Impact
Integration within Draft Kings, Hard Rock and Betr Sportsbooks, with more integration discussions in the works
Context
Simplebet has microbetting markets integrated in major sportsbooks like DraftKings which allow users to bet on moments of the game such as “Will the next basket be a 2 or 3 pointer?” or “Will the next play result in a rush or a pass?”
While watching TV broadcasts works for sports bettors focused on traditional types of bets such as “Which team will win the match?,” the latency of these broadcasts makes it difficult for bettors to know exactly what they are betting on for live microbetting since the time window to place these types of bets is much smaller and seconds matter.
The goal
Use Simplebet’s low latency data feeds to power visual sports trackers
Partner with prominent sportsbooks and other sports media companies to purchase the tracker and integrate it for their users
Approach
I worked on these football and basketball trackers iteratively, focusing on getting workable designs ready for the start of college football and college basketball seasons. Football was the first sport to tackle, where I ideated on different directions to go with.
Football tracker brainstorming
We hypothesized that a game tracker embracing a "coaching mindset" would boost user engagement. I sketched out early concepts involved integrating a football player avatar, allowing users to follow plays like rushes or passes. Collaborating closely with a Rive engineer, I created animated components in Rive that highlighted key plays that happen in football games. From this we made a prototype aimed to assess the potential impact of this approach on user engagement.
Football tracker V1
We tested the prototype with casual football fans by allowing them to place live bets during a football game while observing the gametracker. Additionally, we discussed initial designs with DraftKings, who showed interest in integrating a gametracker with their live bets in the sportsbook.
Feedback revealed difficulty understanding short plays that moved only a yard or two and a lack of visibility into prior plays for trend analysis. To address this, we shifted focus to highlight play history, deferring the player-centric view for later exploration.
I sketched out new ideas for a more historical play focus, iterated based on internal feedback and quickly created a new animated prototype in After Effects. User feedback was more positive on the second prototype and I included feedback I received such as adding lines of scrimmage and down lines to each play. Once a clearer and more intuitive direction was established, I created animated mockups for each type of football play Simplebet wanted to show for our engineers to implement. This version of the gametracker was eventually integrated into the Betr sportsbook in 2023.
Basketball tracker brainstorming
As basketball season approached, I transitioned focus to the basketball tracker. Beginning with an audit of existing basketball widgets and Simplebet's collected data, I categorized plays needed for display. Sketching various ideas, I created video prototypes tested on Usability Hub.
After iterative testing, a 2.5D basketball court concept emerged, showing successful and missed baskets, preferred by testers for its TV broadcast-like familiarity over an abstract approach.
High fidelity basketball tracker
With close collaboration with engineers, I animated the necessary assets for the tracker in Rive along with a player-centric free throw view, and created detailed documentation for engineers, managers and QA to follow. Additionally, I created short animated video clips for all the different plays we were covering to make it easier for engineers and QA to review each type of play or foul.
Football tracker V2
With V1 of the basketball tracker done, I utilized insights from its testing to develop a 2.5D football tracker. Featuring an animated ball, it aimed for clearer play depiction.
This updated tracker encompassed additional play types not previously collected by Simplebet. Pitched to Hard Rock Sportsbook, both basketball and football trackers garnered significant interest. Integration is underway with Hard Rock, with potential plans for collapsible versions in the pipeline.
Challenges & limitations
managing a high volume of play types for multiple sports and variations between how professional and college sports rules work and creating comprehensive documentation
adapting to a new design-to-development process with animations and Rive posed a learning curve
lack of direct access to analytics from sportsbooks customers
Lessons learned
managing a high volume of play types for multiple sports and variations between how professional and college sports rules work and creating comprehensive documentation
adapting to a new design-to-development process with animations and Rive posed a learning curve
lack of direct access to analytics from sportsbooks customers