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Sports betting mobile apps have been the trendiest innovations of all time, allowing gamblers to access the betting platform on their hands. The industry is filled with betting apps, and people have many selections to start their betting career. The advent of modern technologies, tools, and AI-based programming languages has been a great help in achieving this success. Moreover, this industry has seen tremendous growth in user base or revenue increment.
The evergreen landscape of sports has opened diverse gambling opportunities to businesses. Betting applications provide a convenient way of betting on sports without any complications. People don't have to go anywhere; with a mobile betting app, they can bet on their preferred sports.
A successful betting app delivers a user-friendly interface with the best odds, features, and simplicity so punters can easily have an outstanding betting experience. The best sports betting app requires in-depth technical expertise, user-friendly functionalities, significant design considerations, and a proper fail-proof strategy. Therefore, having complete knowledge of the sports betting app development process and how to opt for the right developers to achieve success is the most crucial aspect to consider.
Read More: Sports Betting Exchange Software Cost and Features
Being a trusted app development company, we possess in-depth technical knowledge and a highly experienced in-house development team. We have created and delivered top-notch software products to local and international clients in all categories. At Orion InfoSolutions, we've worked with startups, innovators, and large-scale businesses to help them achieve their core goals. As a software development consultancy provider, our prior goal has always been to provide the proper technical guidance and team of software developers to clients' projects to ensure success.
At Orion InfoSolutions, we hold complete experience in sports betting software development, which allows us to give you a complete overview of how to develop a sports betting app, the features you should opt for, the cost it involves, and other technical aspects that are a must to take into account, and the potential challenges you might face during the development process. It will give you a clear way to plan further.
So, without wasting any time, let's dive in.
As mentioned above, building sports betting software is ultimately a technical task; therefore, before developing, ensure that you are fully equipped with technical expertise. So, there are two main options: by opting, you can develop your sports betting app. The first option is working from the ground level, which includes developing fresh codes and designing UI/UX. The second way is to purchase the sports betting software from the sportsbook software provider that can be easily integrated into your existing platform.
The first way is time-consuming; complexities are high for those who don't have a technical background or knowledge of app development. However, this gives you complete control of how you want to build your app and which features and functionalities you want to include.
Additionally, the second option leaves you with a pre-developed software approach that you can just buy and start your platform in days. Also, this is a more cost-effective, fast, and easiest way to start your business. However, opting for ready-made software limits the app's features and functionalities.
We believe that developing sports betting apps from scratch is more beneficial as it will open up several customization options to include only trending features and functionalities. For more information about the specific software development requirements, you can connect with our technical experts, who will guide you through all the technical aspects of sports betting app development. Plus, they will provide you with proficient software development experts to start your project.
Read More: How Does Sports Betting Work?
Now let's understand the different stages of sports betting software development that you'll need to know about.
1. Obtain a License
Betting on sports in which real money is involved is considered gambling, which is not legal in most countries. To make your platform wholly secure and reliable, you must opt for a license from reliable authorities.
Before starting the development process, it is critical to obtain a gambling license, ensuring your business is legally compliance with all the rules. Also, it is essential to know that the gambling rules vary from state to state. In short, not all states or countries have made gambling illegal. Therefore, it is crucial to know the gambling rules in your area and follow them thoroughly to prevent any risk arising down on the business.
A gambling license permits your business to run your sports betting platform in legal areas (state/country) without any complications. As mentioned, these licenses can be obtainable through legal gambling license providers, or you can ask your software development company for the license if they can offer you one.
2. Market Research and Business Plan
After obtaining the gambling license for your sports betting platform, you can proceed to the next step: market research and business plans. A thorough market research helps you define your unique selling proposition. The market research is for finding your target users/customers for your sports betting app. It is crucial to understand your user base from the outset. Market research lets you minimize the risk even when your project idea is just a gleam in your eye. You need to be fully aware of the latest market trends to deliver what your target audience wants.
Market research gives you a competitive analysis that helps you get an advantage over your competitors. Through competitive analysis, you can quickly identify your competition by product line. It will provide critical insights into how your competitors target their audience and what strategies they implement to get broader recognition in the market. All these aspects can help you determine a fail-proof business plan.
3. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
Before launching your sports betting app development project, compliance with gambling regulations is also essential. As mentioned in the first step, different countries/states have other laws regarding who can publish gambling apps on the internet. So, it is crucial to research gambling rules and laws in the area you plan on targeting.
You must obtain approval to list your mobile app on a platform like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. iOS and Android each have their guidelines for publishing gambling apps. Therefore, ensure that your sports betting platform complies with app store guidelines to reduce the risk of rejection. It will be good to familiarize yourself with the app store publishing requirements before you start the development process.
4. Choose the Right Technology Stack
Choosing the right technology for your sports betting app project is crucial to determine in the first place. Your betting app's flexibility, performance, scalability, and development process are determined by the tech stack you opt for. Also, this significantly impacts the success rate of your business in the market. Plus, the right tech stack can offer you future upgrades if required.
