The sports-betting deal announced yesterday between the owners of the Grand Slam of Curling and ALT Sports Data brought to a mind a discussion a few years back with former Curling Canada chief executive officer Katherine Henderson about how the sport of curling is so conducive to betting live.
“Curling is a complicated game,” said Henderson (who has since moved on to Hockey Canada as its president and CEO). “The beauty in it is the nuance, the strategies. We find that when people are betting responsibly on it, they follow the game more closely, learn about it, and tend to fall in love with it.
“What the skip of a team decides to do next can change the trajectory of the game, the strategy changes after every shot. So, it’s unpredictable, and that makes it right for micro betting. We have a population that is intelligent about the game, and it’s taking off [in popularity] around the world.”
The Curling Group, owners of the Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC), an elite series of men’s and women’s curling events featuring the best teams from around the world (which continues next week with the KIOTI National in St. John’s, Newfoundland), joined forces with ALT Sports Data, the San Diego-based trading and consumer-data company, to provide the Curling Group with data for sports betting worldwide.
“Our partnership with ALT Sports Data will open up a new world of engagement for curling fans; where real-time insights, advanced analytics, and seamless betting experiences come together to help elevate the sport,” said Nic Sulsky, Co-Founder and CEO, The Curling Group. “As the popularity of curling continues to rise internationally, our collaboration with ALT Sports Data will allow us to enhance the fan experience while unlocking new growth opportunities within untapped markets.”
Sulsky is the former chief commercial officer of PointsBet Canada who left that post in April to co-found The Curling Group, which then acquired the GSOC series from Sportsnet.
“This partnership exemplifies the transformative power of data in driving growth and deeper connections in emerging sports markets”, said Joe Dunnigan, Founder and CEO of ALT Sports Data. “By combining our expertise in real-time data capture and distribution with The Curling Group’s vision for enhancing fan engagement, we are not only elevating the sport of curling but also creating a new paradigm for how fans, broadcasters, and bettors interact with it globally.”
