Pulse

BETBY: adapting to a pandemic

By Lewis - 22 June 2021

Whilst we are far from seeing the back of COVID-19 and a return to ‘normality’, there is a growing optimism that the worst is behind us. Leonid Pertsovskiy, CEO of B2B sportsbook provider BETBY, looks back on 15 months of disruption for sports betting stakeholders. 

To say the Covid-19 pandemic caused disruption to the sports betting industry would be an understatement. Games cancelled overnight, entire competitions such as football’s Euros and the Tokyo Olympics delayed a year, or even just the sheer uncertainty of when sports would return lead to a gloomy outlook for many.

Our proactive approach to creative thinking and the efficiency of our integration to market is what has always separated us from the competition, but the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic meant we were in the same boat as everyone else, with the widespread cancellation of sporting competitions.

No amount of commercial success could have galvanised us from the challenges that the sports betting market would face as a result of the pandemic, so to remain relevant and retain our global audience in the face of the greatest disruption we’ve experienced in living memory, agility and resilience was needed by not just us, but by the entire industry.

The challenge facing all in the space was to find a way to provide immersive experiences for bettors while having a void of sporting competition.

However, like all challenges that occur, there are also opportunities if approached with a positive mindset. Our commitment to problem solving and willingness to adapt has been the key to our survival.

While little could have been done to prepare the platform for the pandemic, BETBY was able to rapidly pivot it’s offering to a proprietary virtual offering, which included a catalogue of over 1000 esports markets for the first time ever.

THE ROLE OF ESPORTS

Given the situation that we were presented with in early 2020, we needed to find a way to entertain our sport-crazed audience in the absence of live sport and maintain our market share.

The explosive growth of the esports industry in recent years and the exponential increase in sports fans following esports competitions inspired us to swiftly adjust our platform’s offering and facilitate virtual sport betting markets.

What has been key to its success is just how well the virtual environment could mimic the exciting and intense experiences that have always been associated with live sport events.

Producing a full-blown virtual solution in a very short period of time demonstrated the versatility and proficiency of BETBY’s service, providing partners with an invaluable opportunity to retain their market share and players throughout a very troubling period.

The esports portfolio has seen staggering growth since its launch in 2020, ensuring the platform’s stability over what has been a very unsettling period of time, while opening doors to exciting new possibilities in the future. The collection’s interface has been designed to be as smooth and straightforward as possible for operator partners and players alike.

In an era of prolonged integration roadmaps and fixed, one size only offerings, BETBY’s flexibility and willingness to adapt has allowed it to go from strength to strength.

The Betby.Games collection features unique AI-led esports products that utilise BETBY’s machine learning and AI algorithms to provide tournaments centred around popular sports, such as football, cricket and basketball. Generating outcomes for tournaments with innovative AI software is a real game changer, as it ensures that the products are available across all markets, all the time.

The charm of the Betby.Games collection is that it offers more than your typical virtual game; there is no controllable or predefined RNG in the game mechanics, so there is no need for human interaction of any kind for the tournaments to remain operational. This is what will ensure the collection’s longevity, making it an invaluable addition to the platform.

The decision to launch completely new projects in the face of a worldwide pandemic is a testament to our open approach to problem solving and our willingness to go above and beyond to offer a first-rate service to our clients.

We have been able to gather valuable data on user behaviour and betting patterns having interacted with millions of fervent sport fans across the globe over the past year, which will aid the launch of future projects.

TAKING A BREATH

The pandemic gave suppliers and indeed operators the chance to review their offerings in a very rare pause for the industry. What is clear is that the sports betting industry responded with resilience and a can-do attitude, which was inspiring to behold.

From new products, exciting collaborations or even a reshuffle of business priorities, we’ve seen so many examples of positive outcomes from different parties.

Looking back over the past year, it has been an extremely intense period for BETBY and the sports betting industry, but it has really highlighted the immense talent and inventive nature of our team.

We never could have imagined the universal shutdown of live sport due to the spread of a virus, but it provided us with a rare opportunity to make necessary, long-term changes to the platform that will be integral to our continued and exciting progress as a supplier.

Uncertainty is never enjoyable for any company or industry, but as we emerge to a packed sporting calendar, there are more opportunities than ever before.