The article was updated on July 24, 2024.
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 in 2023, showcasing a 27.5% surge since 2022.
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 best sports betting apps
The gambling industry market has significantly grown over the years, and it’s important to study your future competitors to determine what makes them successful.
Let’s take a look at three popular betting applications and their advantages:
William Hill betting app
William Hill is the largest gambling business on the U.S. market. The sports betting application the company presents offers a wide variety of sports to bet on, and it focuses on making the user experience as smooth as possible.
To achieve that, William Hill lets new users place bets for free, makes cash-out possible at any moment, allows live betting, and supplies statistics and analytical tools to help users choose their candidates.
Paddy Power
Paddy Power is one of William Hill’s biggest competitors, offering a large selection of sports to bet on. The key advantage of this app, however, is its specialty as a soccer betting app. Paddy Power allows fans in the U.K. to watch a game live for a small bet of £1.
TVG
TVG is a dedicated horse betting app that appeals to users who are not interested in other sports. The app offers a clean interface, detailed information about past races, live streams, statistics, and bonuses for referrals and new users. Working in more than 30 states, the app has only one significant downside: it is currently available to iOS users only.
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 similar 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.
Admin panel
In short, you need to have access to the following through the admin panel:
- log in/log out;
- app monetization management;
- user management (view transaction history, ban or add users, send notifications);
- app customization functionality; and
- bookmaker management.
User side
Now, let’s consider some of the crucial features on the user side:
Registration and account
Users can create an account, log in and sign out. Make sure to apply regulations to prevent minors from accessing the app. It depends on the country’s laws that determine how old a person must be to gamble.
Place a bet
Functionality to let users create wagers is the most crucial part of any online betting app. Aim for a simple and intuitive interface that guides a person through every stage of the process quickly and without hassle. The easier it is to place a bet, the more inclined users will be to participate.
List of wagers
Users should be able to view all existing bets.
Wallet
Enable users to link their cards and payment system accounts to the application. This helps place bets with a single tap after the initial setup, instead of filling in all the payment details every time someone wants to create a wager.
Menu
This panel gives access to a user’s account, bets, wallet, notifications, settings, friends, and other pieces of functionality your application presents. An aggregator gambling sports app should also provide a list of sports in the main menu to choose from.
Notifications
Update users about important events, game results, and new messages. For bet outcomes and other exciting or pressing news, it is beneficial to use push notifications.
Betting guides
Create an easily accessible guide page that explains different types of betting to new users without forcing them to leave the application.
Statistics and schedules
Help users stay up-to-date with game schedules, experts’ assessments of recent games, and odds for future events. Providing sports statistics also boosts people’s confidence and encourages them to place bets.
Live scores
Real-time score updates keep users interested, make them more likely to gamble, and encourage them to use your app more frequently.
Additional user features
Eastern Peak experts have revealed that sports gambling app development becomes the most profitable in the long run if you add some of the following features:
- live stream games;
- have cross-platform compatibility;
- introduce bonuses and discounts;
- extend your payment methods to cryptocurrencies;
- add more types of betting, including in-play betting;
- add chats and comment sections;
- make the info section available offline;
- allows users to log in via Facebook and other social media;
- add support for multiple languages; and
- offer 24/7 customer support and accept users’ feedback about the app’s performance.
Main steps to building a top-tier sports betting app
So, let’s take a look at how to develop a sports betting application. What are the key steps? Despite the variability of a gambling industry market, these stages are common for any business planning to make a betting app.
Step 1: Get a license
As we have already mentioned, it’s necessary to get a license before you start your sports betting app development. It’ll get you started on the entire process and ensure you’re good to go.
Step 2: Research your market and develop a unique idea
All betting apps are different, so consider your target audience, especially focusing on betting preferences and financial independence. Study your market to make sure that you don’t make a betting mobile app that copies someone else’s.
Target specific niches that remain unnoticed. Add and cross out as many ideas as needed.
