The feed, developed by sports content provider Perform, will allow the operators to incorporate player and team stats into bet-builders and request-a-bets, and Sky Bet and Bet365 are its first customers.
John Harlow, Perform’s SVP Betting, said: “If you’re a bettor following in-play events like shots, tackles and passes, it’s like you’re watching an entirely new game.
“Goals are still the most important thing of course, but shots happen ten times as frequently as goals, and from a wider spread of players, so the new Opta feed has given a way for operators to create compelling new player-focused experiences that occur throughout the 90 minutes.”
Operators can either use the real-time data directly or use price providers accredited by data supplier Opta.
Sky Bet has announced the product with a promotional campaign, although general advertising of in-play products will become more difficult in the UK, with operators set to introduce a voluntary pre-watershed advertising ban during live sport and Sky set to cut gambling advertising to one advert per commercial break from the start of the next Premier League season in August.
Bet365 is set for expansion into the US, having received a transactional waiver from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to conduct operations in the state via its partnership with Hard Rock’s online sportsbook, and it has also partnered with Resorts World Catskills in New York, which is yet to fully approve regulated sports betting.
