Beyond the big match: how 24/7 content is reshaping sports betting

Always-on betting has evolved from a nice-to-have into a core part of the modern sportsbook proposition. James McKiernan, Commercial Director at Genius Sports, Paul Witten, Managing Director (EMEA) at SIS, and Christian Erlandsson, Director of Sports at Coolbet, examine how operators are balancing scale, integrity and engagement while keeping bettors entertained between the biggest moments in sport. What are the key ingredients to deploy a successful 24/7 content offering? Alongside the core content, what else is required to ensure events are delivered reliably and at scale? James McKiernan, Commercial Director at Genius Sports. James McKiernan: Today’s sports bettor expects a 24/7 online betting product, with player markets, betbuilder and real-time promotions on the major sports, through to always-on live streaming options in the evening and during the day. Of course, Europe’s top five leagues are crucial – but how do you keep customers engaged on weekdays and during the summer? More than one-third of European football fixtures kick-off on Saturday and Sunday, from 12pm – 4pm (UTC), for example. When it comes to midweek scheduling, the EFL, National League and Icelandic football are among the mainstays. Thanks to our official sports partnerships, Argentine and Mexican football remain highly-popular betting leagues in the summer. Even during the World Cup, the need for content didn’t disappear. We saw utilisation for the Swedish Allsvenskan soar, with BetVision adding appeal to Sweden’s domestic league, which was played outside of World Cup hours. BetVision has injected huge new life into hundreds of off-peak betting leagues globally. It’s increased averaged viewing time by 17%, and live betting turnover by 2x. Paul Witten, Managing Director (EMEA) at SIS. Paul Witten: A successful 24/7 offering relies on a combination of the highest possible standards of technological delivery, professionalism and trust. If you look at our Competitive Gaming product, the core ingredient is high-integrity, human-versus-human competition. As a product built from the ground up by SIS in the UK, we have ensured that every event we create features professional gamers competing in controlled studio environments overseen by live referees. To deliver this at a scale of over 260,000 events a year, you need a robust, end-to-end infrastructure. This includes cloud-based broadcasting to minimise latency and a global operational mindset. Finally, adhering to ESIC Gold Standards ensures that always-on also means always-fair, which is a commercial necessity for operator and bettor confidence. Christian Erlandsson, Director of Sports at Coolbet. Christian Erlandsson: There has always been a need for 24/7 content, particularly for sportsbooks that rely heavily on major sports such as football, basketball, ice hockey and tennis. The challenge is that there simply are not enough live events taking place around the clock to sustain engagement. Historically, virtual sports were used to fill those gaps, and they served a purpose for certain customer segments. However, many bettors viewed them as being too close to casino products rather than genuine sports betting experiences. The turning point came during COVID when operators suddenly needed alternative content to replace the absence of live sport. That accelerated the growth of eLeagues and betting-focused esports products such as FIFA and eBasketball. These products filled a genuine market need and have continued to grow ever since. Today, eLeagues offer something virtual sports struggle to replicate. They are more engaging, more recognisable and feel more authentic because there are real players competing. Bettors can follow form, understand the competition and feel invested in the outcome. For many customers, that creates a far more compelling betting experience. To accommodate the need for content across all hours of the day, how do you ensure the quality remains of the highest standard and not simply deployed to fill the schedule? CE: Ultimately, betting activity is the gold standard for measuring quality. If customers are not engaging with a product, it does not matter how much content you put in front of them. The success of esports demonstrates this perfectly. These products are designed around the betting experience. Events are typically concise, lasting between eight and twenty minutes, and the entire experience is packaged in a way that allows customers to follow the action from start to finish. Because everything unfolds within a relatively short timeframe, bettors can remain engaged throughout, place multiple wagers as events develop and enjoy a highly interactive experience. In many ways, these products are better suited to modern betting behaviour than some traditional sports. PW: Quality is maintained by treating esports sports simulations in exactly the same way as live sporting events. Every match features professional gamers in a head-to-head format, preserving the human element bettors enjoy, with every second overseen by a professional referee. By using familiar formats – eSoccer, eBasketball and eAmerican Football – and real-world player likenesses, the content is instantly recognisable and authentic for sports fans. We also focus on quickfire events, with matches completing in 10 to 30 minutes. This high-frequency turnover meets modern digital consumption habits without sacrificing the production values of a live broadcast. JM: First-and-foremost, integrity is a primary consideration. Through the wider Genius business, we’re at the forefront of protecting sporting integrity. Whether that’s round-the-clock monitoring of the recent FIFA World Cup as part of their special taskforce or working in partnership with the NFL and PGA TOUR, through bespoke integrity education programmes, these measures are critical to the fight against betting-related corruption. We price over 600,000 fixtures per year – and ensure every market, on every fixture, is treated with the highest-standard of integrity protection measures. We deliver an official betting product in partnership with over 400 sports leagues, and only onboard third-party content partners, such as SIS, when our robust integrity standards are met. Secondly, we put a major focus on driving value for our partners. This includes strategically investing in content that makes a different. Both big hits with BetVision, Swedish and Icelandic football are an example of this. There’s our new official NCAA Bowl coverage, too, plus so much more. With Genius, over 300 operators get access to engaging betting content around-the-clock. A few years ago, there was a race among many suppliers to secure the biggest event coverage possible – but we’ve reached a saturation point. It’s now about delivering content in the most frictionless way. Beyond the major sports, which other events are proving more popular with bettors and becoming a