Betting in the gaming industry continues to grow relentlessly, comprising one of the cornerstones of the international gambling market. For example, American residents’ spending on gambling platforms online and offline hit a record $119.84 billion, showcasing a 27.5% surge.
The same trend continues in Europe, with people spending $33.75 billion the previous year. Despite any economic fluctuations biting at other industries, online sports betting remains on the rise.
When developing a gambling application, there are several important details you need to consider. Since this business is only legal at certain locations, you will need to study the regulations carefully, obtain gambling licenses, and comply with app store restrictions.
To help you get started, we’ve prepared a comprehensive guide to gambling apps. Read on to learn about different types of gambling, must-have app features, and legal complications that might arise.
How does sports betting work? 5 types of sports betting
Gambling has a straightforward idea: you put money on a certain outcome of an event and receive a reward if your prediction comes to pass. Likewise, you lose what you have invested if you’re wrong.
While it is a simple process at its core, modern sports betting has a wide variety of flavors, and you need to be familiar with them to design a profitable application.
Here are the 5 most popular types of sports betting apps:
- Moneyline. In moneyline bets, you simply bet on who wins and receive a smaller or larger reward, depending on whether your winner is a favorite or the underdog. For instance, betting $470 on the favorite can result in a $100 profit, while putting $100 on the underdog can get you $250 when they win.
- Head-to-head bets. Head-to-head is an aspect of moneyline where you bet on a single winner; for instance, in car or horse racing.
- Parlays. Parlays—also known as accumulator bets—combine several bets into one wager. Your potential profit increases as more bets are added to the pool. If any of those bets loses, however, the whole wager is lost.
- Teasers. Teasers are a variation of parlay bets where you receive a lower payoff for a larger shift of the point spread in your favor. Basketball, soccer, and football betting apps can get the most benefit from adding the option of teaser betting.
- Prop bets. The best app for sports betting will find a way to attract users who have never even placed a bet before. Prop bets offer a fun and easy introduction to betting, and you should include this type of gambling if you want to make your application beginner-friendly. In props, bets are made on events that don’t require any knowledge of the sport or of the teams playing. For instance, which side will win the coin toss, whether the number of the winning car will be higher than 9, and so on.
The biggest challenges of sports gambling app development
Creating a mobile application requires you to work around significant budget and technology challenges. When it comes to designing a sports gambling app, however, you need to also navigate additional layers of legal concerns.
Laws and regulations
The primary thing you need to do before developing a betting app is obtaining a gambling license. Since betting is not legal worldwide, you have to apply for licenses in all countries and states where you wish to launch the application, and it can be a daunting task to unravel various jurisdictions without a lawyer. Including these consultant services into your expenses estimates can help plan the budget more accurately.
Take notice that gambling regulations differ by country, and even across Europe, the distinctions can be significant: while the U.K. is one of the most developed gambling nations (and the origin of the William Hill betting app), countries like Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark still have differing and often hectic laws when it comes to online betting.
In the U.S., sports betting is legal only in 25 states. Your app must not be accessed from other locations.
In Australia, you need to apply for a single gambling license. In the case that it is granted, you can start a company and immediately launch your betting application.
In Argentina, soccer betting is not legal, while in the Philippines, a horse betting app would be the only permitted kind of sports gambling.
In Brazil and Singapore, betting is illegal.
Launching the app to the app stores
App markets place additional restrictions on gambling applications. It’s necessary to review them; otherwise, you may lose funds on your betting app development if you add a feature that your target app store doesn’t permit.
Google Play Market states that
- your app must target the U.K., Ireland, or France;
- you must have a gambling license from the locations your app is targeting;
- your app must be free;
- you cannot use in-app billing; and
- your app must have a geo-fence and be rated Adult Only.
Apple Store has regulations, although without Google’s restriction by country.
How to make a betting app: crucial functionality and features
A gambling application typically consists of two main elements: the user panel and the admin panel. The latter contains the necessary functionality to manage financial transactions, regulate new users, and monitor the app’s performance.
This dashboard should also present a sufficient toolkit to analyze user activity on the app and display important metrics. Analytics will become extremely useful once you start getting more users and revenue to adjust your marketing, offers, sports selection, targeting, and the overall business plan.
How to get started?
product discovery phase is the best first step you can take to lay a solid foundation for the development of your app. It includes a functional specification, UX/UI design, and a visual prototype that will give you a clear vision of the end product. On average, this phase takes 4-6 weeks. Before this moment you can login to 22bet betting app.
The product discovery phase can help you:
- define a full scope of work and develop a roadmap for building an app
- set a realistic budget for your MVP and plan your resources
- test the waters with your audience using a visual prototype
- craft a convincing investment pitch
- get to know your team
The gambling industry market is extremely profitable and therefore competitive. To break into this field, you need a dedicated and professional development team that understands the peculiarities of similar projects and delivers top-quality solutions.