Future of Betting

Quick summary

We ran a one-week cross-pillar design sprint to reimagine the betting experience across Sportsbook, Gaming, and Player Experience. In five days, we aligned three business pillars, validated six opportunity areas, and tested concepts for navigation, personalisation, search, performance, and discovery. The sprint secured senior sponsorship and triggered live workstreams, feeding directly into the 2025 roadmap.

Overview

Future of Betting was a one-week design sprint bringing together Sportsbook, Gaming, and Player Experience to create a bold, user-led vision. The sprint aligned cross-pillar teams, tackled long-standing UX issues, and delivered a tested vision prototype that now feeds into the 2025 roadmap.

The UK betting market is highly competitive. Customers often use three apps, and younger bettors (18–35s) drive £4.2 billion annually. Winning with this audience requires modern, relevant, and connected experiences - making this sprint a critical first step.

In five days, we aligned three business pillars, validated six opportunity areas, and delivered a tested prototype now shaping the future experience roadmap.

Sprint Approach

A design sprint is a focused, five-day process to explore and validate ideas fast with cross-functional teams, reducing risk before full development.

Our mindset: Forget roles. Challenge assumptions. Think beyond our industry. Don’t worry about the “how” – think big.

Why Cross-Pillar Matters Customers don’t think in “product silos” – they experience our brand as one journey. By bringing Sportsbook, Gaming, and Player Experience together, we created concepts that felt connected from first tap to final payout.

Sprint Breakdown:
Monday - Align on the problem
Tuesday - Explore and narrow ideas
Wednesday - Refine and share concepts
Thursday - Test with users
Friday - Review insights and define next steps

User Insights & Customer Perception

We have strong brand awareness (83%) but underperform in next bet consideration among 18–34s. Competitors like bet365 and Sky Bet lead here, showing the need to modernise and improve relevance.

We underperform against competitors in personalisation (-4), rewards (-2), and innovation (-8), highlighting clear areas to improve.

Ease of use – Simplify navigation and journeys
Rewards & offers – More relevant, timely incentives
Personalisation – Adapt content and layout
Trust tools – Make responsible gambling features easier to find

Survey of 1,978 users:

43% know exactly what they want → optimise for speed
35% browse with intent → clearer structure and signposting
11% open to exploring → improve discovery and engagement

Problem Statement

Our current betting experience:

Navigation is clunky
No fast, reliable search
Core tasks take too long
Speed and stability issues reduce trust
Competitors feel smoother and more modern
Doesn’t balance needs of committed and casual users

These issues were long recognised, but the sprint finally provided the structure to address them head-on.

Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)

Objective 1 – Define the Future Experience

Cross-pillar vision that removes friction and increases engagement.

3+ validated UX opportunities
Core design principles
Concepts in navigation, personalisation, and discovery

Objective 2 – Increase Relevance with Younger Users

Address NPS pain points and create modern, engaging experiences.

Test with 18–34s
Introduce at least one “signature moment”
Improve perception in personalisation, rewards, innovation

Objective 3 – Accelerate Product Progress

Provide validated concepts ready for delivery.

Align stakeholders
Feed outcomes into discovery
Document sprint format for reuse

Experience Framework

Connects our priority opportunities with guiding principles for Sportsbook, Gaming, and Player Experience.

Navigation & Ease of Use – Simplify journeys for high-intent users (OKRs 1 & 2)
Serve Intent Instantly – bet in three taps or less from anywhere.

Interaction Models – Improve quality with native-feel gestures (OKRs 1 & 3)
Be Consistently Frictionless – smooth, predictable behaviour across journeys.

Personalisation – Adapt layout, content, and offers (OKRs 1 & 2)
Evolve With the User – surface relevant content and adapt over time.

Signature Moments – Create emotionally engaging highlights (OKR 2)
Delight in the Moments That Matter – celebrate wins and milestones with brand-led visuals.

Performance & Stability – Improve speed, reliability, trust (OKR 3)
Design for Confidence – keep interactions lightweight and responsive.

Search & Discovery – Add smart, contextual search (OKR 1)
Think Across Pillars – enable cross-product search for sports, gaming, promotions.

Concepts Explored

Six concepts tested to solve core user pain points and align with the cross-pillar vision.

Dynamic Navigation Bar – Adapts to user behaviour for faster journeys.
Universal Search – Predictive, cross-pillar search for sports, games, promotions.
Signature Win Moments – Branded animations celebrating wins.
Adaptive Event Pages – Layouts that adjust based on usage patterns.
Performance-First UI – Lightweight, instant-loading designs.
Contextual Discovery Feed – Personalised mix of live markets, news, promotions.

User Testing Insights

Testing validated key concepts and guided refinements.

Personalised Onboarding & Homepage – Reduced overwhelm, faster navigation, better relevance.

“Some can be overwhelming… it can get confusing even for a seasoned user.” – 39, male

AI-Enabled Search – High curiosity for live stat queries; some scepticism on accuracy.

“I’d be very interested to test that out.” – 22, male

Dark Theme Preference – Younger users liked its modern, eye-friendly feel.

“It just gives it a more modern feel.” – 22, male

Rewards & Gamification – Motivating when structured, interactive, and relevant.

“It makes you more motivated to come back to the app.” – 24, male

Final Playback & Next Steps

Feedback was outstanding - senior leaders endorsed the vision and agreed to begin implementing elements immediately. Navigation improvements are already in testing, personalisation and performance-first patterns are in the 2025 roadmap, and the sprint format will be repeated for other shared challenges.

Immediate next steps:

Navigation improvements – Gaming team testing new Sports–Gaming flows.
Roadmap integration – Personalisation and performance-first patterns earmarked for 2025 delivery.
Cross-pillar alignment – Agreement to repeat sprint format for other shared challenges.