So when the global platform provider then said it would build an entirely new horse racing product, it raised eyebrows. If the FSB product was so powerful, why replace it?
“When we were in the initial discussions, we did consider using the FSB product because it’s very well thought of in the market,” said Harry Maude, Product Manager at EveryMatrix.
But those conversations were shelved, and the new solution was built across a six month period. The primary reason behind this was to introduce a brand new solution even more powerful than the legacy product, utilising FSB’s expertise in horse racing and EveryMatrix’s technical prowess.
“Ultimately, we thought that the additional time which it would take to launch was a worthy compromise,” added Maude, “because then we’re fully integrated into the EveryMatrix landscape. We can take advantage of the BonusEngine, and all of the rest of the OddsMatrix product offering.
“From OddsMatrix’s point of view, this is the last main feature they needed that they didn’t have. So building a product in-house now means they have everything which any tier one sportsbook operator would want.”
Bringing new tech to horse racing
Launched to market last month, the new EveryMatrix horse racing product widens the content scope available to players with content from all rights holders globally. It also improves things operationally to automate certain systems for greater efficiency within the backend.
The product is equipped with a full set of derivative markets, a full antepost book and a new, modern front end. While end-users benefit, for partners, the difference is palpable.
“The FSB product was very good. Bearing that in mind, we didn’t feel like it was necessary to reinvent the wheel, especially given we had a quick turnaround,” said Maude.
Using the FSB product as a blueprint did help speed up the build process, but that doesn’t mean that developing such a complex product is without challenge.
Maude explained: “The specification part actually took quite a long time, but we used the FSB product as a baseline and saw some areas where we thought we could build it out and some areas where we could improve. We also had tons of experience managing and using the horse racing product, so we could identify the main pain points to smooth those out as we did it.
“Obviously doing it that quickly from start to finish is a struggle, but that’s one of the key strengths of EveryMatrix. We’ve got lots of experience delivering very big projects in short amounts of time. I was surprised and impressed at the delivery speed.”
The project has ultimately resulted in vast improvements.
As Maude noted: “There was a lot of work that traders had to do on FSB, which was very manual and established a big operational overhead. We were able to configure some of the racing specific bonuses, like best odds guaranteed and extra places in a much more granular way, which is really good for the operators.
“At the moment in v1, the end user should have a continuation of FSB’s excellent product, and for operators and our trading and ops team, it is a big step forward. It’s available in a modular solution for people who might want to just take horse racing, but it’s also available as part of a wider, turnkey platform solution.”
Collaboration is king
Developing a new solution takes a lot of work across a plethora of teams. Naturally this poses a challenge, particularly when the build began just 12 weeks following the closure of the acquisition.
But Maude explained that working very closely with the OddsMatrix team, which are based at the group HQ in Bucharest, was a catalyst for cultural integration. In turn, this enhanced the product as the FSB team brought UK & Ireland and horse racing expertise, while OddsMatrix brought technical excellence.
“Racing is so idiosyncratic,” he said. “There’s all these weird traditions and settlement edge cases and even just stuff like Rule 4 you just don’t have in other sports. So for the OM team, it was just quite alien to them.
“The collaboration was really good because we got the rich experience of FSB with all the horse racing-centric knowledge, married together with the OM landscape and that digital expertise. All that collaboration ended up being really fruitful.”
Maude also recalled explaining other UK specific market quirks such as tele betting and antepost settlement rules.
That market expertise is why EveryMatrix retained a significant number of FSB Technology staff following the acquisition.
Innovating in horse racing
As this product came to market aiming to push the boundaries of what horse racing betting can be, it was worth talking about the innovation, or lack thereof, in the sector.
But Maude delivered an impassioned defence of horse racing, noting that as a traditional and long-standing betting vertical, it is much more mature than most other sports.
“A lot of the big recent sports betting innovations have been to make other sports more like horse racing and to have more of the advantages that horse racing inherently has,” he stressed.
“This includes fast settlement, and round the clock betting opportunities. All the new football fast markets are essentially offering a similar betting experience to what you get in a flat race and it settles in two minutes.
“Innovation in racing is not impossible and I think it’s easy to get caught in a trap a bit, because maybe the typical racing fan might present a bit older than for other sports.”
Maude highlighted several products that are in the market such as a horse racing bet builder as key innovations in the sector.
EveryMatrix is also eager to bring further innovation to the sector; the newly released product is very much a v1, Maude said, and will evolve over time.
Market feedback has been positive so far, with existing and new partners heaping praise on the product and the efficiencies it brings. But growth is on the horizon as EveryMatrix looks for international expansion and product improvements.
“The traders are very happy with the changes we’ve made to make their lives simpler and easier. Also, we have very positive feedback from other existing partners outside of where you might traditionally think that racing would be a core product, and we plan to roll out the product to a variety of territories” Maude noted.
Looking ahead, as v1 continues its roll out, Maude and the rest of the product team are looking forward to “going nuts” and putting everything on the table in terms of new features.
As he concluded: “The first things we will probably do will be some stuff which we just didn’t manage to quite squeeze into v1, but following that we’ve got plans for additional integrations for more content, and different betting types. We are also starting plans for a bet builder of our own, which is really cool.”
Dingenws.com 18/06/2025