Not quite eight years on from the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act making legal sports betting a national, state-regulated possibility, American bettors’ preferences differ from their global counterparts in their patronage of in-play markets.
But they’re growing closer, Sportradar Senior Vice President of Fan Engagement Patrick Mostboeck told InGame. And they may be right on pace to eventually fall in line with bettors in longer-tenured sports betting economies like those in Europe.
According to a recent analysis by Sportradar, which supplies odds, video streaming, and raw data for betting to sportsbooks through its official licensing agreements with numerous sports leagues, the in-play share of handle globally is around 70-75%.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., it was just shy of 50% at the end of 2025. That figure was up from 35-40% a year earlier.
Not all signs have suggested a wave of adoption, however. A January Optimove study revealed that while 31% surveyed predicted they would bet on live markets this NFL season, just 17% actually did in the regular season.
InGame spoke with Mostboeck about whether the difference between U.S. and foreign bettors’ tastes are fundamental or just relative to experience, what bettors like, and how Sportradar factors.
InGame: Why does the U.S. lag behind in in-play?
Patrick Mostboeck: I wouldn’t say from our point of view that the U.S. lags behind anyone else. I think it’s just a matter of time. And it also took time in other parts of the world from when in-play betting arrived, was adopted, to where it is now.
IG: You expect the U.S. to reach 70-75%?
PM: Exactly. I think if we look at the latest data, approaching around 50% of in-play for 2025 is a growth from the previous years.
Obviously, there’s still some room, if we compare it with some international figures, but I think there is no question, especially if we connect it to basically the user behaviors of the younger generations, that it will greatly shift [in the U.S.].
I think it’s pretty obvious that it moves in [a positive] direction, but it might still need a little bit of time to arrive.
IG: When did tech bring in-play to the older markets?
PM: If we use the European comparison, I would say 10-15 years ago as a starting point. And then over time, it really grew and it came in waves. I think you always have to keep in mind that on the one side, you have those globally big sports like soccer, basketball, and tennis, which obviously — specifically, tennis and soccer — are very well-developed in terms of in-play betting.
IG: Does the U.S. reach 70% with serious bettors or casual fans betting in-play more?
PM: Probably both. Ultimately, casual fans are the ones, I think, who are able to drive up the total volume. But I think as there’s more offerings coming to market, as there’s more sports developing a specific offering, I think this is how the market more and more matures, and this is where, ultimately, these additional in-play volumes and handles are coming out.
IG: What’s the biggest challenge in getting this done?
PM: Relevance. What’s important, for our clients, for the operators, is to find ways from a user journey perspective, and from a discovery perspective, to really provide an offering in a meaningful yet simple way, which I guess is both an art, but also science, to some extent.
Because only then you can differentiate. I think this is really where great user experiences come to life. And if I just compare it with my own user behavior, I think most of the apps I use a lot is because they both have a lot of depth of information and content, but they’re also quite simple in how you can use them, and you feel like it’s very intuitive.
IG: Does the pacing of the favorite U.S. sports help?
PM: Definitely. Especially with our partners, the NBA, MLB, and then the NHL, and now since, by the acquisition of IMG Arena, also MLS, we work with all our partners very closely in continuing to develop the offering, and also have a close look on analyzing what is really an engaging offering, what develops into a really meaningful betting market, and what is maybe an interesting data point that is a great stats point for a fan, but might not be a great event to bet on.
We always are in close alignment on this with our league partners, because everyone in each system — the league, the operators, we all work on trying to develop the market and to do it along the interest and demand of the fans.
IG: What is Sportradar’s role in possible growth?
PM: Essentially, we do it from two sides.
I think the one side is obviously the odds, and the live offering that we offer in the market. If you compare where we are now in most of the sports, and you compare it with five or 10 years ago, it’s just crazy how many markets are available for whatever sports.
You have so much choice. It all typically becomes an exercise to trim it down, and really make a selection for fans of what are the most relevant ones, just because so much is available.
How we really create relevance is then coming more from a visualization perspective. We have a specific streaming enhancement product, which we call 4Sight — which is augmented streaming, betting-specific. This is the one option.
The second option is that we also create different kinds of statistics with visualizations, where, for example, we use all the data — the feed data, the tracking data — that we get from certain leagues to visualize specific story points.
I think this is where there’s a lot of thought process and energy going into it from our end. I wouldn’t say that we are on the finish line with this … but I think we’ve advanced quite a bit in this area over the last couple months.
IG: How much does TV latency impact in-play betting?
PM: I think it really depends on the sports. I think what was have perceived is that streaming latencies and distribution latencies are on the way to move down, generally speaking, and I think this is another trend or direction that will help [bettors] get more excited around in-play and also avoid the difference between what you can watch, and separately, what you can bet on, just improving the user experience, ultimately.
IG: What’s the balance between pleasing fans and bettors?
PM: I think a lot of the experiences we see at the moment are kind of one-fits-all, in a certain way. I think that’s a significant opportunity, in my personal opinion, for the operators to really differentiate themselves from a marketing perspective. You probably do different kinds of marketing activations, but as soon as someone is on an app, it’s still, at the moment, very similar for most of the users. This is exactly where I think a lot of development can happen into the future.
