Sky Bet trials iBeacon tech at football stadiums

Sky Betting and Gaming has begun trialling Apple’s iBeacon technology at two English Football League stadiums as the operator continues its mobile innovation push.

The firm is using the technology to send localised push notifications to match-goers at Leeds United’s Elland Road and Rotherham United’s New York Stadium grounds via Bluetooth from its mobile app.

iOS users at matches can opt-in to receive notifications such as a welcome message from Sky Bet which when swiped takes the user to the football page within the Sky Bet app.

Sky Bet confirmed to eGaming Review that it expected to roll-out iBeacons to other Football League grounds in the future, while plans to send special offers and live odds were also in the pipeline.

“A key objective and focus is to try new and innovative technology and how we can take advantage of it,” Eddie Ross, Sky Bet’s native mobile apps product manager, told eGR this morning.

“iBeacon, which we’ve seen used quite a lot in the retail industry, gives us that opportunity as it lets you go down to the lower level and target people in really specific locations,” he added.

The technology was first revealed by Apple last year and the corporation has since been pushing the use of Bluetooth, turning it on by default for all iOS updates.

Yesterday eGR revealed that Sky Bet had become the first operator to incorporate Apple’s new TouchID technology into its sportsbook mobile app.

TouchID enables customers to log into the app using their fingerprint instead of the traditional four-number PIN format and according to the operator internal testing had demonstrated customers could log into their account up to four times quicker using the process.

Last year Sky Bet became the first mobile gambling operator to launch a seamless log in function to its portfolio of mobile apps, a capability a number of operators have since introduced to their own product suites.