Sports Data Giant Sportradar Acquires Wagering Platform Optima

Sportradar on Friday announced the acquisition of Spanish sports betting platform provider Optima, a deal that will allow the Switzerland-based data giant to become a “global one-stop shop for technology and services business,” providing a complete B2B wagering solution for the sports betting industry.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, although when EGR reported rumors last week that negotiations between the two parties were at an advanced stage, it cited a source who put the price at £25 million ($31 million).

Sportsradar is the world’s biggest provider of sports data and content to the betting industry. It has deals in place with many of the world’s top sports leagues, as well as over a thousand operators to whom it supplies data streams for in-play betting and other services, including monitoring the markets for match-fixing.

Future Growth

Through the deal with Optima, it will now offer a turnkey sports betting platform. The company described the move as a “key part of [its] future growth strategy,” which will allow it to provide “the entire betting and gaming value chain in both established and emerging markets as they regulate.”

This acquisition puts us in prime position to achieve our aim of becoming the world’s leading supplier of modular turnkey betting services and solutions,” said Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive Officer of Sportradar.

“Optima utilizes the very best-in-breed technology to provide their clients with the most advanced and flexible platforms, and having a 360-degree product portfolio is a key part of our future growth strategy,” he added. “We are delighted to welcome them to the Sportradar family.”

Data Boom

The liberalization of sports betting in the US has provided huge opportunities not just for operators, but data providers, too.

Data is big business, and no data company has seized the new opportunities in the US with such gusto as Sportradar.

The demand for data has been driven by the boom in in-play betting, which means operators need data on everything from the speed of a baseball pitch to a running tally of corner kicks in a Greek soccer league game — and they need it delivered in a split second.

Sportradar has already locked up some of the biggest data deals in US sports through partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, as well as NASCAR and the PGA Tour.

While in-play is a new concept in the US, American sports lend themselves perfectly to data-based propositions. Global online sports betting giant Bet365 said recently that 77 percent of all its bets are now in-play, and the US is likely to follow this trend, as mobile betting becomes more widely available.