Fast cricket data is only the start for rich, trusted betting experiences

In live cricket, on and off the pitch, speed matters. That's why Decimal Data delivers trading-grade cricket data measured in milliseconds, and secures official cricket betting data rights to be as close to the action as possible, giving licensed sports betting operators (and our own traders) the information they need to react to events on the field as they happen.

But for a sportsbook, just as for a Shabnim Ismail or Shoaib Akhtar, being fast is only part of the requirement.

At this year's SBC Summit in a very busy Lisbon, Ash and I spent a lot of time discussing with operators that speed is vital, but they also need depth, accuracy and reliability to create slick, trusted and engaging experiences for their bettors - not just for the ball-by-ball scores, but also for trading signals like Ball in Progress.

Operators and trading teams like Decimal Data's in-house experts need to know when to suspend, how quickly they can safely reopen, what bet delay is appropriate, how to price hundreds of different markets and how to settle them accurately.

The best cricket data API is therefore much more than a traditional live scores feed.  It is a data feed that combines speed with depth, accuracy, consistency and specialist trading signals.

Know what is about to happen, not just what happened

A traditional live scores feed tells you the outcome of a delivery, being usually runs, extras, wickets and other scoring events.

A trading-grade feed or API like Decimal Data's "Game/State Direct" needs to tell traders what is happening early, before the final score is known.  Decimal Data provides these trading signals in the form of:

• Millisecond-timestamped Ball in Progress (BIP) signals, allowing our traders and operators to suspend or protect markets at the appropriate moment;

• Possible Wicket and Possible Boundary signals to provide further information about outcomes, early, as the delivery unfolds;

• Followed as quickly as possible by the confirmed outcome.

Beyond individual deliveries, information such as bowling changes, reviews, injuries, interruptions, weather and other changes in match state can all affect how markets should be managed.

The result is not simply a faster score. It is a much richer picture of the live game that enables a much more trusted, higher quality betting experience for bettors, and a safer experience for trading floors and sportsbook product managers.

Reliable speed means benefits you can use

Reliable trading signals like BIP and possible wicket allow operators to automate suspensions and reopen markets sooner. Fast confirmed outcomes then allow models to reprice immediately. Accurate latency information allows bet delays to be set appropriately, rather than applying unnecessarily conservative protection across every match.

That means operators can protect themselves against sniping and late bets, without sacrificing unnecessary uptime or imposing excessive, high-friction bet delays.

I've highlighted this point, because it is the key takeaway for sportsbook operators!

Decimal Data's Game/State Direct service includes very reliable BIP and early score outcomes as well as latency metadata and recommended delays, further helping operators match their desired protection level to the underlying data available for each fixture.

Market depth and availability also matter

I've yet to speak to a sportsbook client or trader who disagrees that cricket is one of the most complex sports to trade effectively.

T10, T20, 50-over and red-ball cricket behave very differently. Men's and women's cricket require different assumptions and modelling. The conditions play an enormous role - both static pre-game conditions like boundary size, through to bounce, spin, swing and weather. And a modern sports bettor expects to see everything priced and available throughout the contest, from match, session and innings markets, to individual batters, bowlers, partnerships, overs, methods of dismissal, and individual deliveries.

Supporting this kind of experience, at scale, requires far more than a fast final score, and it isn't straightforward, which is why 120 of us at Decimal focus on doing it properly, for 10,000 matches a year.

Decimal Data combines fast game-state and scoring information with the specialist cricket data required to support sophisticated pricing throughout a match.

Our experience isn't limited to collecting the data. We have spent decades building cricket models and trading cricket ourselves, giving us a detailed understanding of which information matters, when it matters and how it is actually used on a trading floor. The benefits of this are also visible in our Managed Cricket Trading Service and our precision live odds feed.

PRECISION AT PACE

Ultimately, speed loses its value if the information cannot be trusted.

Our approach to data collection therefore combines rapid collection and transmission with specialist collectors, validation, live quality assurance, redundancy and detailed event histories.

This allows our traders and operators using the fast data feed directly to automate around the feed with confidence, keeping a wide variety of compelling markets open, while retaining the accuracy required for pricing and settlement, and the speed required for protection from late bets.

Retaining customers through superior user experiences

For licensed sportsbooks like Betfred, combining fast data and trading signals into a precision odds feed with in-house expertise produces richer customer experiences that retain users and drive satisfaction. You can read more about their experiences with Decimal Data here.

It is really rewarding to see the likes of Betfred speak so positively about the difference they've seen by switching to Decimal Data for their cricket betting offering, and we heard many similar stories from clients in Lisbon, which is fantastic. Hopefully this overview helps explain some of the key components that go into producing those kind of results.