How to make a betting app like William Hill and Paddy Power

What entices one to gamble or betting? The most unambiguous answer would be the thrill and excitement to bet on and make money. This thrill draws millions of people across the globe to take chances and bet against the odds. But the one vertical that draws unparallel traction is Sports. The hysteria and passion of most sports enthusiasts have been articulated through sports betting.

The sports betting industry will account for a significant portion of the USD 134.06 billion during 2020-2024, with a CAGR of almost 10% during the forecast, allowing period. Although it may appear that the coronavirus pandemic has harmed betting demand, sports betting continues to thrive because of new and accessible online betting apps. But with certain legal constraints and compliances across many countries, it cannot be accessed by sports enthusiasts in every sport or every country. If you are already into the betting business, you are probably aware of the limitations and conformities of your country.

Legality in different countries

Sports betting has been embraced in different countries but at the same time, it is regulated in different fashions. Further with the advent of legal online sportsbooks, locations can offer sports betting access to locals and tourists. The countries featuring in the top echelon of sports betting are the countries with liberal regulations. There are also certain countries you can exercise the liberty to bet only on certain sports. For instance, in the Philippines, you can only bet on horse racing, in Argentina betting on Soccer is forbidden. On the other hand, Australia is one of the countries with the most lenient legislation when it comes to betting. From numbers before the recent worldwide sports betting expansion, UK had over $13.9 billion wagered on sports in 2017 while Australians won over $1.06 billion in the same year on wagering. As for the US, a few billion was bet on the NFL in New Jersey alone, showing just how much money some countries bet on sports. In countries such as Russia, Brazil, Singapore, and some other countries, betting and gambling are still prohibited.

In recent years, the sports betting industry has flourished under a lenient operational ecosystem in certain countries like United States, Australia, UK, South Africa, Ireland, and France.

Sports betting in the USA

After the ground-breaking New Jersey's Supreme Court victory in May 2018, any state that wishes can legalize sports betting. To measure the change in the landscape, we ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of how likely it is for each jurisdiction to offer full-scale legal sports betting.

Licensing

Once you have a fair idea of the legislation about gambling in your state, you will need to obtain a gambling license. If your state offers permissible gambling business infrastructure, you will be having a state authority that will issue the licenses. But one will have to go through detailed and painstaking compliances and verifications irrespective of the stance of the state in gambling. Since, gambling has always been touted to be associated with businesses of organized crime, to validate the root of parent business syndicate the license aspirants must undergo financial, criminal, and general character checks. Over that the licensing is exorbitant. You will have to bear costs that cover the application, license itself as well as compliance fees for the operational period of the business. In a few countries, the fee is also extracted as a fixed annual fee, a percentage of your revenue, or even both. Speaking of some of the market leaders in the sports betting industry, William Hill has carved a niche for itself in the United States since they have arrived in 2012. After decades of dominance and stronghold in the UK market, they have catapulted themselves as the market leaders in the US as well. They have a captivating website that offers one to bet online along with apps that are also device-friendly across both Android and IOS devices.

Concerns with app stores

Apple App Store

As per the latest developments and guidelines, the App Store admission policy has forbidden indie developers to deliver apps that offer anything resembling betting or gambling. The new structure of app approval has been caught under certain criticism at the beginning and a substantial number of apps that were not related to betting got entangled in the structural scheme. But eventually, the matter was addressed and resolved.

Google Play Store

Until 2017, betting apps were banned on the Google Play Store. But currently, they are operational in the UK, Ireland, and France given they conform with the store’s demands. We are hoping to see a lot of new countries feature on the list. And in case it does not there is always the option to distribute an APK file for Android devices through your website.

Requirements

Sports betting apps are also required to stick to a set of guidelines to be allowed into the Apple App Store:

• The app should be connected to a registered betting business with a license.
• There must be a geo-fence that restricts access to anyone outside the area where the app is licensed.
• The app must be free to download.

Anything to do with gambling aids is strictly forbidden, and every app is evaluated.

The requirements for Android are similar, but there is also a requirement to set age limits (an Adult Only tag) and a ban on the use of Google Play in-app billing. You must also warn your users about the dangers of gambling.

Popular Sports Betting Apps- William Hill & Paddy Power

One of the defining aspects of the company’s success must be attributed to its UX design. With utmost ease even, a novice can quickly get a hang of their sports betting app and navigate through the bets and fluctuating prices. Their platform also enables one to bet across an array of sports and stream them online at the same time. With in-built features of live sports betting complemented with the in-play scorecards, one can participate in match betting as the game continues. Added to this the cashing out option at any moment is ideally a cherry on top of their offerings.

