Sky Bet unveils new Group Bets innovation
Latest group betting feature from the operator enables customers to invite friends into groups to build accumulators
Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) has launched a new feature enabling customers to create betting groups and build accumulators with their friends, EGR Intel has learned.
Group Bets, which is currently in beta phase, was the result of the internal CoLab project SBG ran earlier this year and allows each group member to add one leg to an accumulator.
When the accumulator has been created, customers have the option of moving it into their own Sky Bet account to then place a stake.
The feature is currently only open for betting on 1×2 football markets, while each customer can be part of a maximum of five groups.
The chairperson of each group is able to invite new members by clicking on a link that saves the following message to their clipboard: ‘Help build our Sky Bet accumulator. Tap the link to join our Group Bet and add your selection (group link)’
According to Andy Evans, principal product manager at Sky Bet, customer testing found that a large number were already creating bets manually with friends, either in-person or via messaging apps.
“We identified a number of pain points though in what they’re currently doing and established that we could address a large number of those with Group Bets,” Evans said.
He added: “Essentially we’ve taken a behaviour that already exists and created an experience that satisfies users’ needs and simplifies that activity for them.
“We’re still in a beta phase, but the aim is see how customers respond to what we’ve done so far and see what it is that interests them most.”
Sky Bet stressed that Group Bets does not constitute syndicate betting.
The new group betting feature is the latest in a long line of innovative products launched by SBG in recent years, including its “world-first” online payments feature enabling customers to have funds paid into their bank account in real-time.
The firm has previously dabbled in group betting with its crowd-powered acca product.
SBG was bought by The Stars Group earlier this month for nearly $5bn.