
HPA Tech Retreat: How Legalized Sports Betting Will Change the Content-Creation Game Broadcasters and streamers take major steps with an eye toward a potential windfall By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 - 2:49 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Regulatory constraints are being removed from the gaming industry, and technology makes it possible for fans in some states to place bets in real time from any device as an integrated event experience. With legislation and technology advancing rapidly, the sports-media industry is gearing up for a potential windfall demand for sports-betting content.
Thus far, NBC Sports Regional Networks has begun producing betting-specific and predictive-gaming telecasts; digital outlets like The Action Network, SportsGrid, and VSiN are creating content focused on betting data and analysis; and major sports broadcasters like ESPN and Fox have launched betting-focused studio shows with The Daily Wager and Lock It In, respectively.
At the HPA Tech Retreat's opening day of TR-X sessions, executives from Sinclair Broadcast Group (which is bullish on sports betting after acquiring Fox's 21 RSNs last year), betting-data provider Sportradar, research firm EK Gaming, and sports-betting-focused streaming company InPlay Studios took the stage to discuss the basics of today's technology, where the best business opportunities are in sports betting, and how betting data can be used to drive storytelling within the game. Here's a look at some of the take-aways from the session.
Chris Grove, principal, sports and emerging verticals, EK Gaming, on the rapid legalization: Sports betting is spreading across the U.S. at a pace that has historically been unmatched by other forms of gambling expansion. The short way to put it is that sports betting simply does not play by the same set of political or cultural rules that other forms of gambling play by in the U.S. We're seeing the bulk of this expansion happening east of the Mississippi, and that's the trend that we expect to continue for the next few years. There's also a great deal of uncertainty among the [most populated] states - California, Texas, Florida, and New York - [in terms of] mobile sports betting. While we are generally bullish about the path sports betting has across the U.S., it does come with the caveat that the major markets may end up being a lot trickier than some people suspect.
InPlay Studios' Ron Luniewski
Ron Luniewski, CEO, InPlay Studios, on how the rise of in-game betting will change the content-production business: 70% of European [wagering] is in-game betting, and the U.S. market is projected at $100 billion in wagering, so that's $70 billion that's going to be in play. Right now, [content] production is still heavily [focused on] pregame; there's not a lot of in-game production about the wager. I think you're going to see a shift occur. Play-by-play [announcing] is still going to be [traditional], but you're going to see smaller niche channels develop that are going to be dedicated to in-game [betting].
Del Parks, EVP/CTO, Sinclair Broadcast Group, on how the sports-betting ecosystem in the U.S. is still in its infancy: We are really at the beginning of this process. I've been [in the broadcast business] for a lot of years, and I can tell you that we don't know what we don't know right now. We can look at Europe, but Europe has been betting for [several decades] so I think we're at the very beginning and need to look at what sports betting is and what it's going to become. And I think the U.S. market is very different than Europe.
Steve Byrd, head of global strategic partnerships, Sportradar, on what the U.S. market can learn from Europe and how betting-centric content will vary from sport to sport: If you look at soccer broadcasts in Europe, you see [sports-betting] advertising and sponsors on the jersey and [LED] boards, but the production is not [centered] around betting. I think that's because it's already the culture over there. They don't need a separate broadcast [because] they're already betting on the game. That's why I think you won't see the NFL really change because everybody's already betting on football and they're already engaged.
Sportradar's Steve Byrd
Byrd on how leagues besides the NFL could embrace sports betting within game coverage: The other sports [leagues] see betting as a way to get more fan engagement, so I think they're going to be more creative [in serving] these sorts of niche deliveries. Whether it's doing more [betting content] with the NBA League Pass out-of-market product or doing the alternative [broadcasts] like NBC [Regional Sports Networks]. I think you're going to see a little bit different [approaches] depending on the sport.
Grove on whether there will be demand for betting-specific sports broadcasts in the future: We can look to really mature betting markets in relatively analogous cultures across Europe, and the answer that we get from those markets is that there does not seem to be a tidal wave of interest in a betting-centric broadcast. There is certainly a saturation of advertising for betting around sports media, and it permeates the commentary, but there isn't going to be a willingness to embrace betting directly in the broadcast - certainly not from a league-sanctioned [standpoint].
EK Gaming's Chris Grove
Grove on the promise of predictive-gaming content vs. betting-specific content: Where I think you are more likely to see integration [into the broadcast] is with gambling-adjacent products that are sports gaming as opposed to sports gambling. Major broadcasters think little to nothing of heavy integration of fantasy sports alongside broadcast, even thou
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...