SMT Sports Betting
Purpose:
The SMT Sports Betting sector seeks to provide context to the customer’s patent publication No. 20180005492 and patent No. 9905082.
Scope of Analysis:
The sector limits its examination to patents dealing with betting on sporting events. Of concern are patents dealing with establishing betting exchanges, broadcasting live data feeds, determining jurisdiction of customers, and ways of interfacing with betting platforms.
Tags and their Meaning:
In-Game - Betting that occurs during/throughout an event. Bets can be made at any point during an event at odds determined in that moment. Odds are continuously updated based on the state of an event at any one moment. These bets may be event-based or micro-bets, focused on just one moment instead of the broader outcome of the game.
Platform - A broad category that includes software for matching up opposite wagers, jurisdiction locating for legal compliance, data feeds for bettors to have more information when placing their bets, and interfaces for bettors to place their bets.
Pre-Game - Betting that occurs prior to the start of an event where the odds are set prior to the event and remain unchanged throughout the entire event. Normally this is related to the final outcome of the game.
Pari-Mutuel - A subcategory of pre-game betting, these are bets where there are no odds, but instead the pot is determined by the number of bettors and is split among the top winners.
Betting Ads - Patents for both advertising on betting platforms and advertising for betting platforms.
Fantasy - Patents incorporating aspects of betting into fantasy sports.
Big Picture:
Sports betting could be one of the biggest industries in America, but up until recently this multi-billion dollar industry was handled mostly by gray market bookies because Nevada was the only state where this kind of betting was allowed. The 2018 Supreme Court decision Murphy v. NCAA invalidated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the federal act prohibiting sports betting. These billions are now ripe for the taking. Although Nevada is still the market leader, other states and companies are looking to capitalize on one of the biggest opportunities of the decade. Existing players such as FanDuel, DraftKings, Churchill Downs, and Cantor Fitzgerald are leveraging their already existing brand names and customer bases to take over the niche before other companies have time to spring up or pivot. Right now, sports betting is legal in only a few states, but as the states slowly legalize sports betting, new markets will open up every year. Will a new challenger appear to contest these new states? Or will all the promise of this new industry be carved up by the established players?