- Genius Sports will be charging sportsbooks anywhere from 4%-6% to provide them with official NFL data.
- The company became the owner of all NFL official data in April when a six-year deal was made with the league.
- Sportsbook operators believe they are paying for the high-priced mistake of Genius Sports and the percentage hike seems like an NFL logo usage price rather than a data price.
BOSTON – Sportsbooks that have partnerships with the NFL are required to use official NFL data which will come at a hefty price tag going into the new season.
Genius Sports won the bidding war for the official rights to all NFL data in April. The company will pay $120 million a year to the NFL for six years with $60 million of that price being in stocks given to the league annually.
NFL sportsbooks offer the biggest time of year for sports betting, as it is the most wagered on sport worldwide. Across the United States in 2020, combined revenue on football bets alone came in at $278 million.
That’s the totaled number using only regulated sports gaming state industries. Many sports bettors in the United States use outside sources to wager on sports but that has little to do with official NFL data issue at hand.
What’s The Problem?
A number of sports betting operators are claiming that Genius Sports overpaid for the rights to league data and are literally making sportsbooks pay for that mistake. The price is jumping at almost four times the rate it once was to access the proper information for betting on the NFL.
Genius Sports wants 4% on all revenue made from NFL bets placed prior to the game. After the game has started, any revenue made would give Genius Sports 6% of that money because the data is coming from live in-game playing.
Sportradar was the last owner of the National Football League data and they charged only 1.5% on revenue for wagers across the board.
If the company was providing new technologies or information, operators could see why they’d spike the price this way but they are offering the same data that Sportradar did. Sportsbooks like Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel are all partnered with the NFL in some form and therefore are subject to pay these new prices for data for their football betting lines.
Other outlets like CBS, Fox, and NBC who have deals connected to the NFL and sportsbooks that do not buy official data from Genius Sports may be banned from advertising on these networks during games. Outside of these two issues, some state laws have it written that wagers need official league data to be posted to sportsbooks, making even more money for Genius.
In this instance, all signs point to the name “Genius” being appropriate for the company.
What Can Be Done?
Every sportsbook, both retail and mobile sportsbooks nationwide that are required by partnership or law, must use Genius Sports NFL data for their betting lines. There is no getting around that.
Some are saying that the company has capitalized on the market and it’s true, they have. They’re gripping the industry by the laces of a football for the perfect spiral to be thrown at the start of the 2021 NFL season on September 9.
Some platforms are discussing the use of outside data providers that are cheaper or even legal action against Genius but in the end, they do not have possession of this NFL data ball, Genius does.