Sports betting-oriented agency HPL Digital Sport has announced the results of a recent survey conducted among industry-focused journalists who have scored the most relevant sports betting companies in the US. The specialists consulted for this study chose FanDuel as the best sports wagering-oriented business.
Participating media ranked their top 3 choices for who they felt was the most innovative operator, based on their conversations with industry experts and executives. HPLDS scored each First Place vote with 3 points, each Second Place vote with 2 points and each Third Place vote with 1 point. FanDuel led the ranking with 55 points.
PointsBet followed with 24, and DraftKings placed third with 20. BetMGM came in fourth with nine points, while Bet365, Caesars and Circa shared the same score with 7 points.
According to the surveyed experts, FanDuel has been the leader because “they do well what was necessary these past few years in order to attract users: easy user experience (UX) overall and amazing promos.”
As for other findings, Fanatics claims the top spot of new operators to watch. When choosing the most anticipated new entrant in the market, the media overwhelmingly choose Fanatics (58%), as the company they feel will have the biggest impact in sports betting.
“It stands to reason that Fanatics’ market entry has piqued the interest of impact betting media because, in stark contrast to ESPN’s long-anticipated–but–still-very-much-TBD arrival, Fanatics is already here, having spent the past 18 months amassing a formidable roster of industry executives, engineering infrastructure and trading bandwidth,” read the consultancy’s commentary. 
“Thanks to its market pole position and bolstered by its best-in-class same-game parlay product, it has effectively guaranteed its seat at the big table for the next handful of years and beyond,” the survey said.
As for other new brands to watch, the potential Disney/DraftKings partnership received 25% of the vote, while Betr rounded out the top three with 17%.
The media’s excitement for Fanatics mirrors how they ranked the company’s announcement to officially launch as the top story of 2022 showing a betting operator “revolutionizing the market and leading to potential change in 2023.”
When thinking about the elements that are most important to defining innovation in sports betting, the media have prioritized user experience and engagement. Product differentiation and development of next-generation technology followed, but most interestingly, the media noted fiscal responsibility as an innovative element on par with brand development.
In-play betting has the attention of the media as the innovation criteria most likely to gain momentum in 2023. While in-play betting captured 42% of the response from the media, it is important to see how the media voted on other upcoming and teased technological elements.
The evolution of sports betting content secured 17% of the vote, while universal wallet and the gamification of betting each grabbed 8% of the vote. While in-play betting is currently the more popular choice among the media, the vast difference between content, universal wallet and gamification highlights how expansive the bettor experience will be in the coming years.
Read the full report here.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2023/03/06/66321-fanduel-leads-hpl-digital-sport-survey-on-us-industry-39s-34most-innovative-sportsbook-34