Another app that has been at the forefront of the sports betting landscape is Paddy Power, touted as one of the prime competitors to William Hill. Even Paddy power is outfitted with similar features as William Hill. One unique aspect of this app is lower bet rates that allow users to watch the game and bet simultaneously. The rate could be as low as £1 if one is in the UK. It also boasts a unique feature known as quick bets, which is a fast, convenient way to place bets. Some highlighting features of the apps are-

• Multiple sports in numerous markets- Soccer, Horse racing & more
• Live streaming
• In-play betting with real-time scoreboards
• Free bets for new users
• Promotions
• Cash-out
• Top Bets
• Enhanced Odds
• Sign-up bonuses
• Touch ID and PIN app protection
• 24/7 customer support via email, phone & Twitter

Users of William Hill and Paddy Power can wager on a variety of events in addition to sports. The website includes a casino and forecast poker and other games, political and television show betting, and much more.

Approach to develop sports betting app: Prudent features and functionalities

The unforeseen growth of the betting industry in the US has prompted many new enterprises to test the water and venture into the market. The demand for sports betting app and sports betting app development has also seen a mercurial rise owing to the demand for such platforms across mobile devices and desktops.

Sports betting applications consist of two main components: User panel & Admin panel. As the name suggests, the user panel is a place for your punters where they can place bets, show off their skills, earn bragging rights, learn new tips, watch games online, get sports updates and the latest news, and communicate with fellow bettors. The latter is for the operators to manage their online betting business. Admin panel includes the dashboard for analyzing user behavior, display KPI’s and all the necessary features for managing financial transactions, regulating new users, and tracking the app's performance.

In addition to obvious features like sign-up/sign-in, your sports betting app's will require the following:

User panel

• Multiple sports

  Unless you are conceiving an exclusive football betting app that might require a dedicated football betting app, the app should offer options across different sports.

• Coach marks & expert advice

  Beginner-level guidance and tips to new members

• Statistics and schedules

  An exclusive page dedicated to updates, information on players, player stats, and game schedules for users to stay up-to-date with the upcoming games, odds, and future events.

• List of wagers

  Users should be able to view all the existing bets

• Wallet

  Allow users to connect their credit cards and payment system accounts to the app. This allows users to place bets with a single tap after initial setup, rather than having to type in all of the payment information every time they wish to make a wager.

• Risk management system

  An online betting platform should prioritize security and means of data protection by investing in top-shelf security resources. An embedded risk management system that practices authorized bet placing, controls odds delay and user bets, has checks to monitor maximum and minimum user bets, tracks the user IP, and manages role-based access of the backend, will act as a shield against potential frauds.

Additional features that will be useful for the users are-

• Bet slips
• Open bets
• User bet history
• Live streaming
• In-play betting
• Instant cashouts
• Leaderboards
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Offers and bonuses
• Extended payment methods including wallets & cryptocurrencies
• Chats and comments sections
• Social media login
• Multilingual
• 24*7 customer support.

The admin panel will need a special dashboard and modules like,

• User module

  A module to manage users and associated activities. Operators can manage users with multiple hierarchies and add unlimited users and manage their withdrawals, deposits, profiles, and account statements.

• Market watch

  An interactive way to see and control everything related to a particular match. The auto-update feature provides a dashboard of the specific match, where the admin can view match odds, user bets, admin profits and can delete/suspend any market or bets, everything in one place.

• Marketing module

  Admin can add offers, banners, links to other websites that they want to promote. These offers will be visible for the users at the frontend payments, and prizes.

• Accounts

  Outlining every transaction provides a complete history that can track the finances, identify errors (in case of any), and recognize profit patterns. Admin can see a complete account statement report with profit and loss statements and can perform data filtering actions to get insights

Additionally, you’ll need a sports prediction algorithm and the means to receive information from numerous bookmakers about the odds and changes in betting.

Cost and workforce breakdown to develop sports betting apps like William Hill

Before deciding on these aspects, you will have to rigorously evaluate and conclude on the functionality, features, and design of the sports betting app. Security is one aspect that cannot be compromised since you will be dealing with the funds and personal data.

For the basic features that we have listed above, the workforce required for the creation of an app across both Android and iOS will be:

• Project manager: 1
• Backend developers: 1–2
• iOS developers: 2
• Android developers: 2
• UI/UX designer: 1
• QA specialists: 1–2

The cost to create sports betting app may vary based on certain factors like the intricacy of the project, assortment of features, and timeline, evaluated by the sports betting app developers and designers.

We at Vinfotech offer compelling sports betting solutions that conform to the pulse of the market. Our white-label sports betting software is embedded with betting solutions that can be customized for any sports leagues in the world. We bring to the table cutting-edge technology in this space complemented with a wealth of sports experience to help you succeed. Certain attributes of our work ethos and offerings like risk management, real-time odds, speed of execution, and scalable platform set us apart from our competitors. Whether you are looking for a football betting app development or an all-in-one sports app development. We operate as a one-stop shop that can address all your betting app development needs. Our dedicated sports betting app developers and our customized approach for software development towards every client are conceived to build a quality product that leaves no stones unturned to supersede their expectations.

If you are looking for economical and viable options for app development accommodating your financial and qualitative bandwidth of product development look no further. We would love to hear from you and evaluate the possibility of any collaborations.