Australian betting company Tabcorp hopes a computer-generated sports simulation program will give it a competitive edge against online sports betting rivals including Sportsbet and Ladbrokes.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the multibillion-dollar sportsbook will implement an artificial intelligence (AI) program to predict the outcome of American football games, enabling it to take bets on more elements of each game.
The Age said the country’s largest bookmaker has found itself at a disadvantage in Australia’s $5.5 billion sport and racing wagering market due to its emphasis on retail.
Tabcorp’s investment in technology is more important than ever as the company plans to split its wagering unit and its lucrative lotteries division into two separate ASX-listed companies.
The AI sports simulator processes thousands of data points from past NFL games and within a second can run 10,000 “simulations” to predict the likely performance of any two teams as well as individual players.
Tabcorp General Manager of Trading David Beirne said the technology could boost betting markets for single NFL games from around 60 to more than twice that. “We’ll be able to expand our NFL product range across all aspects of match outcomes and player markets,” Beirne said. “This is a great outcome for us.”
Tabcorp will start using its simulator when NFL season starts in September. It’s also developed simulations for NBA basketball and tennis. NBA is Tab’s biggest sporting league by betting turnover; the NFL ranks fifth behind the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League and English Premier League football.
Tabcorp Chief Information Officer Françoise Russo said data and analytics will “only get more important to our business in future.”
