As soon as betting was legalized, the question was asked: How soon will it be when a bettor can see a live NFL game while betting inside an app?
The answer, for the last four years at least, has been a big “who knows?” That was until Sunday, when Caesars Sportsbook streamed the Indianapolis Colts vs. Dallas Cowboys game inside its app.
On Monday morning, Caesars formally acknowledged that it was granted the right, as an official sponsor of the league, to be the first sportsbook to offer the benefit of being able to watch and bet in the same interface.
How much of a benefit bettors think this provides — and whether Caesars will receive a bump in bettors and or deposits — is up in the air.
Much of it will have to do with latency and how much of a delay there is in between the action and the display of the game. Sunday’s display on the Caesars app was promising, with the action matching up close with the data display and routinely 15 to 20 seconds before the plays were shown on cable.
Bettors who bet live frequently have often defaulted to watching data displays on apps instead of on television, as there is a good 20 to 30 second jump. Being behind a single play can of course compromise everything for a live bettor.
This is just a test of sorts, as Caesars plans to do this for select games. The question also will be how exclusive the opportunity will be and whether live bettors find it to be a particularly useful feature — compared to watching cable television or just the data feed.
