Caesars Sportsbook on Thursday became the third major mobile sportsbook to install in-play betting technology provided by Simplebet for customers in the U.S.
The companies announced a multi-year agreement for Caesars to join DraftKings and bet365 in adopting Simplebet’s microbetting technology that automatically prices and reprices betting markets in a matter of seconds. Caesars customers now can wager on the results of every play, including passes and possessions in football games. Once the baseball season starts next spring, they’ll be able to bet on the result of every pitch.
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Bettors in the 17 states where Caesars is live could access the in-play menu starting Thursday morning.
“Play-by-play betting is an innovation that we know our customers want access to,” said Eric Hession, president of Caesars Digital. “We’re excited to enhance our product experience by bringing customers closer to the sports, teams and athletes they love than ever before at a time when the sports calendar is packed with marquee events.”
Baseball leads the way
In-play betting gained steam during the last Major League Baseball season, with month-over-month growth from opening day through the World Series. Simplebet said that momentum has carried into the football and basketball seasons, with its current partners taking nearly $1 billion in handle on in-play betting this year. Simplebet co-founder and CEO Chris Bevilacqua recently told Sports Handle he expects in-play betting to generate a $10 billion handle across all sports and operators next season.
Baseball, with its slow pace and plethora of games, has been Simplebet’s bread and butter so far, with roughly 40% of the handle across five leagues. DraftKings has been a market leader in in-play betting since launching Simplebet’s technology in August 2021. Simplebet offers microbetting for the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, and, recently, college basketball.
Simplebet has industry advantage
The growth of in-play betting could play right into Simplebet’s hands, as the company has a head start on competitors such as Angstrom Sports and Swiss Analytics in getting its product to scale. The advent of the pitch clock in MLB next season, which aims to shorten the time between pitches by as much as eight seconds, could actually help Simplebet, according to the company.
“I suspect a shorter window will just be less time to make a wager, and the only possible way this product or pitch-level markets can exist is to have our technology,” Bevilacqua said. “You can’t do it with human beings. If you’re a book and you want to exploit this opportunity, you can’t do it with anybody else other than us.”
Bevilacqua founded Simplebet in 2018 along with Joey Levy and Scott Marshall. Levy left Simplebet earlier this year to found Betr with internet personality and boxer Jake Paul. The Betr in-play wagering app went live in September, but for now doesn’t offer real-money wagering.
