By David Purdum and Ryan Rodenberg, ESPN
There are no immediate plans for Patent No. 0125691.
The description contains plain words like “computer,” “real-time” and “online.” Figure 2, an accompanying diagram, shows the system’s entire process in an eight-step flow chart that ends with “determine payout of event.”
The patent application, published on May 6 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, remains pending.
But don’t let its apparent simplicity fool you: This patent application is held by Microsoft, and it could be a critical piece of a future with widespread legal sports betting in the United States.
Over four months, ESPN interviewed more than 50 sources representing a vast spectrum of interests and came away with numerous key findings about the future of American sports betting. Among them:
