Supplier News

UK – Football punters take a ‘scientific’ approach to backing players

By Phil - 22 November 2013

BetVictor, has seen a surge in popularity for a new, more objective way to back the best football players in any game. Collaborating with WhoScored.com, the fastest growing football statistics website in the UK and providers of the only Highest Rated Player statistics, BetVictor has seen punters jumping at the chance to place more ‘scientific’ bets, based on facts, to increase their chances of winning.

WhoScored.com specialises in the in depth study of football data, to offer their customers a more accurate market and BetVictor, spotting a customer need, identified via their Social Media channel @BetVictor, were quick to liaise and work with WhoScored.com to produce markets based on the results and research they provide.

The traditional, but arguably, subjective Man of the Match market has always been popular with punters but since BetVictor first introduced its Highest Rated Player market using WhoScored.com’s statistics they have been able to give their customers a viable alternative which continues to grow.

BetVictor has seen a nearly 300 per cent increase in the number of bets placed on the Highest Rated Player since the first month of opening the market.

WhoScored.com Managing Director, Cristiano Acconci, commented, “Football fans as well as the media are increasingly looking for alternatives to the subjective views of pundits when it comes to measuring the performance of a footballer. To have a completely objective and unbiased performance indicator, based on factual information, was needed to fill this gap, and that’s why the WhoScored.com Player Rating product was born – a completely objective and unbiased performance indicator.”

This view is shared by BetVictor’s spokesman, Charlie McCann, who has seen an unparalleled rise in demand for the Highest Rated Player, “We have been staggered by the number of customers, new and old, who have got involved in our markets involving the Highest Rated Player, Player with Most Shots and Player with Most Tackles. Man Of The Match remains extremely popular, but many customers prefer the objectivity of WhoScored.com’s statistical approach which, one could argue, gives a more accurate reflection on who has been the major influences over the 90 minutes.

“If the popularity of Highest Rated Player continues to grow as it has done, we expect the number of bets taken on their markets to overtake Man of the Match in a matter of weeks if not months. We offer these markets on all Premier League fixtures and many of the leading European games and internationals with Brazil 2014 very much in our thoughts.”

WhoScored.com’s unique Highest Rated Player market is based on a complex ratings system which is developed from their algorithm analysing over 200 raw statistics collected by Opta, these are calculated and updated live during every second of a match. Each value is based on a researched perception of the effect they have on the outcome of the match, with positive events measured against negative. The statistics are associated to a performance indicator for every player on the field giving a balanced and comprehensive value to each player’s performance.