Gaming technology has improved massively in the last few years, but what elements have made their way into other aspects of our lives? If we look at the example of sports fans, we can see that there are some important pieces of technology that they need to know about.

Live Streaming Continues to Grow

Gamers know all about live streaming, thanks to the massive success of sites such as Twitch. With an average of 15 million active daily users and over 18 billion hours of streamed content viewed in 2020, Twitch has changed the face of gaming. The most-followed streamer is Ninja, who has over 17 million followers at the time of writing.

Live streaming has also made its way into the sports world, with some free services and others charging a subscription fee. BT Sport, FreeSports and Now TV are among the top names just now. While not all of the major streaming services include sports, Prime Video is one that does, with more expected to move into live sports streaming in the near future.

In-Play Betting Adds a Real-Time Element

Sports betting has traditionally been rather static when compared to gaming. Bettors would usually place their wagers before a race or match starts, often doing so well in advance of the starting time. Compare this to gaming, where players can take part in massively multiplayer online games with hundreds of players worldwide, constantly reacting to new challenges and developing situations. The introduction of live sports betting has changed this, as it’s now easy to place wagers during the events you watch.

This has added a whole new way of betting, with options such as next goalscorer and next yellow card adding extra interest to games. This is possible due to sportsbook software providers providing fast and accurate live data in less than a couple of seconds. They use a huge network of contacts such as journalists and referees, who ensure that the information on-screen is rapidly and accurately updated.

Mobile Viewing and Betting Gives More Flexibility

Mobile gaming is one of the fastest-growing parts of the industry and seems set to carry on increasing as more gamers discover how easy it is to enjoy. There are an estimated 2.6 billion mobile gamers, with close to half of them located in Asia. The launch of Infinite Arcade by Coda could signal the next big piece of progress, as their platform promises to help mobile games enter the metaverse with concepts such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their Play and Earn mechanics.

Sports bettors have also been discovering the power and flexibility offered by mobile viewing and wagering. For example, the main betting operators all either offer a mobile app or else have an optimised website that runs smoothly in any mobile browser. This provides an experience that is just as safe and comprehensive as desktop betting, so it seems likely to continue to gain popularity.

These gaming trends have helped to introduce a new way of watching and wagering on sports too, which has brought the industry more up to date and made it more interesting for users.