Simplebet And Intralot Strike Real Money Betting Micro-Markets Deal

Simplebet announced today that it will be partnering with betting and lottery supplier Intralot to launch new in-play, real money micro-market betting opportunities for the NFL, MLB, and NBA.

Simplebet, a B2B product development company using machine learning and automation to enable every moment of every sporting event to become a betting opportunity, known as Micro-Markets, will offer millions of new and engaging betting opportunities across Intralot Orion, the next generation Sports Betting platform.

Simplebet’s proprietary Micro-Markets pricing engine powers in real-time both the market mechanics of a betting market (i.e. creation, suspension, repricing, and resulting) and odds for each selection. Simplebet’s Micro-Market pricing engine provides fans literally millions of additional betting opportunities tied to the moments that drive the consumption of U.S. sports. Intralot and Simplebet will begin rolling out the products this NFL season and potentially later this MLB postseason, with plans to launch for the next NBA season. Globally, Intralot operates in 42 regulated jurisdictions with an average of $21.5 billion in annual wagering..

Simplebet, which launched its technology this summer, has raised $35 million to date from investors that include former tennis star Andre Agassi, former Starbucks
SBUX
chairman Howard Schultz, MLB’s San Francisco Giants; David Blitzer, a co-owner and co-managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and Crystal Palace FC; Jeff Mallett, the founding COO and president of Yahoo, the principal partner of the San Francisco Giants and the co-owner and executive chairman of Vancouver Whitecaps FC; Steve Ellman, a former owner and chairman of the Phoenix Coyotes; and David Levy, a former president of Turner Sports.

Simplebet, which also provides services to media companies, including Marquee Sports Network, the new TV home of the Chicago Cubs, has been moving quickly. In early September, the company announced its first major product with FanDuel’s Sportsbook and Daily Fantasy Sports apps.

FanDuel to launch a free-to-play game to offer mock in-play bets for the 2020 National Football League season. FanDuel’s PlayAction is a real-time game where fans can make picks to predict plays and drives, while winning tokens every quarter of every game. Players are awarded 1,000 tokens each quarter and each pick can be up to 100 tokens. Every quarter customers compete to win real prizes on a leaderboard.

A few week later, Simplebet announced a partnership with industry leader and premier global sportsbook operator, PointsBet, on new in-play, micro market betting opportunities across PointsBet’s platform, which gave fans the opportunity to bet on every play and every drive for NFL; every pitch and plate appearance for MLB; every possession for NBA; and many other new micro-markets such as what will happen the next time a specific player touches the ball. Through the partnership, PointsBet will expand their offerings to consumers by providing literally millions of new betting opportunities live during games.

Simplebet’s mission is to power the future of fan engagement, especially the casual sports fan, by creating betting opportunities for every moment of every sporting event, and thus far its game plan is working. In an exclusive interview with Forbes, Simplebet co-founder Chris Bevilacqua said the company is creating a user experience that is catering to the casual fan and will have over 2.5 million betting opportunities across the entire NBA, MLB and NFL seasons. Bevilacqua noted that Fan Duel’s PlayAction has been up live for four weeks and the average user was making 25 or more bets and spending 23 minutes on the app per game. Over 10% of the users were spending over two hours on the app per day. Moreover, the app has had a 30% retention rate thus far.

Aside from its licensing deals with the NBA, NFL and MLB, Simplebet, which as a long-term licensing deal with Sportradar, ensuring it has the data necessary to create and run its models in real time (for more on Sportradar, check out this Forbes SportsMoney video).