BetChill expands into US marketplace
European betting provider BetChill is expanding to the US after striking a licensing agreement with technology provider Adrenaline.
The deal allows Sweden-based BetChill to expand its US distribution capabilities for its gaming product that brings stock trading experience to in-play sports betting.
Adrenaline is the technology provider behind the play-by-play, free-play, points-based betting game Football Genius, which enhances in-play betting to handle each play. The deal even marks a new era for the company as its first licensing deal, Adrenaline CEO, Casey Huke told Sigma News.
“We have a mutual interest in in-gaming betting where we think the future of sports betting is going to be,” Huke said.
Their game is like the stock market where your win probability goes up and down on every play you are able to make bets. We thought that concept fits-in with the information technology we were able to develop. They saw the innovation we had in our portfolio and the games they were making and we thought they complemented each other well. They take the things we have patents on and improve their games, and we think we can help promote their games in the United States. It seemed like a perfect match.
BetChill founder Etibar Namazov told SiGMA News that the combination of his company’s algorithm and AI technology used for European football betting will work well with Adrenaline’s technology and pave the way for success in the US.
BetChill uses data from soccer matches to show how teams are performing.
“We feel strongly that our patent family will shape the future of in-game betting,” Huke said.
“BetChill has a similar vision of harnessing the huge potential and demand that will be created within the play-by-play betting sector and this partnership will create world class and industry leading technology to fuel that demand.”
A decade ago, Huke started building analytic software for NFL and major college football teams. It was designed to help coaches predict their opponents’ plays during the game.
We thought because this could predict what could happen that there’s got to be an outgrowth for it,” Huke explained. “This was well before the repeal of PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports and Protection Act that banned sports betting outside of Nevada). We developed and launched Football Genius, which is the first play-by-play wagering app launched on the Apple store.
Huke said that when PASPA was repealed, they decided to take it from a fantasy concept to real wagering.
“We have an odds’ engine that predicts markets on a play-by-play basis such as whether it will be a run, pass or touchdown,” Huke said.
“Our odds are different because we have a team of coaches trained by (former NFL Super Bowl-winning quarterback) Trent Dilfer. We’re able to use NFL knowledge and technology I developed for NFL teams to create more precise odds around these markets, which we think will be a big piece of gambling.”
Huke said they thought they could help BetChill get the most out of it’s in-play wagering games.
“They are trying to be a third-party vendor to sportsbooks with different types of in-game wagering,” Huke said.
The first game is going to be a stock-trading game where you can be on every play based on the win probabilities. It goes up and down like a stock chart. That is their core entrance. I think it would attract people looking for stat engagement in a world where attention spans are short. People could trade exactly like a day trader — like a Robinhood app except sports. It has a lot of promise.
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