Tech Focus: Sportsbooks, Part 1 - Broadcast Sports but Bigger, Brighter, Louder A legal quirk allows casinos to make a big bet on broadcast sports By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
You can go to one game, or you can go to many games. That's how Josh Francois, managing director, spectaculars, Daktronics, views the casino-sportsbook landscape today. After a 2018 Supreme Court ruling allowed individual states to determine their own sports-gambling regulations, the sector - once characterized by smoky backrooms at casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, with 4:3 CRT displays showing second-string horse races - has become a turbocharged sports experience. Giant 4K displays take scaled-up global feeds of broadcast sports on a 24/7 basis.
Daktronics' Josh Francois: It's not a bunch of old guys smoking bad cigars watching the ponies anymore.
It's not a bunch of old guys smoking bad cigars watching the ponies anymore, says Francois, who has watched the sportsbook concept evolve over the past five years from an amenity the hotels had just to keep you on the property to a destination that the manager at Circa Las Vegas [at 70,000 sq. ft., the largest sports book in Las Vegas, with 98 million pixels in displays installed by Daktronics] described as the Disneyland of sports.'
One effect of the court decision on gambling was a jump in activity around casino sportsbooks. Venues saw revenues soar almost immediately: for instance, New Jersey's sportsbooks reported $40.7 million in wagers the first full month after the ruling, nearly triple the previous month's take.
Broadcast Sports Provides the Content That surge in revenue has fueled a wave of renovation in the sportsbook vertical, which relies on broadcast-sports content, particularly that supplied by DirecTV but also from cable and, increasingly, OTT sources.
Sportsbooks currently take the same broadcast feeds sent over on-air networks and cable, scaling them for the venue's larger-than-life ambience. According to Eric Winnicki, senior project manager, McCann Systems - which has built sportsbooks in major-league sports venues, including the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, and the Caesar's Sportsbook at the MLB Diamondbacks' Chase Field in Phoenix - integrators take a very broadcast-centric 24/7 no-fail approach to the technology. They use switches and scalers from broadcast-standby suppliers like Evertz and take main feeds from sources like DirecTV and backup signals from Comcast and other providers in case weather or other incidents disable the satellite dish.
Fail-Safe Operation AV-systems integration for modern sportsbooks has understandably become more complex, with casino owners and managers looking to accommodate as wide a range of sports as possible and to be able to switch on a dime when multiple events are taking place.
Alpha's Lance Hutchinson: Casino operators want systems that are easy to manage, to accommodate guest requests to see any specific game available.
Casino operators want to make sure that the systems are easy to manage, to accommodate guest requests to see any specific game available the guest may be betting on, explains Lance Hutchinson, VP, Alpha, an integrator whose portfolio includes Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina and the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, LA. That makes system operation and integration critical. The backend system needs to be able to link in cable and satellite guide data in real time so that operations staff doesn't have to spend time searching for a particular matchup. Our typical solutions allow the operations team to sort games by type - football, soccer, NBA, college - as well as to show what games are live right now. This makes it very easy to allow the programming to be displayed instantly.
A Transition to Streaming Broadcast supplies the core of content, but sports media is rapidly shifting toward streaming. Winnicki speculates that an all-IP content-delivery environment for the largest sportsbooks could be a reality as soon as the start of the 2024 NFL season. And, he warns, that migration could bring disruptive changes to the burgeoning sector: The networking teams at the sportsbooks are going to have make sure their networks are bulletproof, super solid. If the network goes down, it all goes down.
Coherent Design's Kevin Potts: More and more [sportsbooks] realize that the audio is part of what gets the crowd engaged.
Kevin Potts, managing principal, Coherent Design, whose portfolio includes Circa and the Stratosphere Race & Sportsbook in Las Vegas, sees streaming as a largely unexplored technology at this scale, with multiple streams feeding massive HD displays. He estimates that, in some books, it already constitutes as much as 20% of the content but most of that is niche sports, such as Asian soccer matches.
The big challenge with streaming will be managing all the different online services, which will be way different from just having banks of DirecTV boxes, he says. Computers have a tendency to go to sleep, and there are all sorts of issues from different operating systems. It's all stuff we'll have to figure out.
(In fact, an early test of streaming may come this fall in college football. Notre Dame games will be carried on streaming service Peacock instead of linear NBC because of a protracted carriage battle between Nexstar Media Group and DirecTV.)
Timely Betting Data With Graphics As entertainment-centric as these destinations become, the target audience in a sportsbook is still the bettors, and they need data to base their wagers on. Fortunately, even that can be made more engaging.
We typically employ ticker services that supply more-interesting data in the text content t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Tech Focus: Sportsbooks, Part 1 - Broadcast Sports but Bigger, Brighter, Louder A legal quirk allows casinos to make a big bet on broadcast sports By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