Step 3: Conceptualize your app idea
Imagine how you want your app to look and feel. Pay attention to the interface (UI) and user experience (UX) as they are crucial factors for the future design of your objectives.
All sports gambling apps should have a clear-cut approach to smooth the betting process, so try to be realistic and keep a user in mind when you move through this.
Step 4: Choose a payment system
Online sports betting relies on fast, easy, and secure payments. If you want to decrease the hesitation a user feels before making a bet, simplifying the process is a natural way to battle indecisiveness.
Here are some of the most popular payment systems that are easy to integrate with gambling platforms:
- Skrill
Skrill is a money transfer and digital payment system. It was originally created to facilitate payments associated with betting, and it remains one of the most convenient and easy to integrate systems.
- Cardinity
Cardinity is a payment gateway that you can use for sports betting and other gambling activities. It comes with a substantial set of authentication and security mechanisms, making it one of the top choices in the industry.
- NETELLER
NETELLER is one of the most popular payment systems across the globe. It enables fast and secure payments, which makes it the service of choice for integration with an online betting app.
When choosing a provider, consider what security measures they offer. In general, a payment system must show Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certification, use Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) and Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (S-HTTP), and employ data encryption.
Step 5: Locate and pick a development partner
If you are not sure how to build a sports betting app, then locate a company to help you out with sports betting app development services. An ideal partner for creating a sports betting app should have a diverse portfolio with evident success cases.
Check out each company’s pricing and what types of projects they deal with. If necessary, browse feedback on review websites that you trust.
Step 6: Explore your bookmakers
Research various sportsbook providers or bookmakers during this stage of sports gambling app development. Since they constitute the center of your program, perform this step thoroughly and compare features and flexibility for your needs.
Analyze how you can integrate a provider into your online betting app. Once you’re down to a few options, study reputation and reliability before picking the most suitable one for you.
Step 7: Online sports betting app development and testing
If you’ve done your preparation well enough, the process of making a perfect sports gambling app will be much shorter. Your betting app development team will help you pick the technology stack and core features.
During the development process, ask your IT provider to include a robust backend for your sports betting app. Then, test your gambling application for its functionality, performance, security, and usability.
Step 8: Launch and monitor your app
Before launching, invest in marketing to spread awareness of your app among those engaged in the gambling business. Then, optimize your app’s listing on application stores.
After the launch, be active in collecting comments and users’ opinions, improving your app’s features based on relevant feedback.
How to get started?
The 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.
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.
Eastern Peak specialists will provide you with the exceptional technical talent to ensure your application is stable, fast, and secure. If you want to take the opportunity and build your own sports gambling app, schedule a free call with us now.
To make a mobile betting app, research your market and target audience, determine what licenses you will need to get, design software specifications, and start by building a prototype to launch the testing cycle. Focus on making your app convenient, secure, and captivating. To beat current industry giants, you need to deliver a stellar performance or find a niche that hasn’t yet been occupied. If your budget permits it, developing for multiple operating systems is a must to expand your app’s reach. The most popular gambling platforms, like William Hill, have a web application and run on Android and iOS. Building an application that can also function on wearable devices might propel your business forward. Cross-platform development is also a solid option at the beginning, particularly if you want to test the waters before fully committing to this endeavor. The legal status of the gambling industry varies by country and state. At the time of writing, sports betting is legal in 25 states in the U.S. Creating a company is an intricate process, but here are 6 steps to get you started:Frequently Asked Questions
How to build a sports betting app?
Can betting apps work on multiple platforms?
Is sports betting legal in my state?
How do I start a sports betting company?
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About the author:
Alexey Shalimov, CEO at Eastern Peak
As CEO at Eastern Peak, a professional software consulting and development company, Alexey ensures top quality and cost-effective services to clients from all over the world. Alexey is also a founder and technology evangelist at several technology companies. Previously, as a CEO of the Gett (GetTaxi) technology company, Alexey was in charge of developing the revolutionary Gett service from ground up and deploying the operation across the globe from New York to London and Tel Aviv.
