SVG Sit-Down: SimpleBet's Chris Bevilacqua on the Need for Sports Productions To Embrace In-Game Micro-Betting He foresees a truly personalized experience' for the bettor By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, February 23, 2024 - 4:02 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
This May will mark six years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), opening the door for states to legalize sports betting. Since that moment in 2018, the sports-betting market has grown exponentially, and all expectations are this trend will only continue.
That same year, sports-media vet Chris Bevilacqua launched his own sports-betting company, Simplebet, with an eye on what many expect to become the industry's golden goose: micro-betting. Instead of betting on the final outcome of games, SimpleBet's products allow fans to wager on individual moments in a game.
SimpleBet's Chris Bevilacqua: The betting experience could be entirely different by 2030 as well. Who knows if people will even be looking at a big, old television screen by then.
As an enterprise-software B2B data and technology company, Simplebet sells its technology to consumer-facing businesses with its main vertical being in online sports betting. Simplebet's real-time betting technology allows every pitch and every at-bat in a baseball game, every play or drive in football, or every shot or possession of a basketball game to become an actionable wagering opportunity for users. The combination of data, technology, and automation delivers gamification around live, in-play wagering for the company's online sportsbook partners.
SVG sat down with Bevilacqua, who made his name launching the first 24/7 college-sports network (CSTV) and negotiating groundbreaking sports-media-rights deals, to discuss the increased popularity of micro-betting, how it can be better incorporated into live broadcasts, the impact of latency, the future of betcasts, what can be learned from Europe's sports-betting market, and what sports broadcasts will look like in 2030 as it relates to sports betting.
Have you seen the popularity of in-game micro-betting in the U.S. grow over the past year? Two years? How much do you predict micro-betting will grow over the next 12-18 months (and beyond)?
Yes. As a matter of fact, it has grown quite rapidly in the little over three years that we've been live. One of the ways that we track growth of our micro products is by observing our percentage of the live Gross Gaming Revenue handle of any of our operator partners. When we first started, there were extremely limited offerings that could be categorized as micro-betting. We were a very small percentage of the live GGR handle for any of our operator customers at that time.
Now, a few years later, as in-play [betting] overall is growing in the U.S., we've seen data [showing that], depending on the sport and customer, we're now between 15% and 20% of their live GGR; in some sports, there are cases when we are almost 40% of live GGR. This has all happened over the last 24 months, and we see that trend continuing to increase over time.
Have you seen streaming outlets and/or broadcasters make a more concerted effort to integrate betting (especially micro-betting) into their live-game presentations over the past year? If so, what is a good example?
We've seen it quite a bit. We have two innovation partnerships. One is with LIV Golf, where this year we're going to be rolling out a product which will have low-latency video together with our live, in-play micro-betting markets. This is a cool innovation that we will continue to see more of. We're doing something similar with the Indoor Football League (IFL), which we did last year and will be doing it again for them this coming season. Also, for the past two seasons, we had a very successful single-screen watch-and-bet free-to-play experience available in the YES Network app during Yankees games.
More broadly, the NFL and Genius Sports, with their new BETVision product, are offering live, low-latency video to all of their sportsbook customers in the live betting environment. It was just rolled out halfway through this season. We've seen Caesars using it, and they've been featuring our micro-markets below the live, low-latency video in the Fire Bets feature of the app, which saw solid traction this season.
Next year, you're likely to see that most of the major sportsbooks have a low-latency video in their apps with live markets underneath the video, so the user can have a true single-screen experience ; before, it has mostly been a second-screen experience where you are watching video somewhere else and have latency issues. I think we will continue to see innovation around that feature in not just football but also baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, etc., as the technology becomes more widely available.
What is your opinion of the betcasts that have been produced on both a regional and a national level over the past few years? Do you believe these types of alternative broadcasts will continue to become more popular, and, if so, how can micro-betting be more deeply integrated into them? Do you think they hinder the evolution of betting in the main broadcast by ghettoizing the betting angle?
In my opinion, this is where a lot of future innovation is going to come. Obviously, each sport is different: the cadence of a football game is different than the cadence of a soccer game. I think, over time, we're going to see a lot of innovation and a lot of experimentation. At a high level, we're moving from a mass-media world (one broadcast for all) into what I would describe as personal media (broadcasts tailored and customized to the individual).
Betting and in-play gamif
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
07/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/07/2026
New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026
The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board.
Dr Tania Chamber...
07/07/2026
The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...
07/07/2026
Berklee College of Music Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's...
07/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists train the immune system to make antibodies against numerous HIV strains Preclinical findings mark progress toward a long-sought vacc...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
SVG Sit-Down: SimpleBet's Chris Bevilacqua on the Need for Sports Productions To Embrace In-Game Micro-Betting He foresees a truly personalized experience' for the bettor By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
