Bespin Global develops a sports betting web application to optimize operational agility at a leading gaming and entertainment company, ensuring scalability and future readiness.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bespin Global has developed a tailored web application for a major player in the gaming and entertainment industry, revolutionizing their sports betting operations by enhancing control over data and reducing external dependencies. This strategic development aligns with the company’s objective to streamline sports betting and minimize costs through an in-house solution that replaces third-party providers. The application not only simplifies the betting process for users by offering pertinent statistics but also mirrors the functionality of their existing player prop application. Working in collaboration with the company’s data science team, Bespin Global has engineered web layers and data pipelines crucial for transforming and managing betting data effectively. This initiative not only refines current operations but also prepares the company for scalable expansion into additional sports markets.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Enhanced Operational Control: The in-house developed web application has given the company full control over betting operations, enabling the internal management of data and decisions.
• Cost Efficiency: By reducing dependency on external data providers, the company has significantly cut operational costs and streamlined processes.
• Scalability for Future Growth: The platform is designed with scalability in mind, facilitating seamless expansion into new sports markets without the need for extensive system overhauls.

ABOUT CUSTOMER

The leading gaming and entertainment company operates a wide portfolio of casinos, hotels, and entertainment venues, specializing in exceptional gaming experiences and innovative entertainment technology. Their cutting-edge sports betting platform offers diverse betting options and an integrated rewards program to enhance customer engagement and loyalty. Dedicated to excellence, the customer continuously innovates to deliver top-tier entertainment and gaming experiences.

THE CHALLENGE

The company, a leader in the gaming and entertainment industry, faced significant challenges with its betting operations due to its overdependence on third-party data providers for critical betting calculations. This dependency was not only expensive but also limited their flexibility in responding to dynamic market changes. Furthermore, it limited their control over essential operational data, complicating the betting process and increasing the risk of broader operational inefficiencies.

Key challenges include:

• High Cost of External Subscriptions: Ongoing third-party subscription fees were a major financial burden, necessitating a more cost-effective strategy for the company.

• High Dependency on External Providers: Relying on third-party services for essential betting probabilities significantly reduced the company’s commercial agility and increased risks related to dependency. Updates and changes to their system left them at the mercy of their providers.

• Less Competitive: Using even the best data provider will align their sportsbook with others that utilize the same provider. This reduces opportunities for differentiated markets.

• Provider is a Black Box: The company wants to create their own internal data science skill sets and own their intellectual property for sports model predictions.

• Complexity in Betting Data Management: The existing systems lacked the capability of managing, storing, and publishing betting-related data efficiently. This inadequacy negatively impacted user experience and constrained both performance and scalability.

• Inefficiency in Internal Operations: The internal process of managing betting operations was overly complicated, making it difficult for the team to operate efficiently. Simplifying these processes was necessary to improve internal workflow and effectiveness.

SOLUTION

To address the customer’s challenges, Bespin Global developed a comprehensive, in-house Player Prop application designed to streamline sports betting operations and reduce costs. This new application replaced the third-party provider, giving the customer full control over their betting calculations, data management, and operational processes. The project encompassed a full spectrum of application development from initial planning and design through to deployment and ongoing support, ensuring a seamless integration and operation.

• Custom Web Application Development: Bespin Global developed a modern custom web application closely aligned with the customer’s existing prop application to enhance the efficiency of sports betting. This new platform features a user-friendly interface with real-time updates and personalized betting options, providing users with critical betting statistics and reducing costs by minimizing dependence on third-party application subscriptions. Enhanced functionality includes comprehensive admin and trader views for better management and user interactions. Additionally, robust server-side logic and database management were implemented to support the application and ensure efficient data handling.

• Data Ingestion: A data pipeline was developed to ingest, transform, and manage third-party data feeds related to sports teams, players and events from external sources. This pipeline handles complex data sets efficiently, ensuring the web application receives timely and accurate data for use in betting calculations and statistical analysis.

• Integration with Machine Learning (ML) Models: Machine learning models were integrated into the platform through the development of endpoint APIs, which are linked to the user interface. This integration enables the real-time display of betting odds, significantly enhancing the platform’s functionality.

• Cloud Deployment and System Configuration: The web application was deployed on cloud, optimized for accessibility and reliability. Web services and data pipelines were configured, and environments for development, QA, and production were set up. This deployment ensures high availability, scalability, and security, essential for handling high volumes of betting transactions.

• Comprehensive Testing and Ongoing Support: Extensive testing was conducted, including unit, integration, performance, and user acceptance tests, to ensure the application met all specified requirements. Post-deployment, ongoing support and optimization services are provided, including regular updates, troubleshooting, and technical support, to maintain high performance and reliability.reliability.

Bespin Global's expertise in cloud, cloud infrastructure, application development, and data science combined with specific sports betting knowledge enabled a deeper understanding of the customer’s requirements. This expertise facilitated the creation of a robust and effective solution, ensuring the project met all technical and operational needs with minimal input from product SMEs.

RESULTS & BENEFITS

The implementation of Bespin Global's custom solutions for the customer led to significant improvements and strategic advantages. The main results included enhanced control over data, increased operational flexibility, and a scalable platform for future growth.

Enhanced Data Control and Flexibility: By developing and managing their internal predictive models, the customer gained full control over their betting markets. This autonomy allowed them to prioritize data outputs, make critical decisions in-house, and tailor their offerings to generate interesting customer props, and eliminated the dependency on third-party providers.

Cost Savings: The in-house solution reduced reliance on expensive third-party applications, significantly cutting costs and streamlining operations.

Operational Flexibility: The newly developed application manages complex betting operations across current sports efficiently and is designed to easily extend to new sports markets. This adaptability ensures that the customer can promptly respond to market trends, maintaining a competitive edge in the dynamic sports betting industry.

Improved Data Management: The new application enabled better management, storage, and accessibility of betting-related data, enhancing the betting process for users and providing the customer with deeper insights into customer preferences. The data platform allowed the customer’s data science team to get real-time insights on the player props market and plan improvements on market offerings in general.

Scalability and Future Growth: Initially supporting the MLB market, the platform is built to accommodate additional sports seamlessly. This scalability prevents the need for costly overhauls of existing systems and supports smooth transitions as new sports markets are introduced, ensuring that the customer can broaden its offerings without interruption.

WHY BESPIN GLOBAL STANDS OUT

Bespin Global stands out through its unique ability to design and develop tailored cloud applications, leveraging deep expertise in cloud, databases, data science, and application development. Bespin Global’s prior successful experience with the customer on similar data platform initiatives led to winning this project, as it demonstrated their ability to understand and meet complex requirements efficiently.

As a Google Cloud Premier Partner and Managed Service Provider, Bespin Global leverages its Google Cloud specializations in Data Analytics to enhance their solutions. Bespin Global's team includes professionals with advanced certifications, such as Google Cloud Data Engineer, Certified Machine Learning Engineer, and Cloud Architect. This, combined with their domain-specific expertise in sports betting, enables them to proactively deliver effective, industry-specific solutions.

The next step is to expand these capabilities to other sports like the NFL and NBA, ensuring seamless integration and consistent performance across various sports markets.