Microbetting Beginning to Bloom at Sports Betting Sites, as Books Eye In-Game Growth

While parlays of the same-game variety and otherwise form a big part of the profitability push by sportsbooks, microbetting is earning serious consideration from operators as well.

Photo By - USA TODAY Sports

In some circles, the future of sports betting sites is, well, more betting. 

To be more specific, microbetting, such as wagering on the outcome of the next pitch in baseball, the next play or drive in football, and the next possession in basketball. Ball or strike? Run or pass? Is LeBron making the next bucket or not?

Those betting markets are finding their way onto the apps of more and more legal sportsbooks. Driving that integration is technology company Simplebet, a trailblazer in the world of microbetting that hosted media at its New York City office last week to demonstrate its capabilities.  

During the demo, a Simplebet trader sat before a screen split into thirds. On the left was the company’s pricing of certain markets, in the middle was a stream of information about the steady flow of bets being placed, and on the right was how Simplebet’s markets were showing up on an operator’s platform. Attendees could see a bet come in (such as a play on Brandon Nimmo to walk in his next at-bat) and then stroll to a nearby TV and see how it did. 

— betr (@betr) May 11, 2023

The peek behind the curtain came as legal sports betting operators are striving for profitability and are pursuing it in several ways. While parlays of the same-game variety and otherwise form a big part of that profitability push, microbetting is earning serious consideration from operators as well. 

More sportsbooks are adding micro markets to their platforms. And getting players to wager on the game within the game, so to speak, could increase handle and revenue for bookmakers, although it has stoked concerns about increased risk of problem gambling. 

“We certainly have an uphill battle ahead of us, but we’ve finally kind of broken through over the last year, year-and-a-half,” said Mark Nerenberg, Simplebet’s chief operating officer, in an interview with Covers. “We've got a significant share of in-play handle and [gross gaming revenue] with our customers. And I think it’s very early. There's a lot of room to grow.”

Everybody's doing it

Microbetting was a topic of discussion during last week’s SBC Summit North America in New Jersey, one of the continent’s biggest gaming conferences. Indeed, Covers heard optimism from at least one operator, unprompted, about the potential they see with microbetting.

According to the Associated Press, Andrew Bimson, the North American president and chief operating officer for data company Sportradar AG, said microbetting is the fastest-growing segment of in-play betting and estimated its handle could reach $20 billion by 2027. 

Nerenberg expects that growth to come as more bettors are educated and exposed to microbetting, but also as user experience improves. Simplebet's growing roster of clients includes bet365, Betr, Caesars Sportsbook, and DraftKings.

“Most of the operators that are investing in the U.S. have either integrated, are integrating, or have verbally said that they're going to when they have the chance, based on their other priorities,” Nerenberg said. “We have very big ambitions, and we have a ways to go, but it's been only trending up for the past year-and-a-half.”

Keeping it entertaining

There are concerns microbetting undercuts responsible-gambling efforts. A person betting on every pitch in baseball, for example, could quickly blow through their money. 

But Betr, which has made microbetting central to its strategy, sees things differently. The company, which has launched in Massachusetts and Ohio, nudges players toward RG tools and has prohibited the use of credit cards.

“I may be one of this industry’s only executives that says the house always wins and that customers should expect to lose over the long run,” said Joey Levy, the co-founder and CEO of the microbetting sportsbook, during an SBC panel, according to the AP. “It should be a form of entertainment. We approach microbetting the same way: You allocate $20 or $50 or $100 to make $2 bets on a pitch.”

All sports is microbetting

Simplebet is powering markets for five sports in the U.S. right now: MLB, NBA, NFL, and college basketball and football. Nerenberg said baseball is the most popular sport, with MLB action now equal to around $4 million in betting handle every day. The company is eyeing other sports, such as soccer or tennis, but wanted to focus first on the mainstays of legal sports betting in the U.S. 

Parlays have begun getting the microbetting treatment as well.

Simplebet is now enabling standard and same-game parlays for its partners that use microbetting markets, such as placing a single wager on a batter doubling during an inning but the pitcher striking out two batters. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission approved an update to Betr's house rules this week that covers the sportsbook's new "script" and "combo" offerings, which are Simplebet-driven parlays.

Nerenberg said there can be a microbetting-related story for any game. For instance, a player watching Aaron Judge’s home-run race last year could have made a nice return if they wagered on pitchers walking the Yankees slugger. It’s that sort of narrative-building that Simplebet and its customers hope will drive adoption. 

“Anything going on in sports, there's a microbetting angle to it,” Nerenberg said.