Genius Sports, a world leader and official data, technology and broadcasting partner that feeds the global ecosystem that connects sports, betting and media, has been increasingly engaged with leagues, federations and bookmakers operating in the Brazilian market to guarantee everyone – and sports fans and bettors – unique experiences.
To talk about the topic, the series of special GMB One-On-One interviews talks with Guilherme Buso, recently appointed senior manager of business development in sports and sports betting at Genius Sports in Brazil.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
GMB - You have recently joined Genius Sports, coming from an experience of over 13 years in the field of sports communication and marketing. What can this add to Genius Sports?
Guilherme Buso - I came from the other side. I worked with sport for many years directly in a sports league. I was for more than ten years in the NBB, the Novo Basquete Brasil, the professional basketball league here in Brazil. I also had experiences with football in my early career, at the São Paulo Football Federation. So, I got to know Genius Sports by partnering with the NBB and participating in the data offering they've been doing for a long time. I think I can add the knowledge I have about how sports leagues see this world and from there, bring all this experience to be able to increasingly explore the opportunities and partnerships possible through this strategy of data and official streams that Genius Sports has been working on for quite a long time.
What will be your main roles ahead of this activity at Genius Sports to fulfill these goals that you should have with them and what does the coompany expect from Guilherme Buso?
I think that when we talk about the sports world and sports betting, Brazil is really the ball of the day. With the possible regulation of the betting market in Brazil and a series of opportunities, such as the creation of a new football league, some movements such as the NBB and the national futsal league, as well as the sport that passed through the Olympics and the World Cup, the country is the focus of large companies from all over the world. In my current role, I can navigate these two fronts, which is the relationship with sports leagues in Brazil and also in other Latin American countries, and with the great moment that bookmakers are experiencing here. So I work with these two fronts and it has been a very interesting moment and a professional challenge that has added me and adds a lot of value to me.
For both the betting market and the sports world, official data means the backbone of both businesses. How would you define this term and how to differentiate it from unofficial data? How does this impact the analysis of sports integrity?
Most importantly, the official data is a reliable source for leagues, operators and the end customer, who expect the most real, fast and efficient data from a sports league. It is an extremely reliable source for users when compared to unofficial data or data copied on the network, which cannot play this role. The official data, for Genius Sports, allows us to access and monitor the competitions, through an authorization of this route established between Genius Sports and the leagues and federations. This allows our integrity service to have the best quality, as the official data leaves the edge of the court and is the most reliable available, in which sports entities deliver to us and this data goes directly to the bookmaker for the fan, so that user can enjoy this experience. You spoke very well. This is the backbone of the entire operation that Genius Sports carries out.
What does it take to provide the market with reliable data for sports integrity and bookmaker credibility? What are the main differentials of Genius Sports in this regard?
Genius Sports' policy is to work with official data through direct partnerships with leagues and federations, which allows us to have certified information that comes directly from the source, which is the court or football pitch. Through our collection software, we were able to receive this data and send it as reliably as possible, as it is in fact official and aligned with what the entities are able to extract from each match. This also gives leagues, federations, sporting bodies and operators alike, overseeing what, when and where these matches take place and which ones are subject to betting.
And it's not easy, in the face of so many modalities and thousands of matches and championships around the world!
It is a complex task, but it all starts with a robust ecosystem that is created, which includes regulation, clear rules and monitoring inside and outside the match environment. And very important: that there is an education work with all the players involved in this ecosystem. It's immense. When we talk about it, the Genius Sports content portfolio is talking about numerous sports that range from the most classic, such as football and basketball, to those lesser known to the Brazilian public, such as eSports and wrestling, in addition to other competitions that also allow this data collection and that they have relevance to become a possible bet. In essence, this has been going on forever. In ancient Rome, people went to the Coliseum to find out who was going to do well, the lion or the gladiator. It's not like it is today, but that's part of the essence of the sport. I think the big challenge, when we talk about globalization, is to make sure that all this is within parameters and rules, making the entire ecosystem connect in the best possible way and so that everyone wins and stay satisfied with the final result.
For all the background available at Genius Sports, what can the company offer to the Brazilian sports betting market, still dependent on regulation, on the eve of happening?
Regulation is important in several ways. It gives security to higher investments in the country, increases the job market, allows gamblers to be sure of what they are doing and will guarantee that the country, through taxes, will have market revenue, which is enormous, but Brazil does not see this recipe. In addition to determining guidelines that will protect customers. So, the regulation comes to further improve this experience and the business model that Genius Sports has worldwide. It is clear that regardless of the regulations, Genius Sports has been operating in Brazil for some time and I think this will increasingly add and improve the Brazilian market in this segment.
The presidential decree that regulates sports betting is already there. And therein lies the issue of sporting integrity. What can Genius Sports offer the regulated market with all its experience in this matter?
Genius Sports was the first international entity to be concerned with promoting the regulation of the Brazilian market with this focus on integrity that you mention. At the time, I was at the NBB and we had just signed a contract with Genius Sports for a few years and on that occasion representatives of Genius Sports came to Brazil to hold an event in Brasília to discuss integrity in sport and especially in Brazilian sport. So, Genius Sports' intention is to maintain this strong presence in the country and seek more integrity initiatives, while, of course, we seek new business opportunities in the country.
So I'm going to ask a question in the form of a joke. Has Genius Sports delivered everything it promised the NBB as a product user or did it offer even more?
Obviously yes. Genius Sports is very much related to sports betting, and that is a fact. The experience that the company seeks as fan engagement, not necessarily with betting, is very large. So yes, it delivered. The basketball fan experience, thanks to the technology and software that Genius Sports promotes and allows sports leagues to use, makes all the difference in the fan experience, not only in terms of betting, but also the statistical experience of the game itself. In basketball, the software offered is the recognized and flagship software of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). So it's much more than pure odds and data. There is a whole refinement and I think the company in the last two years has only grown in this search for the best possible experience and fan engagement.
When we talk about integrity, it's not just about sports betting, it's also about fairness in a championship. How to point out that a tournament was fair and that a team won such a competition if there was manipulation of the result? So, this involves all the ends of a sporting process.
Exactly. It's like I said earlier. It's an entire ecosystem that needs to be integrated so that everyone leaves satisfied at the end of a match and knowing that all the players involved are integrated in making correct use and integrity and that there is no one on or off the court that will tarnish this championship. This work of integrity, combined with this technology service that Genius Sports offers to the sports market, has been fundamental for fairplay, which is much talked about in football, to happen naturally. It's for everyone to know that the championship is intact and that nothing wrong is happening.
How is Genius Sports preparing for the regulation of the Brazilian market and for the World Cup in Qatar, specifically speaking about football?
For the Brazilian market, we still have a long way to go. We have already seen many partnerships happening in the sports world or with bookmakers here in Brazil, but we have a lot to move forward and many of them are already happening. We have a challenge, but an audacious goal, but which will in fact collaborate a lot with the sports world and with bookmakers. And when we talk about the World Cup, which is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, Genius Sports works thinking about what the sports fan experience will be like.
Last year we made some acquisitions of companies that add value to our portfolio of content, services and technology, such as Second Spectrum, which is an American company that processes data through video and augmented reality and soon we will have news to talk about it in Brazil. Another company we acquired was Fan Hub, a company that develops fantasy games, which is another way to engage fans. This has been the focus of Genius Sports for the last two years, which is to effectively collaborate for this new era of fan engagement, whether through betting or sports content as a whole. So, in relation to the World Cup, it is to put into practice everything that has been thought so that bookmakers and the sports world start to enjoy everything that has been thought.
Source: Exclusive GMB
