A look at micro betting

At the recent SBC North America conference I attended, a topic of great interest was micro betting. Micro betting is bets that are settled in a short timeframe (usually less than 10 minutes). These bets focus on individual moments in a game which are not related to the final score and are done in-play. Many bettors love these wagers because they provide instant gratification and sportsbooks love them because they continues to provide revenue throughout the game. These include bets such as will the next batter get a hit in a baseball game? Will the next play in an NFL game be a pass or run? 

According to the recent data, there was about $95 billion bet by Americans on sports over the last year in licensed sports markets. Approximately 1.5% to 2% of that total being bet on micro betting. Andrew Binson, the President and CEO of Sportsradar, has said that he expects that number will increase somewhere between 5% and 10% by the end of the decade. With the anticipated increase in sports betting, that could equate to around $20 billion being placed on micro bets in regulated North American markets.

Mark Hughes, the Chief Product Officer from PointsBet noted that U.S. sports, except for NBA, are perfectly suited for micro betting, although there are still some issues that need to be addressed. The problem of latency affects what can be offered and often customers are confused as to exactly what they are betting on? 

So how big will micro betting be?

A realistic figure suggested by Andrew Brinson is 5% to 10% of total sports betting handle. And, if the total legal sports betting handle gets to the figures cited, it could be massive. Experts believe that retail sportsbooks, online sportsbooks and lottery sports betting handle could reach $136 billion in 2023. If it continues to grow at that rate, it will reach $200 billion, or more, by the end of the decade. Five to 10% of that equates to up to $20 billion on instant micro bets. It’s no wonder the interest in micro betting has brought on so much interest in the gambling community.

Interested in this topic? If you want a more in-depth look at micro-betting, check my recent post at GamblersWORLD.com, where I dive into the U.S. licensed and regulated sports betting market.

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