The US sports betting market may well be fast heading into maturity, but that shouldn’t rule out a further round of innovation according to Cathryn Lai, CCO of sportsbook technology supplier OpenBet.

Speaking during SBC Summit North America, she predicted that “there’s definitely an opportunity” for a next wave of innovation. “As you know, probably half the states right now in the US have some kind of legalized sports betting,” she said. 

“And in order to stay competitive the operators, and the technology suppliers like ourselves, are going to have to continue to innovate on content and ways to attract new users. Absolutely – we should expect that.”

When quizzed on the lessons to be learned from outside the US on how to create a new, cutting-edge sports betting model, Lai was quick to point out the need to acknowledge some distinct differences between business stateside and the rest of the world. 

“I think that the US player is very unique, the way that players are engaged through their teams, through their affiliations – it’s different,” she said. “The US is definitely not as mature as some of the other international markets. I feel like we’ve seen a lot of trends come over like betting exchanges, micro-betting, player props, things like that. Those best practices have come over to the US. 

“And I also think there’s room for really US-centric type innovations and products. I think we see a lot of these same-game parlays being very big in the US market. A lot of that is tied to super fans and fan engagement, so I think there’s going to be a blend of bringing things over from abroad and then of homegrown technology and innovation.”

On the outlook for OpenBet, Lai noted: “Right now we’re launching a very exciting UFC product with our BetBuilder SportCast product. We’re going to continue to innovate on our technology – we’ve got a lot of new market openings that we’re supporting our operators with. We’ve got a lot of new big deals going live – just a lot of activity on the commercial and development front.” 

The full interview with Lai can be viewed HERE.