other applications within the sports betting stack. It should be included in the overall process to avoid delays in new releases.

What is acceptable performance? There are four key parameters: system responsiveness, scalability, stability, and capacity.

Let’s take a closer look at each.

fast system response

Sports betting is a highly complex field dealing with huge amounts of data from big events such as World Cups and NFL games, and ever-changing odds. Needless to say, this is an area of ​​ever-changing data, requiring lightning-fast decisions and updates.

Furthermore, since betting is done in real time, a slight delay on the platform can completely ruin the betting experience. Important for in-play odds for both sports.

Streaming esports matches are generally received with at least 1 minute delay, but can take up to 5 minutes in some cases. Dedicated bettors are aware of these delays, but they can be detrimental to newbies betting on streams.

The main causes of slow response times include heavy operations in the backend logic, hardware limitations, and improper configuration of related software.

Solutions and technologies such as WebSockets and HTTP 2.0 protocols, as well as Web server and database optimization, are recommended to eliminate these issues.

We also need to eliminate bloat, such as programs, apps, and plugins that take up space without providing much value. Third-party apps, duplicate pages, and CSS/JavaScript files can consume a lot of server resources.

Scalability

When we talk about betting platform scalability, we first have to think about transaction scalability.

If you’re dealing with parlays of the same game, you’ll have a huge data set that needs to be calculated and able to be simulated to determine the price, and you’ll get back a huge result set. For the prices that sportsbooks generate, we need to add scale and ensure consistency at both the edge and the core.

There are also architectural and geographic challenges. Regulation opens markets, but it also brings constraints. The Wire Act requires operators to have servers in every state where they are active. You need to build a cloud-based system that deploys and scales in many places and scales on top of AWS or Azure.

Additionally, you should be able to deploy key elements of the system that meet the regulatory requirements of each jurisdiction. Additionally, servers and software components must be deployed on casino properties as required by regulation.

So you don’t have to run 50 different sportsbooks, but one that scales to meet each state’s regulatory requirements.

Scalability tests allow you to measure the ability of a platform to scale up or out during traffic spikes with thousands (or more) of concurrent transactions. Some of the most common issues that can be detected during scalability testing include:

• Database originally built without scaling capabilities
• Old deployment solution
• Improper autoscaling configuration
• Even wrong subscriptions for cloud services.

Today, many autoscaling solutions such as AWS Auto Scale and Azure Autoscale automatically maintain the target performance of the platform.

stable

Stability is the most important factor for online sportsbook operators looking to drive acquisition and retention. Operators must ensure that all features and functions are working properly at all times and that bettors can access and use the sportsbook as expected, especially during peak betting volumes. there is.

To attract new players and cross-sell to current bettors, some operators are venturing into the online casino sector. This is where the real challenge begins. In addition to the high volume of daily transactions from online betting and additional spikes during major sporting events, there are many more concerns for operators offering online casinos. This culmination of transactions can put a lot of strain on the platform.

A large number of third-party plugins with legacy technology has left some operators in a perpetual race for the right balance between functionality and technology debt. Must be implemented. I’m looking for ways to eliminate glitches and improve the speed and tenacity of my solution. However, it becomes imperative to achieve a balance of architectures that allow the old and new to work together while maintaining reliability and stability.

The endurance test allows you to check the stability of your betting platform. Durability tests examine the platform under considerable load and prolonged use. All factors are tested, such as memory leaks, database connection closures, and connection closures between system layers.

To improve the stability of your betting product, consider:

• Configure your load balancer to assign new users quickly and accurately
• Add a caching layer to store subsets of data and serve data faster
• Settings such as proper autoscaling.

capacity

Facilitating wins during big sporting events seems tempting and many betting providers run millions of marketing campaigns during this time to offer generous bonuses. I see But this spending is wasted when operators don’t get the basics right and betting platforms aren’t strong enough to support the influx of new fans and betting. Data shows 91% of companies have downtime costs. Over $300,000 an hour.

Betting Platform Capacity means the number of users and/or transactions that can be processed simultaneously and achieve performance objectives. Betting platform capacity can be hampered by:

• Lack of database resources
• Network and bandwidth capacity limits at specific locations
• Poor quality source code with database limitations
• Source code written in older languages ​​and tools
• Architectures that cannot handle high volumes of transactions

Load testing helps determine platform capacity and plan activities for increased traffic. You can change your deployment approach, optimize requests to your database or configure additional servers to increase the capacity of your betting platform.

You should also carefully consider using the services of third-party technology providers instead of building your own product. but, Super Bowl LV showed Vulnerability of third party providers as some bettors were unable to place bets.

build a solid foundation

From NFT collections to holograms to live dealer studios, betting operators are constantly finding new and creative ways to attract and retain their fans. But don’t forget that technology is at the center of everything. No matter how much you invest in a new marketing campaign, you will lose bettors if your platform is full of flaws, delays at key moments during your event, or your design is not intuitive. A good platform performance should be the foundation of an online sportsbook. Operators who create innovative platforms that are secure, scalable, and engaging can win big.

final thoughts

In summary, it is imperative for online operators to ensure their platforms are well-designed, secure, scalable and stable. As the sports betting market continues to evolve and bettors become more demanding, online operators need to be agile and support the ability of their technology stack to adapt quickly.

At the same time, online operators continue to develop new features. There is no getting away from the fact that technology is key to the success of these initiatives and must be taken seriously. Otherwise, the best plans can go horribly wrong.

Russell Karp VP of Media and Entertainment at DataArt, a global technology consultancy that designs, develops and supports unique software solutions for clients. Recognized for its deep expertise and outstanding technical prowess in creating new products and modernizing complex legacy systems, DataArt has been partnering with global sports betting companies for almost a decade. During that time, the company has helped operators revolutionize the sports betting market by offering customers greater choice and better pricing. Clients include Paddy Power Betfair, Evolution Gaming, Glück Games and Playtech.