Placing bets on the outcome of sporting events has been a popular past-time around the world for thousands of years. Even the Romans placed bets on chariot races! Today, that tradition has carried on into one of the fastest growing segments of the global gambling industry. In fact, the global sports betting market was valued at $66.98 billion in 2020, and is expected to increase by $106.25 billion USD by 2025. Driving this incredible growth is modern sports betting app development, which has made it more accessible and easier to understand than ever before.
Thinking about diving into the world of sports betting apps? Here’s what you’ll need to know about sports betting app development.
How Does Sports Betting Work?
The basics of gambling haven’t changed much over the centuries: you risk money on the prediction of a certain outcome – if you’re right, you get a reward; if you’re wrong, you lose your money.
While this core concept is simple, today’s sports betting comes in a variety of styles. You’ll need to be familiar with each of them to create a profitable mobile app.
5 Popular Kinds of Sports Bets
Moneyline
Moneyline betting is straightforward: you place a bet on who wins, and get a reward, the size of which depends on if your winner is the favorite or an underdog. For example, placing a $500 bet on the favorite might result in $100 in winnings. However, placing a $100 bet on an underdog might get you $500 when they win, depending on odds.
Head-to-Head
Head-to-head betting is an aspect of Moneyline in which you bet on a single winner. Examples come from horse and auto racing.
Parlays
Also referred to as accumulator bets, parlays combine many bets into one wager. Potential profits are increased as more bets are added. On the other hand, if any of the bets in the pool lose, the entire wager is lost.
Teaser
A variation on the parlay, in teaser bets you receive a smaller payoff when the point spread shifts in your favor. Sports betting apps targeting basketball, soccer, and football can get the most benefit from teaser betting.
Prop Bets
While gambling is common and widespread, many people have never placed a sports bet before. The best sports betting apps keep this group in mind and offer a fun and easy introduction with prop bets. These sorts of bets are designed to require no knowledge of the sport or the teams playing. Prop bets might include, for example, which team will win the coin toss, or which team will score first, even as farfetched as how many yards a certain pass rusher will accumulate during a football game. Prop bets are typically undertaken for the entertainment value and don’t necessarily require in depth knowledge of the sport. They’re just for fun with little to no strategy involved.
Sports Betting App Development: Key Features & Functionality
Any successful sports betting application will include two main components: the admin panel and the user panel.
Admin Panel
The admin panel of a sports betting app handles financial transactions, regulates new users, and monitors the app’s performance. Furthermore, this dashboard needs to include an adequate toolkit to examine user activity and present important metrics. As users sign up and revenue increases, these analytics will become invaluable for things like adjusting marketing, offers, sports selection, targeting, and your overall business plan. This makes it a critical part of the sports betting app development process.
To ensure all of this, the admin panel will need features like:
Dashboard
One of the most important features to include in the admin panel is the dashboard. From here, all the features of the admin panel can be accessed.
User Management
Here, the admin can supervise actions performed by both bettors and regular users. Users can then be banned when discrepancies or malicious activity is discovered.
Prize & Payment Management
This allows admins to manage payments received from users as bets, and distribute prize payment to winners.
Game Management
With game management, admins can modify bet limits on individual games or matches, while observing the ongoing events.
Bookmaker Management
Bookmaker management is so critical that, without it, you can’t make bets. Here, admins can easily apply the best betting process to ensure the best user experience.
Revenue Management
This feature helps the admin manage all revenue generated from user betting. What’s more, they can control money transactions like game fees, distribution of prize money, withdrawal, and refund requests, etc.
Marketing Tools
Including a marketing tool in the admin panel allows for the implementation of several marketing strategies, including promotional messages, social media messages, email marketing, and more.
User Panel
The user panel is what your customers will see when they use the app. As such, there are several critical features to include:
Registration
Users should be able to create an account and log in and out of it. You’ll need to know the regulations for the areas in which you are operating and apply methods for preventing minors from accessing the app.
Menu
A menu in the panel is crucial, in that it allows users access to all the features and functionality your app offers. This may include the user’s account, bets, wallet, notification, settings, friends, etc. What’s more, an app offering betting on several sports should provide a list of options in the main menu.
How-To Guides
Include an easy to access – and understand – guide that explains each type of betting. This way, users don’t have to leave the application to get information.
Betting
This is the most important aspect of any sports betting application. The objective is a simple and intuitive user interface. It should easily guide users through each step of the betting process. The more straightforward the betting process is, the more willing people will be to participate.
Schedules & Statistics
Gambling is a numbers game. For that reason, you’ll need to help users stay informed on game schedules, expert commentary, future match-up odds, and thorough team and player statistics. The more detailed your statistics, the more confidence users will have – and confidence encourages betting.
Live Scoreboard
Provide real-time scores to keep users engaged. This encourages them to place bets and use the app more frequently.
Wagers
Users should always have access to their existing bets.
Wallet
Users will want to link their credit cards and payment systems to the application. Make it easy for them to do so. This way, after the initial setup, making a wager is as simple as a single finger tap.
Notifications
Your users will want to be notified about important events, game results, and new messages. When it comes to exciting news and bet outcomes, push notifications are advantageous.
Challenges Involved With Sports Betting App Development
The nature of mobile application development always means you’ll need to navigate significant budgetary and technological challenges. However, when it comes to sports betting app development, there are also several layers of legal concerns to plan for.
Regional Laws & Regulations
Before you begin the sports betting app development process, you’ll need to obtain a gambling license. Sports betting is not legal everywhere, which means you’ll need to apply for licenses in each country and state you want to launch your app in.
You’ll need to navigate gambling regulations that differ between countries, states, and provinces. This is critical, as the distinctions – even between neighboring jurisdictions – can be significant. For example, sports betting is legal in thirty-two states and Washington DC, however, online/mobile sports betting is legal in only eighteen of them. Legally, your app cannot be accessed outside of those eighteen states.
App Stores
In addition to the legal regulations, you’ll need to stay on top of app store regulations. App stores also have restrictions for gambling apps and failure to adhere to them risks your place in the store.
Google Play Store
The Google Play Store’s guidelines for betting apps include:
- Your app must comply with all applicable laws and industry standards for each country in which it is distributed;
- Developer must have a valid gambling license for each country or state/territory in which the app is distributed;
- Developer must not offer a type of gambling product that exceeds the scope of its gambling license;
- You must prevent under-age users from using the app;
- Your app must prevent access and use from countries, states and provinces, or the geographic areas not covered by the developer-provided gambling license;
- App must not be purchasable as a paid app on Google Play, nor use Google Play In-app Billing;
- Your app must be rated AO (Adult Only) or IARC equivalent; and
- Your app and its app listing must clearly display information about responsible gambling.
Apple App Store
Apple’s App Store guidelines are similar to Google’s, and in addition includes:
- Apps may not use in-app purchase to purchase credit or currency for use in conjunction with real money gaming of any kind.
- Sports betting apps must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the app is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store.
Closing Thoughts
Recently, as new markets have opened, sports betting apps have exploded in popularity. This increase has shown that the market is extremely profitable – but also highly competitive. Consequently, the first step to success is to be specific with your goals. Sports betting is a wide industry – choose your niche before proceeding further. From there, you’ll need a professional, knowledgeable, and dedicated team to help you through the ins-and-outs of sports betting app development.
