by Matt Rybaltowski, Sportshandle
Trailing by 12 early in the second quarter, Al Horford backs down his defender on the high post and spots a cutting Marcus Smart for an acrobatic layup over Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III.
Within seconds, the NBA’s “official” data feed updates the basket from the Boston Celtics’ guard. On trading desks worldwide, the score from the official feed reflects Smart’s layup: Kings 44, Celtics 32, 8:27 left in the second quarter. A major U.K. sportsbook moves quickly to update the in-game spread and total: Kings minus-1.5, o/u 231.5 points.
An offshore betting website popular with U.S. customers, however, acts less swiftly, based on another source of data. For oddsmakers and bettors monitoring in-game lines, the disparity is stark. Though the official league feed and the U.K. book account for the score change immediately, the offshore book ends up operating on a delay of roughly six to eight seconds. Ultimately the site posts a total of 234.5 points, a considerable difference of three points above its U.K. counterpart.
How an offshore book receives ‘scraped data’
In the eyes of a knowledgeable industry executive, the delay provides a clear indication that the offshore website received “scraped data,” from a third-party supplier. As professional sports leagues seek compensation from sportsbook operators for access to their official betting data provided by third-party suppliers, unscrupulous companies in the ecosystem have developed methods to scrape, or pilfer, data from suppliers that have spent millions to partner with sports leagues in the U.S. and internationally.
That six to eight second lag does not appear to be a latency issue, but rather a delay that typically arises when a website uses pirated data, according to the executive. The executive is confident that the site received scraped data since he suspects that the supplier also poached data from his company in a similar manner.
The sequence, which occurred in the Celtics’ 126-120 win March 14, underscores a growing concern in the sports wagering industry as leagues secure partnerships with multi-national casinos and data providers. How valuable is official data when a rogue actor can easily steal odds from a reputable book and sell the lines for as little as $5 per game? Even more troublesome, can legal U.S. books compete on a level playing field with offshore sites that mostly escape penalties for obtaining stolen betting lines?
“If offshore books are still operating without sanctions, and if you cut off the official data supply to them, it’s like ‘shutting off the gasoline that powers the engine,’” another industry expert said.
Conversely, other sports gambling executives with C-level experience have downplayed some concerns related to the offshore market. Although sportsbooks domiciled outside the U.S. may not offer robust consumer safeguards as in regulated markets, engaging with offshore sportsbooks may not be as perilous as it seems, they argue. Otherwise, those sites which have remained a fixture in the offshore market for years would have already closed operations. The cream has risen to the top, while disreputable sportsbooks have perished.
Rest is here…https://sportshandle.com/sports-betting-data-distribution-offshore-sportsbooks/