So, before getting any code written, you must consider your sports betting software development requirements. There are a variety of programming languages, tools, frameworks, and technologies available in the market, and choosing the wrong one can be dangerous for your project and business.
5. Design the User Interface (UI/UX)
A visually appealing interface is vital to keeping the users engaged with your platform for hours. Regarding UI and UX design, it would be better to entrust this work to experienced UI/UX designers. To stand out from the crowd, you'll need to deliver what others failed to do. Your betting app's user interface and user experience will decide whether you will stay in the competition. Therefore, keep yourself involved in the designing phase as much as possible and ensure your app delivers a user-friendly, engaging, unique interface.
Read More: Where is Sports Betting Legal in India?
Ideally, your sports betting app designers will understand the ins and outs of creating your sports betting app. The UI/UX development process involves creating a user-friendly, intuitive, and visually appealing app interface. A clean and clear UI and UX design can enhance the users' overall betting experience and engagement level.
6. Backend Infrastructure and Real-time Odds Integration
The backend infrastructure is a central unit of an app that handles all the data-related processes. It handles all the server-side operations, such as authentication, authorization, and validation of user inputs. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a sports betting app that has a robust and scalable server architecture to handle backend operations more smoothly.
The backend development of an app is time-consuming as it can be complex and highly technical. Therefore, it would be better to let the professionals handle this work. They will assist you in creating a scalable and robust system capable of managing all the user databases, payments, real-time data integration, etc.
When creating a sports betting app, looking into real-time odds system integration is essential. Real-time odds integration refers to integrating real-time sports data, live odds feeds, and other necessary information into the app. This will allow your users to access up-to-date odds and betting options, crucial for user engagement and trust.
You can opt for an industry-leading sports betting API provider for real-time odds and other data integration services.
7. Payment Gateway Integration
When making a sports betting app, which payment gateway to include is also a critical aspect you must consider the most. Having a variety of payment gateways available within will allow users for the quick and convenient way of transactions. A reliable payment method also builds trustworthiness towards your business. Fortunately, many payment gateway service providers can integrate multiple payment methods within the app. Here are several payment gateways that you can choose for your sports betting app development:
With these payment gateways, users of a sports betting app can do transactions and withdrawal conveniently and securely.
8. Choose a Sports Betting App Development Company
If you don't have any technical background or an in-house team to bring your sports betting business idea into reality, then choosing a development partner is the only option you can go for. Therefore, it is crucial to consider this checklist and make all the arrangements for your project accordingly.
This phase of your sports betting app development decides whether you'll be able to reach great heights or not. As in the IT industry, many sports betting app development companies are there; finding a suitable one for your project can be very daunting. However, you can choose a reliable one by making a checklist of your project requirements. Here are several things that you need to look for:
Considering all these aspects, you can hire a trustworthy development partner for your betting app. Also, you can interview their developers to gain the fundamental expertise and experience of the company. Choosing an experienced partner with a proven track record in this niche can help smooth the development process and increase the chances of your sports betting app succeeding.
9. Continuous Monitoring and User Feedback
Once your sports betting app is fully developed, you’ll have to continuously monitor your app performance and consider all the feedback of users to make changes and deliver best experience per your user’s preference.
Also, you’ll have to plan a budget for marketing campaigns to create more awareness of your sports betting app and drive broader users toward it.
Creating a successful sports betting app is a time-taking process and requires effort, technical knowledge, expertise, and fail-proof planning. However, with the right sports betting app development company and resources, you can reduce the risk and ensure that your sports betting app is a success for your business.
Read More: An Ultimate Guide to Building Virtual Sports Betting App
Now that we know how to build a sports betting app, let’s go over the fundamental facts of what features it should have. The features of your gambling app go beyond just providing an exceptional experience to users. The type of features you opt for decides whether your app will be beneficial for users or not, and this will decide your success in the market.
Features are crucial in attracting a wide range of users to your platform. Therefore, what features to include and what not to is an important debate you should focus on the most. To give you an idea of which features you should opt for your sports betting app, here is the comprehensive list of user, bookie, and admin panel features:
The user panel should be user-friendly and easy to operate; this can engage and drive more users towards your business. Here are some of the must-have user panel features for sports betting apps:
User Login/Registration
User login and registration are the most common but crucial features for any mobile app development. It enables users to securely log in to the app with a mobile number, via Gmail, or through OTP and Google account. The login page should be easy and fast, as complex login can drive users away from the platform. A fast and secure login is necessary if you want your users to use your betting app continuously. Through login, users can create their profile to keep track of their bets, payment history, and other important information.
Live Streaming Functionality
With live streaming functionality, users can access real-time sports data and information. This will help users make informed decisions according to the real-time events. Also, it helps users make their strategy before placing bets on the team, player, or match. For better results, you should hire the best sports betting app development company to seamlessly add this feature to the app.
