Microbets are one of the fastest growing segments in sports betting and a group of panelists suggested its growth will explode in the next few years. The remarks were made during a panel discussion at the recent SBC Summit North America.
Microbetting is similar to in-play wagering, but whereas in-play wagering revolves around outcomes, such as Over/Unders and spreads, microbetting centers on specific instances in the game.
For example, a bettor can make a microbet on a baseball game on whether the first pitch will be a ball or strike. In football, it could be on whether the next pass thrown will be a complete, incomplete or intercepted. The attraction is that bettors don’t have to wait until the end of the game to settle their bet. They can also have several microbets placed on one game.
“Customers are immediately engaged in the bet,” Mark Hughes, chief product officer for PointsBet told the Associated Press. “You don’t have to wait very long for your bet to settle. You’re going to get more play, longer sessions. It’s going to be a really popular bet going into the future.”
Scott Kaufman-Ross, vice president and head of fantasy and gaming for the NBA, said microbetting is well suited for basketball’s rapid style of play “because there are so many changes in scoring.”
“Say the (Golden State) Warriors are down 15, and then Steph (Curry) gets hot and the score is then tied — how do you build something around that?” Kaufman-Ross told AP. “How do you make that something that happens in-game and predicts the next run?”
One of the leading companies for microbets is Betr. The microbetting company already has a presence in Ohio and Massachusetts
“It introduces instant gratification to the sports betting experience,” said Joey Levy, the company’s founder and CEO.
Critics, however, are worried that microbetting could lead to an increase in problem gambling. Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, told AP that the rapid-fire nature of microbetting flies in the face of responsible gambling behavior.
“That heavy frequency is associated with gambling problems,” Whyte said. “You can get a hit of dopamine every few seconds; it’s more akin to playing a slot machine than betting on sports. People can get in this trance-like state where they just try to stay in action, and bet over and over again just to feel that same kind of high.”
Levy countered that argument, saying companies need to take the same steps they use in other areas of sports betting to make sure it doesn’t become a problem.
“I may be one of this industry’s only executives that says the house always wins and that customers should expect to lose over the long-run,” Levy said. “It should be a form of entertainment. We approach microbetting the same way: You allocate $20 or $50 or $100 to make $2 bets on a pitch.”
Kevin Fulmer, vice president of digital sports for Caesars Entertainment, told AP the new technology presents new opportunities for gambling companies.
“We know the technology is there,” Fulmer said. “It’s all about sending the right bet to the right customer at the right time.”
