Live betting at online sportsbooks stands to account for 70% of all sports bets placed in the US by 2023. In an effort to capitalize on the surging revenue stream, Dallas-based nVenue, a sports betting and technology company, has launched its own NFL “micro-betting” markets.
Micro-betting: How does it work?
Micro-betting, which is essentially sports betting on specific parts of a game in real time, allows bettors to make wagers on the thousands of betting opportunities that can happen during live games.
Take baseball, for example. Micro-betting allows bettors to bet on pitch type, pitch result and also pitch speed, just to name a few possibilities.
nVenue is able to offer micro-betting through its NextPlayLive API technology. According to nVenue’s website,
“[NextPlayLive API technology is] a cloud-based platform that analyzes over 120 inputs including key data points live from the field, historical player and league data, and even considers venue details to generate predictions in less than one second.”
These predictive analytics can be seen in NextPlayLive API’s NFL dashboard (shown below). The first screen shows the predictions of a drive in real time. The second screen is the betting feed for that drive:
NFL dashboard:
Predictions of a drive in real time
Betting feed for the same drive
NextPlayLive API offers 3 micro-betting categories
Micro-betting opportunities that NextPlayLive API offers bettors can be separated into three specific categories: play-by-play, play series and also game segments.
In terms of the NFL:
- Play-by-play bets could be based on what type of play will be called (rush/pass), yards gained on a specific play or kickoff results.
- Play series bets would be based around the results of a set of downs or the first team to a certain number of points.
- Game segments bets would focus on possession and/or quarter results.
According to nVenue, over 70,000 football markets will be available for operators and data providers each week during the NFL season.
The man behind the machine
To promote NextPlayLive API, nVenue brought on former ESPN fantasy football expert and NBC Sports analyst Matthew Berry to its advisory team. Berry explained his role in a recent interview with WFAA.com.
“I have always believed in the value that nVenue’s technology brings to the table for fans. I’ve made a career out of giving advice, and I look forward to sharing the many learnings of my career in sports with the team. I believe micro-betting will be the next big way for fans to engage with sports. And nVenue’s technology expertise is taking this to the next level.”
With his sports-analysis background, Berry offers a unique viewpoint to NextPlayLive API, said Kelly Pracht, CEO & founder of nVenue.
“Matthew has been tremendously helpful in his advisory role for nVenue. He has encouraged us to be creative with our markets and think intentionally about the future of micros for football. We look forward to collaborating with him to showcase millions of NFL micro-bets to fans each year.”
Will Texas see any micro-betting revenue?
While “micro-bet” suggests small wagers on numerous live betting opportunities, there’s no doubt that the wagering operators and the states that allow sports betting will see massive boosts to their bottom lines.
Total online gaming and also sports betting revenue in 2021 was $7.7 billion. According to leading gaming consulting firm Vixio GamblingCompliance, that figure could triple to $24 billion by 2026.
As a state that doesn’t allow sports betting, Texas is one of the last holdouts. Should Texas want to legalize sports betting, 2023 would be the next opportunity.
Requiring a constitutional amendment, sports betting would need to pass through the Legislature with a two-thirds vote. After that, the governor’s signature would send it to the ballot.
