Abelson Odds COO Jeeve Jeyaratnam examines the mixed recent fortunes of European operators and Abelson’s promising 2024 plans
Recent operator activity in Europe has been headlined by French group FDJ’s acquisition of Kindred, which opens up a host of questions for the continent’s landscape.
For a start, FDJ is signalling its bold ambitions to become a European heavyweight with the addition of brands such as Unibet. For Kindred, CEO Nils Andén said the move will “speed up our path towards 100 percent locally regulated revenue.”
Elsewhere, speaking to iNTERGAMINGi, Jeeve Jeyaratnam, COO of Abelson Odds, admits it has been “particularly hard” of late for operators in the UK, which he says “isn’t surprising given the saturated state of the market.”
“Ally that with economic hardship and it’s no wonder so many challenger brands have decided to aim away from the region,” he adds.
“That said, the biggest players in Europe have been far from stagnant, leveraging their scale to snap up highly regarded eastern European brands; STS, bought by Entain, and a majority stake in MaxBet acquired by Flutter Entertainment.
“This pair of behemoths have both established firm footholds in the burgeoning US market. This diversification has no doubt helped them cope better with inflation and economic downturn than others.
“The big contenders aside, it has been a tricky year for those exposed to the chilly tailwinds that Brexit, war and Covid have wrought; even bet365 announced a paper loss for last year.”
MARKET CONSOLIDATION
Jeyaratnam continues by outlining how market consolidation, which has been a theme “for some years now,” will continue, resulting in “fewer challenger brands.”
“As the continent wakes up to regulation, it makes it harder for smaller operators to hold off the challenge of the big listed companies,” he notes.
“There are still a number of lucrative grey markets, but they are slowly being picked off. “Perhaps more interesting is the current state of licensing in Curaçao; a clampdown over there could see huge disruption to grey markets around the globe.”
“The big contenders aside, it has been a tricky year for those exposed to the chilly tailwinds that Brexit, war and Covid have wrought; even Bet365 announced a paper loss for last year.”
NEW CLIENT BOOST
As for Abelson Odds’ 2024 outlook, Jeyaratnam says the Goalscorer Pricing & Settlement service is “still our flagship product” but points to expansion of the offering with a new customer.
“We’re about to announce a new tier one client with reach in Europe and South America,” he begins.
“We believe that we are one of a select number of niche third−party suppliers who can add value to any operator looking to enhance its sportsbook products above mainstream analogous suppliers.”
Abelson’s Player Incident Pricing & Settlement feed, a joint venture between the company and Twenty First Group, has also “continued to prove its worth,” Jeyaratnam remarks.
“Although, subsequent integrations have not been aided by the confusion that reigned over data availability in early−to−middle 2023. Thankfully, this has now been remedied and we are set for a big push this year.
“One thing we’ve learned is that operator/ platform roadmaps are absolutely logjammed and getting sight of an integration is the biggest hurdle for any supplier.
“It’s increasingly important to try and leverage integrations you already have and with this in mind, plans are in place to ease integration stress for our products.”
ADAPTING STRATEGY
Virtual betting games developer Virtually Sports, which Abelson has a stake in, continues to provide a range of formats for clients to choose from when offering its virtual in−play soccer product.
In iNTERGAMINGi Issue 6 last year, Jeyaratnam revealed Virtually Sports had enjoyed success with a change in strategy from full−length virtual games to a shorter, 15−minute format, encompassing two seven−and−a−half−minute periods.
And he reports that “demand this year has been more geared towards the slightly shorter format.”
“While the team have added lots of new features to this product over the last few months, such as new market types and new UI elements, we have found the largest driver in turnover to simply be the number of events that are offered.”
Configuring events to have a 15− or 30−minute length means the company can complete a full season of each league “in a single day.”
This, Jeyaratnam says, keeps customers engaged through “tracking league tables and providing plenty of betting opportunities with relatively short periods until settlement.
“These durations are also long enough to replicate the flow of a real match, and therefore provide a realistic in−play betting experience.”
Most of Virtually Sports’ activity in 2023 centred around emerging markets such as those in South America.
“However, as the business grows in 2024 and beyond, we aim to also take our unique approach to virtuals into Europe,” Jeyaratnam states.
“The two main related activities that we have planned for the first half of 2024 are licensing and some further product development.”
Indeed, Virtually Sports CEO Mark Israney will be present at ICE 2024 showcasing one such product, a browser−based horseracing game.
Jeyaratnam says this offering gives a “completely different user experience around a sport that is extremely familiar to European audiences.”
“It is hard at this point to know how successful this European focus will prove, but one thing is for sure, Virtually Sports will continue to focus solely on creating innovative virtual betting products.
“As for our tech investment, OrbitalBet, we have a number of irons in the fire, including selling modules like our feed agnostic soccer bet builder solution.
“Due to market consolidation, a number of suppliers have exited the B2B marketplace and we see opportunity in Europe and beyond because of the gap that has been left.”
