Ian Bradley: Big Bang just the start for SBTech in 2019
Just a few moments after the eagerly anticipated launch of Exploding Jackpots at ICE London, SBC News was there to talk to Ian Bradley, SBTech’s Chief Strategy Officer.
We asked him what SBTech had learned from the successful Pulse reveal in 2018, and how the ‘Big Bang’ will bring about a new betting experience for SBTech partners.
SBC: What did you learn from last year’s Pulse reveal?
IB: We had great success with the Pulse launch last year, so we wanted to continue to drive innovation. Pulse has been very successful for our partners.
Success has been two-fold, one: for SBTech in terms of how we talk and communicate with partners on the innovative features we can deliver, and two: for our partners who can offer our cutting-edge technology and new and highly engaging ways to bet to their players which, in turn, leads to a world-class betting experience.
With the Big Bang launch, it was very similar. We launched two products at ICE: Exploding Jackpots and In-Play Aggregates, and it’s that innovation they can really talk to their customers about.
SBC: How will the Big Bang bring about a new betting experience for SBTech partners?
IB: The Big Bang centres on real-time progressive jackpots. Progressive jackpots exist across several game vendors’ own games already. However, we decided to offer a series of timed, ‘must-drop’ jackpots across all game vendors, so it could be NetEnt, Red Tiger, Scientific Games, IGT and many others.
Plus, we can now offer this across our entire sportsbook product and across any bet. This means operators can undertake highly targeted marketing promotions around what specific users want to bet on, whether it’s a certain game type or whether it’s the Super Bowl.
An example might be ‘It’s the Super Bowl, come and bet live with us’, and a jackpot would be positioned to drop at any point during this event if players deposit £50 to £100 for example.
SBC: What are the key target markets for the product?
IB: The target markets for Exploding Jackpots are any of the regulated markets across Europe and the US where we have platform partners. It’s a unique feature for them to talk about and is really targeting that fun, recreational demographic that is looking for new and exciting ways to bet, enjoy their experience and win.
If you look at In-Play Aggregates, that’s more focused across Europe where soccer bettors skip from game to game – across the Bundesliga, La Liga and the Premier League. In the UK we have Soccer Saturday, and then you go to the US and you’ve got things like the Red Zone on a Sunday, which means that people consume all games at once.
They’re watching all these games, they’re watching highlights as it jumps around, so we’re really targeting the recreational fun of it all. It targets millennials, or Generation Z who have access to all the relevant games at once.
SBC: Why did you bring Tyson Fury on board to support the Big Bang launch?
IB: We decided to bring Tyson Fury along for the Big Bang launch, mainly because he’s got a huge punch, he’s not lost in ten years as he said, and we wanted to make a really big impact. SBTech has really gone from strength-to-strength over the last ten years so it was a match made in heaven.
SBC: What are the big hopes and targets for SBTech in 2019?
IB: We’re going to continue to push our features, going live with Exploding Jackpots and In-Play Aggregates, and extending Pulse and the Yourbet Betbuilder style products, for example, while the US is going to have a lot of attention placed on it for sports as more states regulate.
SBTech has achieved a great deal in 10 years, however we have huge ambitions to achieve even more, whether that’s across Europe or in the US. We’re launching some very exciting new European partners in the first half of the year and we’re building the whole of their front-end from our APIs.
Also, as states start to regulate in the US, we’re going to have an aggressive roll out strategy for all our partners in retail and online. We’ve already launched the Big Bang and I’m sure there’ll be a lot more to come from SBTech.
Source: SBC News
