How Sportsflare built an odds engine on quality data, which enables GameScorekeeper to deliver engaging CS:GO odds loaded with risk calculations and 195 unique betting markets.
INDUSTRY
Betting
EMPLOYEES
350+
_____________
RESULTS
- Boosted revenue through broader product offering
- Eliminated work hours scheduling and resulting
- Improved customer satisfaction through decreased time on payback
A Vision of Quality Esports Odds
That Sportflare would generate state-of-the-art CS:GO odds was not always in the cards. Founded on a vision of helping bettors beat the odds, Sportsflare’s first product was actually a dashboard that enabled customers to make smarter betting decisions. However, after discovering a gap in the market for better live esports odds, it did not take long for Sportsflare to shift focus to generating the high-quality odds for CS:GO that GameScorekeeper now delivers.
Sportsflare’s Chief Executive Officer, Maksymilian Polaczuk, explains, “We got the idea for the original dashboard because we were fans of Counter-Strike. We quickly realised how much betting actually contributed to esports, and how much CS:GO is linked to betting. Still, we noticed a huge lack of great live esports odds on the market. So, although it was encouraging to see our original dashboard getting more than 4,000 users, we started to focus on generating live odds for CS:GO instead”.
A Close Collaboration
Sportsflare’s team sees everything through an AI lens, and it was their knowledge about this exciting new technology they used to create their odds engine. The only fuel they needed for their AI machine was high-quality esports data and a partner that could fulfil the commercial opportunities.
As they started to look for a data provider, Sportsflare had some very specific data needs. Polaczuk says, “We decided to use GameScorekeeper’s API because it fits our models perfectly. We need esports data and events to be as structured and concise as possible. To produce Live CS:GO odds, it is important that we know everything about every event in a game, in the exact order that they come out. Since that is exactly what we found in GameScorekeeper’s API, choosing a data provider really wasn’t that hard for us“.
About the partnership, Polaczuk continues, “It was not only important for us to find a partner who could deliver high-quality esports data, but it was also essential that they could help us get the odds out on the esports market. We are very proud of the odds we generate, so we need a partner who ensures that they are actually used by bookmakers”.
A Data Partner That Listens
Besides the high demands for esports data and a partner carrying out the commercial process, it was also crucial for Sportsflare to find a data provider that could accommodate their needs. Polaczuk explains: “From the start, the working relationship with the GameScorekeeper team has been great. We started looking for a data provider when we were still developing our odds engine, so it was very important for us to find a flexible team, who could help us solve whatever pain points that could occur along the way. I really feel we got that from the GameScorekeeper team”.
According to Polaczuk, flexibility has been important ever since the beginning of the partnership, as Sportsflare needed very specific data points to improve their odds engine.
“There were some data points that would be great for us to have, which were not available when we started using the GameScorekeeper API. For instance, we wanted to be able to expose stream links, because that would make it possible to actually show the matches we were producing odds for. Also, we wanted to be able to show line-ups before the matches started. After mentioning these features to GameScorekeeper, they added them quite quickly”. Polaczuk continues, “In general, it is nice to work with GameScorekeeper. Their API has all the data points we need, it doesn’t go down, and we never miss any games”.
Odds Tailored to the Needs of Bookmakers
Sportsflare’s odds are based on extensive research on bookmakers and the esports betting market. In general, bookmakers are looking for fast feeds with a high up-time and a large number of engaging markets. With odds characterised by speed, precision and never before seen markets they accommodate these exact needs.
Polaczuk ascribes the high quality of the live odds to GameScorekeeper’s esports data and Sportsflare’s use of AI. He elaborates, “it would have been impossible for us to develop our odds engine without GameScorekeeper’s data. If you want to produce the best odds you need the best data“. Polaczuk adds, “by using AI as opposed to human traders, our odds are also generated much faster than other odds on the market. We do not have the same lead-time that other bookmakers normally have. We actually get pretty close to parity with the games we cover, and most of the time, we can sync our odds up to match streams. So, because of AI and fast data, we can generate live odds instantly whenever a new event happens in a game based on the data we receive about that event.”
The odds are available through GameScorekeper’s API, covering 195 markets with 512 outcomes across more than 14,200 CS:GO fixtures.