vital component to delivering 24/7 coverage? What role do they play in keeping bettors engaged around major tournaments such as the World Cup? PW: Esports sports simulations have transitioned from niche products to key content pillars for sportsbooks all over the world. They are vital because they bridge the engagement gap, both between seasons and in and around live actions when real-life sport is taking place. During a massive event like the World Cup, bettors faced waits between matches, during rest days and even at half-time breaks or post the final whistle, when they were looking for entertainment. Short-form sports simulations provide a faster version of sports they already love. If a fan understands a 4-4-2 formation, they instinctively understand eSoccer. By placing sports sims featuring instantly recognisable leagues, teams and players on the same tabs as live major tournament markets, operators could offer instant alternatives during half-time, pre-match or post-match lulls. This familiarity is the engine behind the 10% incremental revenue uplift we often see from our operator partners. JM: We’re seeing growing demand for eSoccer and eAmerican Football, with a huge spike in popularity since adding it to BetVision earlier this year. Table tennis is one of the best examples niche content becoming a betting staple. The sport gained significant traction during the global pandemic when many traditional sports were unavailable, and it has remained popular ever since. It provides a fast-paced betting experience, frequent 24/7 event scheduling and strong engagement levels. Additionally, we partner with the ITF Tour which has 70,000 annual fixtures all over the world. With high-frequency scheduling and large in-play appeal, this is popular content for our customers globally. Continued investment in automation and our in-play trading models enables us to deliver non-stop betting coverage from around the world. CE: Esports have become one of the most important products in filling the gaps between major sporting events. They are not for everyone, but they appeal to a large audience because they offer something familiar. Football fans, for example, immediately understand what they are watching when they see a FIFA match. Beyond simply filling overnight schedules, these products also play an important role during major sporting events. Tournaments such as the World Cup and European Championship naturally create gaps between matches, whether that is a few hours or several days. It also creates a more complete betting journey, allowing customers to move seamlessly between pre-match, in-play and post-match betting opportunities while remaining within the same sportsbook ecosystem. Outside of esports, sports such as darts and table tennis continue to perform well because they are easy to understand. That is an important factor. Customers need to understand the rules, follow what is happening and feel confident enough to place a bet. Regional content also plays a major role. Asian football and basketball leagues, for example, can help fill scheduling gaps in different time zones and provide a bridge between major sporting events. At Coolbet, local relevance is particularly important. Markets such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Canada all have their own sporting preferences. Ice hockey performs exceptionally well in Nordic markets and Canada, whereas cricket thrives in Commonwealth nations but has far less appeal elsewhere. Looking ahead, I would like to see esports content become more diversified and locally tailored. There are practical challenges around scaling that type of content, but there is significant potential to create more regionalised products that resonate with specific audiences. How important is it for operators to partner with specialist providers when looking to scale the markets they offer on more niche betting events? JM: By continually expanding our in-house trading capabilities and partnering with third-party content providers, we provide our customers with all the best betting content from around the world in one place. This includes our leading official-data powered football, basketball and NFL products, but also top-class offerings for EA Sports FC, NBA 2K and Madden via our partnership with SIS, and cricket alongside trading specialists Decimal. In total, we trade over 600,000 fixtures per year, whether it’s in-house or through a trusted partner. This gives operators consistent, reliable pricing for all pre-match, in-play and betbuilder markets – and every event they need – through one integration, consistent models, and in one commercial package. It removes all the headaches that come with complex integrations and fragmented supplier relationships. Our partnership with SIS is a good example. Their robust competitive gaming product combines recognised titles to create trusted, reliable fast-paced 24/7 betting content as an add-on for Genius customers. CE: One of the biggest considerations when evaluating niche content is understanding where it originates, how it is managed and whether its integrity can be relied upon. There are providers in the market that I would not feel comfortable working with because there are legitimate questions around oversight and control. This is similar to what we see in live casino. Many suppliers operate to a very high standard, but there are also examples where controls are weaker and concerns around collusion, cheating or manipulation become more significant. For operators, the objective is not simply to source more content. It is to source content that is safe, trustworthy and beyond reproach. Quality is about much more than presentation and entertainment value. It is also about ensuring that events are fair, transparent and protected against integrity risks. Price is always a consideration, but when it comes to betting content, trust is often the deciding factor. PW: It is critical. Scaling niche or sports simulated events involves immense regulatory and technical complexity. For instance, the nature of the game means that eAmerican Football is structurally more tactically than eSoccer. Each play of an eAmerican Football game is a carefully considered action upon which the result of the entire game can hinge. This means that we need to approach our trading strategy and the technology that supports it completely differently, from the data points that we track to the pricing models that we deploy. This all requires specialised expertise and extensive testing Specialist providers can handle the heavy lifting of integrity requirements and US state-by-state licensing, which can be significant barriers to entry. By partnering with a specialist like SIS, operators gain access to a proposition that already has the upscale capacity, trained gamers, and ESIC-level oversight in place. This allows operators to scale instantly without the operational headache of building a high-integrity sports league from scratch.