If ever there was an industry in a seemingly eternal state of flux, it would be the gambling industry, specifically sports betting. So long gone are the days of retail or land-based sportsbooks that it seemed centuries ago. One nifty device known as a computer came along and truly changed sports betting.
It was especially so when we discovered that we could interconnect computers and communicate across impossible geographical distances in the blink of an eye. Online gambling and sports betting have had such a tangible effect on the hobby that it’s impossible to visualize a time when one might have to revisit a betting shop physically. That said, the impact of computers, the Internet, and technology generally has not stopped with just the convenience of placing bets online. In 2023, AI, Big Data, and a few other technologies are slowly but palpably making their way into gambling.
Cricket betting, in particular, has seen a revolution in how tech is applied – especially if you consider highly dynamic and fast-expanding markets like India.
Big Data
Big Data, though a novel term, is almost self-explanatory: it means vast amounts of data. Three features – called the three V’s of Big Data – define it: variety, volume, and velocity. Big Data involves the processing and storage of copious amounts of information, which is very varied in terms of the data points it encompasses. Additionally, the data comes from various sources at high speed, hence the velocity aspect. When one considers the game of cricket, it is precisely the kind of data source that would produce large amounts of varied data. In India, Big Data technologies are helping punters and sportsbooks garner the info that helps them achieve their ends. Big Data allows sportsbooks with the information needed to create good betting odds and lines, while tech-savvy punters use it to make much higher quality predictions in wagers. That said, Big Data is not helpful without AI, as explained below.
AI
Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, is one of those technologies that sound like hocus-pocus whenever anybody tries to explain them in detail. However, there’s a simplistic way to look at AI: to consider it tech that enables computers to have a human-like reasoning element when processing data. Those with Alexa, the voice-operated virtual assistant that will be part and parcel of most households in the next few years, have already experienced this first-hand. “Alexa, play me some good music.”
How would a machine know what good music was unless it could think more like the human it serves? In India, AI is used to aid cricket betting by providing the computing power necessary to process Big Data and the intelligence to make conclusions of a much higher quality than traditional computers. With AI, sportsbooks can process large amounts of data to predict patterns of play in a cricket match and thus be able to provide reasonable live betting odds to punters. Similarly, punters can use AI to aid in making cricket betting predictions. Rather than rely on a human brain, which tires easily and is prone to errors and biases, punters in India are using AI-powered tools to aid in placing wagers with higher success rates and profitability.
