Online betting exchange Betfair is to launch a new service that allows third party developers to build new betting applications on its exchange and host them on its infrastructure.
The service, named ‘App Cloud’, will be launched later this week. Manchester United is the first and flagship customer for the service.
Betfair already allows third parties to use its APIs to place bets. The company says that 70,000 customers make bets through third party applications. "Non Betfair-owned and non-Betfair built interfaces operating off Betfair’s API contribute approximately 20% of Betfair’s sports exchange revenues," the company said in a statement.
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However, the ‘App Cloud’ service allows developers to design and host applications based on those APIs using Betfair’s infrastructure. The ‘App Cloud’ platform includes its own project management system, a bug tacking tool, a code hosting service and a testing environment.
Third parties are expected to charge users through a subscription or by entering a revenue sharing agreement with Betfair.
Carel Vosloo, Betfair’s App Cloud director, said that service would "enhance the dynamism and productivity of Betfair’s developer community and in turn make more Betfair products accessible to more customers.
“Having a vibrant developer community enables Betfair to outsource ingenuity and facilitate further innovation in its product range," Vosloo said.
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Betfair has recently undergone a service-oriented architecture transformation, in part to be able to offer core functionality as new services. Its SOA comprises a service container (or repository), a service look-up (or registry) and a ‘publish/subscribe’ messaging framework, software development director Hugh Fahy told Information Age last year.
