Sportradar Launches Playradar To Enter iGaming Vertical

Sportradar announced Tuesday it has launched Playradar, a fully-integrated ecosystem designed to handle cross-vertical gaming experiences for global operators.

Long a leading global sports data technology outfit dedicated to sports fans and sports bettors, Playradar marks the company’s first extension into online casino gaming. It will leverage Sportradar’s existing live and historical sports data as well as AV streams and combine them with casino games to offer “unique, proprietary, hybrid products.”

Sportradar tapped former Playtech Live CEO Edo Haitin to lead Playradar. Haitin’s career spans more than 20 years in iGaming operations and live casino development.

“By combining our unrivaled experience in sports data and live streaming, along with a proven track record of product development, we aim to create hybrid content and gaming experiences to capitalize on the rising popularity of sports casino consumption,” Haitin said in a statement. “We’re uniquely positioned to seamlessly blend live and historical sports events, innovative gaming mechanics, and casino content and have the advantage of being able to distribute games to an already licensed portfolio of operators.

“I’m incredibly excited to be further strengthening our iGaming business through Playradar and to grow it into a leader in iGaming content, leveraging Sportradar’s existing resources and the highly experienced and skilled team already in place.”

What Playradar can offer

Playradar is offering two key live features that will give communities of players a chance to interact in real time. One is a “Live 24/7 Experience Centre” in which players will be offered a game and have access to a livestreamed event simultaneously that can provide betting opportunities as well as the ability to share tips with others.

The second is the creation of “Live & Historical Streaming Sports/Casino Hybrid Content.” This is taking real sports moments that have occurred into interactive event gameplay with live and historical sports streaming with casino mechanics. In some ways, it could become the sports version of historical horse racing, as Playradar will offer Sportsradar’s live data as part of a live prediction product.

Playradar will also offer what it calls “Premium iGaming Content,” which is the standard suite of online casino games plus virtual sports. The launch comes at a time when legislators have yet to find overwhelming support to expand into real-money online casino despite bills filed in multiple states.

“iGaming represents a natural and scalable extension of our business, and a strategic acceleration of our long-term growth roadmap,” said Sportradar founder and CEO Carsten Koerl. “Playradar content is designed to provide optimized cross-sell between the worlds of sport and casinos, helping operators to increase player value and session length at a time when engagement and retention are key to operational sustainability.”