Genius Sports
Company typePublic
NYSE: GENI
IndustrySports data
PredecessorBetgenius
SportingPulse International Genius Sports Group
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
Headquarters
London
,
U.K.
Key people
Mark Locke (CEO)

Jack Davison (CCO)

Steven Burton (COO)
Number of employees
1,500
Websitegeniussports.com

Genius Sports is a sports data and technology company that provides data management, video streaming and integrity services to sports leagues, bookmakers and media companies.

In April 2021, Genius Sports completed a business combination agreement with a special purpose acquisition company dMY Technology Group, Inc. II to list on the New York Stock Exchange.[1][2][3]

History

Genius Sports was formed in 2016 following a merger between Betgenius, a technology and data supplier to the betting industry, and SportingPulse International, a sports data and software business.[4]

In 2017, Genius Sports acquired Data Project, a volleyball technology provider.[5][6] In September, the PGA Tour launched a new Integrity Program to "maintain integrity and prevent mitigate betting-related corruption in PGA Tour competitions."[7] Genius Sports was selected to support the PGA Tour through bet monitoring and educational services.[8][9]

In May 2018, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) announced a landmark new statistics initiative for its 1,100 Members alongside Genius Sports. The deal aimed to modernise how NCAA Schools and Conferences harness game statistics to engage fans, drive performance levels and manage their operations.[10][11] In July 2018, Genius Sports Group was acquired by Apax Partners.[12][13] In November, Football DataCo, the rights holder of all the professional football leagues in England and Scotland, announced its new integrity strategy alongside Genius Sports and Perform Group.[14] This agreement marked the first time two technology companies had combined to help protect a sport against match-fixing.[15][16]

In May 2019, Genius Sports struck a deal with the NASCAR stock-car racing association to become the exclusive provider of NASCAR data to licensed sportsbooks around the world.[17] Also in May, Genius Sports announced a deal with Football DataCo to be the official supplier of live data to the global sports betting industry for the Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League, replacing the leagues’ previous supplier, Perform Group, which instead agreed to be acquired by investment firm Vista Equity Partners.[18] The multi-year deal will commence with the start of the leagues’ 2019/20 seasons.[19] In July, FIBA, the world governing body of basketball, announced a long-term extension of its 15-year partnership with Genius Sports, providing statistics collection, distribution and competition management to its member leagues and federations.[20] In July and August, Genius Sports partnered with the German Football Association and Superliga Argentina to help protect their competitions from match-fixing and betting-related corruption.[21][22] In October, Genius Sports announced the acquisition of Oppia Performance, an automated video production and streaming company.[23]

In April 2021, Genius Sports partnered with the National Football League to act as their exclusive distributor of live NFL data and statistics to bookmakers and media companies.[24] This multi-year partnership saw Genius Sports replace the NFL's previous partner Sportradar and also includes the rights to distribute NFL streams and represent its sports betting advertising inventory.[25]

On September 7, 2021, Genius sports announced a partnership with WynnBET to provide official data feeds, player acquisition and fan engagement solutions after the approval of WynnBET to become an Official Sportsbook operator of the NGL for the 2021 season.[26]

In December 2021, the Canadian Football League announced that it is partnering with Genius Sports via new arm called CFL Ventures that will share commercial revenue.[27]

Products and services

Genius Sports provides software to sports leagues and federations. This technology enables sports to capture, manage and distribute their data and statistics and is used by sports leagues globally.[28][29] Sports, in turn, grant Genius Sports the rights to commercialise their data and video content with sportsbooks, casinos and media companies.[30][31]

Genius Sports' betting partners include over 300 sportsbook brands such as FanDuel,[32] Skybet and Bet365.[33] Genius Sports provides sportsbooks with live data, odds and streams from thousands of over 240,000 live sports events per year.[34]

References

  1. ^ Dummett, Katherine Sayre and Ben (2020-10-27). "U.K. Betting Firm Genius Sports to Go Public in $1.5 Billion SPAC Deal". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  2. ^ Young, Jabari (2021-04-20). "NFL data rights owner Genius Sports closes $1.5 billion merger". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  3. ^ Correspondent, Callum Jones, US Business. "Betting data owner Genius Sports closes $1.5bn merger". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-04-21. ((cite news)): |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Heitner, Darren. "Is Major League Baseball Ready To Embrace Sports Betting?". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  5. ^ "Volleyball Technology Specialist Acquired by Genius Sports". Quoi. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Volleyball Technology Specialist Acquired by Genius Sports – Quoi". quoi.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  7. ^ Dethier, Dylan. "PGA Tour to launch Integrity Program to 'protect' tournaments from gambling issues". GOLF. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  8. ^ "PGA Tour hires London firm to monitor betting activity". Reuters. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  9. ^ "PGA Tour supports legalized sports betting and its reasons may surprise you". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  10. ^ Purdum, David. "NCAA announces 10-year data partnership with Genius Sports". ESPN. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  11. ^ "NCAA Sees Dollar Signs in Sports Stats, Signs 10-Year Data Deal". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  12. ^ "Sports Data Company Genius Sold to Private Equity Apax Partners". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  13. ^ "Genius Sports Group acquired". www.sportindustry.biz. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  14. ^ "Football DataCo pens integrity deal with Genius, Perform". iGaming Business. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  15. ^ Correspondent, Matt Hughes, Deputy Football (2017-11-11). "Football Notebook: Everton must pay £3.5m release clause to hire Dyche". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2018-08-10.((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Genius Sports joins Perform to unveil integrity strategy". www.sportindustry.biz. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  17. ^ "NASCAR, Genius Sports form betting data partnership | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  18. ^ “Genius Sports Signs Major Exclusive Data Deal with English Premier League” Casino.org. Retrieved 10 May 2019
  19. ^ "Genius Sports hails landmark deal with Football DataCo". SportBusiness. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  20. ^ Ogus, Simon. "FIBA And Genius Sports Announce Extension Of Technology Partnership". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  21. ^ Ashelm, Michael. "F.A.Z. exklusiv: DFB hat neuen Partner für Kampf gegen die Wettmafia" (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  22. ^ "Superliga: el acuerdo para combatir el arreglo de partidos y las apuestas". www.lanacion.com.ar (in Spanish). 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  23. ^ "Genius moves into streaming with Oppia Performance purchase". SportBusiness. 2019-10-07. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  24. ^ "NFL agrees to new exclusive data rights deal". ESPN.com. 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  25. ^ Young, Jabari (2021-04-01). "National Football League agrees to data rights deal with Genius Sports". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  26. ^ "Genius Sports Secures Latest Official Data, NFL and Fan Engagement Partnership With WynnBET". Business Wire. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  27. ^ Austin, Daniel (2022-03-15). "What is Genius Sports? Randy Ambrosie opens up about CFL's new partner". Calgary Sun. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  28. ^ "When Sports Betting Is Legal, the Value of Game Data Soars". Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  29. ^ "Fiba extends Genius Sports partnership". SportBusiness Group. 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  30. ^ "'We now have the firepower': Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke on taking the SPAC route to go public". www.sportspromedia.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  31. ^ Gosden, Emily. "Merger is a genius idea for betting data group". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  32. ^ Novy-Williams, Eben (2021-01-28). "FanDuel, Genius Sports Sign Two-Year Marketing Partnership". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  33. ^ Evans, Jake. "Bet365 goes live with Betgenius' first streaming service". EGR Technology. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  34. ^ "Genius Sports SPAC: A Look At The Thing Behind The Thing For Sports Betting". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.

External links

Categories