Multiple Betting Options
Having multiple betting options encourages users to place more bets. Multiple betting functionality, which generally includes money line bets, spread bets, over/under bets, parlay bets, and more, provides users with various selections and enhances the overall sports betting experience.
Variety of Payment Methods
Payment services are one of the prominent aspects that you should opt for in your sports betting app that can help you gain users' trust. A seamless, fast, and secure payment option enhances the betting experience and allows users to withdraw and deposit conveniently. This helps users trust your business and allows them to use your app constantly.
Betting History
With betting history, users will have comprehensive information and statistics of their previous games which they have played. Through this, users can comprehensively analyze their winnings and losses and control and make betting strategies accordingly when needed.
Multi-Language Support
In every custom software development, be it betting software or any other software, it is essential to provide native language functionality that allows users to choose the language in the app per their communication preference.
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Through admin control, app owners can manage all app features and functionalities, such as user, transaction, content, and bet management. This is an essential part of your sports betting app that gives you complete control. Here are the essential admin control features that a sports betting app should have:
User Management
Through this, app owners will have control over users and their profiles. Admins can edit, delete, add, update user information, manage user permission, and create user profiles through the admin panel’s user management functionality.
Bet Management
The bet management in admin control feature allows app owners to manage the bets placed by users, including tracking bets, updating odds, canceling bets, and settling bets.
Content Management
Content management features allow admins to add, delete, and update content within the app, such as sports event information, odds, and promotional materials.
Payment Management
It allows app owners to handle all payment-related aspects, such as accepting and rejecting user payment requests, deposits, withdrawals, and bonus distribution. All these can be handled via the payment management admin feature.
Odds Management
Through odds management admin panel functionality, app owners can update or customize the odds for different sports events and betting markets.
Marketing & Promotions
This admin feature enables app owners to create marketing and promotion campaigns, such as adding advertisement banners and other promotional offers to attract more users. This also helps app owners increase brand awareness, create interest, and create unique brand loyalty.
To bring your sports betting app idea into a full-fledged reality, you will require fully experienced professionals who can do this work more effectively. When developing a sports betting app, whether simple or complex, you should hire an industry-leading mobile app or software development company to build your app successfully and help with future needs and requirements, such as upgrading security functionalities, updates, and support services. If you have the vision but are confused about the team selection, here is the development team required to develop your sports betting applications.
Your sports betting app performance, flexibility, customization options, and scalability are all determined by the tech stack you opt for. It includes choosing programming languages, coding frameworks, and databases for developing the app. So, choosing the tech stack for your sports betting app development depends entirely on your business's core needs and requirements.
Read More: Betting API Provider
However, different development companies will have different approaches and tech stacks, so before hiring them, check whether they work on the most trending technologies and frameworks. Here are some of the recommended tech stacks that you can opt for your sports betting app development:
Tech Stack for Sports Betting App —
When developing a sports betting app, this tech stack is an effective option that can be utilized. However, you can choose any technology that efficiently supports your app's functionality. Also, you can use this tech stack for cross-platform app development and leverage multiple-platform capability. Additionally, it is essential to integrate a reliable and user-friendly payment gateway to allow seamless transactions for app users.
Many individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses looking to start their industry with a sports betting app ask, “How much does it cost to develop a sports betting app?”
Before going under the costing and all, it is important to understand that the expense of any app or software development completely depends on the core needs and requirements of the businesses. After gathering the final requirements, it is possible to gain an accurate app development cost.
Read More: How Much Does It Cost to Build a Sports Betting Website
The cost to develop a sports betting app with advanced features and functionalities will be around $25,000-$50,000 for a single platform (Android/iOS/Web). However, there are several factors that you need to be aware of, which play a crucial role in affecting the overall development cost. These factors are:
Now let’s have looked at average cost estimation of sports betting app development in different places:
The cost of sports betting app development in India ranges from $3,500 to $6,000 for a basic betting app, $5,000 to $10,000 for a Mid-level functionality app, and advanced functionality betting application, the cost will be $15,000 to $25,000.
Similarly, if you opt for a UK- or US-based company, the essential cost will start from $10,000 to $20,000, and for advanced-level betting apps, it will be $30,000 to $60,000 or more.
Developing a sports betting app is lucrative for established businesses and startups. With the help of the right sports betting app development company, you can bring your idea into reality and create an engaging and secure betting experience for your target audience/customers. Launching your betting platform in the market can leverage higher revenue opportunities for your business.
Additionally, you must ensure that your sports betting app idea is unique and offers a unique selling proposition to your customers. You must consider several factors like customizability, scalability, security, real-time data integration, and end-to-end support to stand out from your competitors.
If you want to dive into the sports betting market by developing a sports betting app, reach out to us and access the best industry experts who are proficient in guiding you thoroughly and helping you jump-start your business more effectively and efficiently.
DC Kumawat is the CEO of Orion InfoSolutions, a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses of all sizes. He has over 14+ years of experience in the IT industry. He is a passionate advocate for the use of technology to improve business performance.