At the starting post of horse racing

When EveryMatrix acquired FSB Technology in July 2024, it built on our long-term strategy of entering and growing in regulated markets. FSB, of course, had been established in the UK as a sportsbook platform specialist and central to its offering was its well-respected, fully managed horseracing solution.

It was important for us to migrate as many FSB customers across to our own tech stack as we could, so maintaining a high-performing horseracing service to these operators was vital. But with no existing horseracing service on the OddsMatrix sportsbook, which route should we take?

Building a proprietary solution from the ground up

The quickest and most convenient route was to integrate a third-party racing specialist solution. But while this is a tactic that’s been deployed by several of our platform competitors, we wanted to be part of something where we had more technical control. Another alternative was to plug in the existing FSB racing product as an iFrame solution within OddsMatrix technology, but this felt something of a halfway house.

So, both options were rejected in favour of boldly building an in-house solution from the ground up – not something you see every day or at all for that matter. As end user demands continue to grow in the UK and sportsbook products get more sophisticated, we wanted to create something that could offer a best-in-class experience that matched the high bar standards of the UK market.

But what made this challenge even greater were the unique complexities of horseracing – a sport still grounded in archaic language and outdated betting rules. Building this product in one of our largest offices in Bucharest would mean that cultural as well as technological barriers would have to be smashed through. When was the last time you saw a Romanian horse win The Grand National?!

Retaining racing expertise pivotal to success

To bridge these knowledge gaps, it was imperative we retained the core personnel of the FSB racing team. Head of trading Mark Wilson had helped scope, develop and grow FSB’s racing product for more than a decade and he was a key reference point for the teams in Bucharest.

Collaboration was key during the development phase as Mark (a regular patron of the London to Bucharest WizzAir Monday morning flight) and his team worked alongside the OddsMatrix technology teams to decode complex components of a racing backend like Rule 4, Best Odds Guaranteed and Double Result. They were also integral in building out a telebetting racing solution with the Romanian team to support an existing UK client. As you can imagine, there were a lot of confused faces in head office when Mark and the team explained that some UK punters still use a telephone to place bets.

But this melding of raw racing knowledge and platform development prowess worked as smoothly as Frankie Dettori and Enable and has helped us cultivate a powerful product that we’re proud of.

Opening more doors: connecting to the EveryMatrix ecosystem

Another key driver for building an in-house horseracing product was the ability to seamlessly connect it to our wider gaming technology.

We felt that opening access to industry-leading cross-product/channel bonusing tools for racing-focused operators would have a transformative effect on their marketing plans and, in tandem their trading strategies, could be built around our powerful and precise odds management tools.

We pinpointed real value in our smart automation capabilities. This would enable operators to leverage maximum market uptime and deliver early prices and a richer, round-the-clock player offering as busy as a Stewards’ Cup calvary charge. Leaning into our time-tested odds aggregation technology would also provide our partners with access to super-sharp pricing.

Adding these unique features to a compelling, core product mix of global coverage from 20+ markets, always-on streaming and a content rich, purpose-built frontend makes this a group-one proposition.

Mark’s team will now lead this from our brand-new, state-of-the-art London office (a stone’s throw from Shoreditch) and assume end-to-end operational control.

Committing to incremental product growth

Built in just six months, our horseracing product is now live, but the story doesn’t end there. We feel racing as a sportsbook product is ripe for innovation, and we are committed to taking on that challenge in the coming months and years.

As racing’s share of turnover and revenue gradually slows in its core markets, more needs to be done to attract younger, digital natives to the sport. By leaning into the scalability of our platform, we can explore game-changing product possibilities like in-race live betting, bet builder-type bets and racing-focused gamification. These are product areas where we already excel so integrating innovative strands into horseracing is a hurdle we are confident of overcoming.

Offering opportunity globally

While this new solution has been launched with a UK operator and is being driven daily from London, we feel it can appeal to a much wider audience. The globalisation of flat racing is rapidly stepping up in pace. In recent years, we’ve witnessed the widespread appeal of the Tote World Pool and I was struck earlier in the month to see the announcement of a new $15m global jockey challenge. These are exciting developments and a clarion call for providers like us to widen our lens and think big.

With a worldwide customer base, we feel there are opportunities for EveryMatrix to capitalise on this globalisation. Whether it’s upselling this new product to our diverse and international customer base or forming new partnerships with racing as a central part of the value proposition, we want to be at the starting stalls ready to pop out the gate.

Tor Skeie has played an influential role in the igaming industry for over two decades. Specialising in technological development and delivery, the Norwegian was at the forefront of the betting exchange boom at the turn of the century, founding one of the original versions of peer-to-peer platform betting.

In March 2023, Skeie was appointed CEO of OddsMatrix (the EveryMatrix sportsbook division) and has since guided it to record annual performance numbers in 2024 and 2025.

The original version of this article was published by EGR Global.