The Concept of Official Betting

The concept of official betting has become front and center in the sports betting conversation, as leagues seek to shape US state and federal policy. Following their years-long opposition to gambling, leagues are now focused on profiting from legal sports betting – ideally through a direct cut of the total amount wagered. While this remains a long-term goal, the pursuit of official data mandates has emerged as a primary vehicle.

In the current debate over sports betting, leagues are seeking to impose an official data mandate in state-regulated markets, which would require operators to use their own real-time data rather than that of third parties. This data is used to grade in-game wagers such as an exacta (picking the first two finishers of a race in correct order), a quinella (first three finishers in any order), or a trifecta box (first three in any combination).

Sources within the industry indicate that the cost of official data has been pushed up to as high as 0.255% of the total amount wagered on a given market by distributor Sportradar. However, the industry has not yet proven that such a fee is commercially reasonable for its value to bettors.

Illinois is the only state that has a specific official data requirement in its sports betting law, and it requires only the use of official data for Tier 2 bets, which include most wagers other than a straight bet on a particular team or event outcome. In those cases, the official data must be provided by a “governing body of a game or sports league, organization, or association that is expressly authorized to provide such information to licensees.”