Irrespective of the legality of it, Sports Betting has been in existence in the US, growing unchecked even before the Supreme Court Judges brought down their gavel and unveiled from under the shadows a bare skeleton of a thriving industry. The real-time example of the growth potential of the industry could be seen in Britain where Sports Betting was legalized long before giving bettors a structured industry and protecting them at the same time.

Despite the green light on the legal front, Britain would still have to regularly monitor data thieves who impersonated fans while secretly delivering the ball-to-ball minute details that are more precious than gold for bettors.

Often these unofficial data thieves would enter the stadium under false pretences and on a glance, they seem focused on the intensity of the game but if one would want to pick them out of the crowd, they would be passing on the live information, exact second to second detail on their phone.

They are essentially delivering the most important information to the sports betting community-Sports data. If bettors are powered with such iota of data live from the stadium itself, they would wager more on the outcome of matches as they hold more information on how the match might be played out. Sports Bettors require a constant flow of information, a ball-to-ball data the exact second when the ball found the attacker or when it found the back of the net, who assisted, such data holds immense potential and creates opportunities for betters to harness the knowledge and employ it while wagering. This is the model of the in-play betting market in Britain.

In the United States, the industry is in a fledgling stage after the federal ban on sports betting was removed, states have been more accepting of wagers now. Creating a worldwide need for sports betting data providers who can give betting operators access to trustworthy and reliable data which can be made available consistently. Broadcasters, casinos, websites, and apps would need access to this data almost instantaneously, while they are willing to accept not more than a five to ten seconds’ delay.

Leveraging on the opportunity the industry holds many data providers have partnered with the leagues themselves to deliver data legally to the rest of the world. Here is where the hooded data scouts pose a threat to the entire system as they do not hold the buying rights which has been league-approved stream originating in the press box. It is an ethical issue after all while the in-stadium data would be helpful to bettors but people would indulge in unethical means like cheating to get the data.

While Britain is well versed with this game of hide and seek, and the data battle now has included the United States as well. The crux of the data battle is should the betting industry be limited to the use of official data which is provided by leagues for information?

The official data battle debate is still ongoing. Now, as the industry grows in the United States more and more questions are being raised about the monitoring of data.  The question of the hour is how would the data be purchased, regulated, and checked? How would one handle betting disputes? And the most important question of all is does the event creators should really have a claim to royalties and copyright protection over the real-time data?

Data is like lifeblood for the Betting Industry. And a monopoly of it would mean that they control how the entire system would work.

We have come a long way from corner bookies and betting odds in the afternoon paper, which represented a systematic betting industry while before that it was done on notebooks and coloured pens as per Roxy Roxborough, a legendary bookmaker who worked in Las Vegas in the 1970s. As the industry developed right in front of his eyes, it underwent a technological revolution. Removing the ban became all the more crucial as the country’s wagering money was flowing offshore and the illicit industry was generating $150 billion a year. Now in the regulated market, even the data suppliers would have to succumb to the rules.

One of these companies is Data Sports Group who has been providing sports data legally across the globe.  DSG has been at the forefront of the data revolution and covers over 50 sports categories and picks up data from every nook and corner of the world. They make that available for consumption with the use of APIs and consolidated ball-to-ball data is provided in a representative format.

While official data players have found a foothold in the industry but the offshore books are still the dominant player and they cannot have the reigns of the U.S. sports betting industry but going forward the official data providers would become more important and one day even take over the offshore illegal data providers.

Data Sports Group is also working towards improving their offering and challenge the illegal world by providing data for major leagues like National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and Nascar. And makes this NBA betting data as well as other sports data available to licensed bookmakers as well to ensure the best quality data is available for bettors for decision making.

While the industry might have been a late entrant, it is here to stay and the right decision when it comes to data providers can save many betting operators the big bucks.