NEW YORK – The types of data available to the gaming industry, and the value of that data, is set to skyrocket as sports betting evolves in the U.S.
In particular, the prospect of in-play betting – wagers placed on plays or situations that occur during games – would cause the amount of data created to increase exponentially.
“We think there’s enormous potential for the use of our data for betting,” PGA Tour vice president and assistant general counsel David Miller said Thursday during a panel discussion at ICE Sports Betting USA conference.
Miller outlined the PGA’s ShotLink system, which captures “25 different data elements, from lie to carry to where it ended up” from every shot of a tournament. Those shots, Miller said, number over 10,000 for each tournament.
The panel was moderated by Chad Millman, head of media for the Action Network. Participants included Miller; Simon Clarke, senior wagering manager for the Australian Football League; and Jack Davidson, chief commercial officer for Genius Sports.
Clarke underscored the panel’s theme in his opening statement, saying that the data created by the AFL wasn’t yet all that valuable “because we don’t have in-play betting.” He said that the sale of data only represented about one percent of the league’s gaming-related revenue.
“I think it’s about time we accepted in-play in Australia and we’re working on the government,” he said.
Genius’ Davidson cautioned the audience of gaming professionals not to get swept up in irrational fear over the potential costs attached to this data, saying in response to a suggestion that data rights might soon be as valuable as television rights that “there’s plenty of value to be found, but I’m not sure you’re going to see that (quantum) increase for a long time. I anticipate this market is still going to be dominated by pregame (wagering).”
With the addition of in-play, he said, things will likely change. “In-play needs good data, and the leagues have good data.”
“I think Jack may be underselling it a bit,” Miller said to scattered laughter, “because he buys rights, he doesn’t sell them.”
Miller said that it might depend on the sport: golf, he said, has 0.5 percent of the global betting market, whereas tennis, a similar individualistic sport with discrete data events, commands 8 to 10 percent.
“I think we all agree that it’s a big opportunity,” Davidson said.
Miller said that he thinks data and broadcast rights will eventually be bundled for sale, saying that to an extent it already had; the PGA’s recent deal with deal “includes the right to distribute video and create betting tools.”
Davidson gave a brief description of Genius’ deal with the NBA, saying that the company would “take that raw data that (they) get from the NBA and turn that into an in-game product. We can do that in a very scalable way… we turn data into product, we integrate it into sportsbooks, and they make money from that.”
“We’re really good at what we do, and we’ve got lots of customers who want to buy that stuff from us,” Davidson said. He praised the NBA for taking a “really interesting approach” with the deal, saying that the league wants to help drive operators’ business. And the deal is non-exclusive, which is evidence, he said, that the NBA wants “to get it as far and wide as possible.”
Fielding an audience question about how to protect data from third-party scrapers and whether or not such circumstances – including that the U.S currently has no laws protecting sports data – Miller admitted the challenge but said that he believed that data provided by the leagues was the best and most accurate available, and would be available, even if incrementally, more quickly than that of a third party.
“We’ve been kicking out courtsiders from our events. We obviously have scrapers on our website. It’s sort of like Whack-a-Mole,” he said. “It’s a real problem.”
“I actually think David’s got a relatively straightforward way of protecting his data – courtsiding is really, really hard to do in golf,” Davidson said in a follow-up.
“But do bettors care?” Millman asked. “People are doing it with unofficial data now. How are they going to feel like their experience is enhanced if their data (comes) from an official provider?”
Miller talked about users going “berserk” when the PGA’s data feed is delayed. He suggested that there would be a heightened expectation for in-play: “If you’ve placed money on it, you’d want to know your results right away, and you’d want to know that they’re accurate.”
Davidson also pointed out that these deals aren’t only about data. “They create marketing partnerships. You want to be able to communicate with your customers.
“I’m not sure the punter, the player, cares that much. But I think there’s enough value exchanged in the relationship between a sport and an operator.”
