Algosport is sponsoring Betting on Football 2018, the fifth edition of the largest international football and betting trade conference at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC.
Ahead of the 20-23 March event, we spoke to the company’s CEO Leigh Herdman about what he is looking forward to at #bofcon2018, which innovation he expects to capture the most attention in 2018, and who he is backing to lift the World Cup trophy in Russia.
SBC: What are you looking forward to at Betting on Football?
LH: I’m looking forward to the sessions and talks on innovation, especially within the trading room. Since the advent of derivative and in-play pricing models, product innovation in the trading room has been pretty stale.
However recent developments, such as cashout, have shown there is an appetite amongst the betting public for these innovations. The example of cashout shows that not only do you need to get the innovation right, but it needs to be delivered in the most efficient way for the punter.
The concept of cashout has been around for a long time, yet it only exploded when it was reduced to a single button displaying ‘cashout’ along with the amount.
SBC: What are you promoting at Betting on Football?
LH: We will be promoting our Algosport software which will allow sportsbooks to automate the development of their trading solutions and new products. Companies who don’t already have their own in-house trading solutions will find our product a fast way to catch up with their rivals and remove dependencies from 3rd party suppliers.
Sportsbooks who already have their own trading models will also benefit, as many of their existing solutions were built at a time when overrounds were much higher and hence the models did not need to be as accurate as they need to be today.
These legacy trading systems are also holding back the development of the ‘next generation’ of betting products now entering the market. This is why we are starting to see much of the innovation in this area coming from small start-ups instead of the big established firms.
SBC: What industry innovation will capture the most attention in 2018?
LH: The innovation that will really take off this year is the betbuilder/request-a-bet type product we saw last year. However, for them to be truly exploited, they need to be fully automated, be available in-play and have a cashout option.
Customers love accumulators as they bring higher odds, as do bookmakers as they enjoy higher margins. Having a cashout option on top will bring an even higher margin. Imagine a customer has placed a five-leg pre-match same game acca. In-play, four legs are doing well, and one is letting them down. At this point cashout becomes a very attractive option.
SBC: How can your company help to improve the customer experience ahead of the World Cup?
LH: The fully automated same game acca, available in-play with cashout is a product we have developed; not only for football but for several others sports as well. Our implementation has a number of other benefits, such as, being available through the betslip, substantially reducing the number of ‘clicks’ a customer needs to place these bets, thus improving the customer experience.
Another feature is that we use the existing markets from the client’s sportsbook, reducing navigation and screen clutter which is critical, especially for mobile devices. With our solution existing screen clutter can also be reduced, e.g. why waste screen space offering the 1X2+O/U 2.5 goals market when the customer can create this market from within the betslip?
SBC: Who are you backing to win the tournament, and why?
LH: I’m backing England as I have done for previous World Cups. Although the odds are against them winning, I’m hoping they will have learned the lessons of previous World Cups; especially in regard to practising penalties.
This will be the 10th World Cup I have watched, so surely, it’s just a matter of time before they win again. Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day!