Quick Bets: Reducing Friction in Live Betting
Overview
Live betting customers had seconds to act, but generic market templates created excessive scrolling, weak context, and unnecessary interactions.
I designed sport-specific Quick Bets experiences that grouped related markets, surfaced decision-making context, and made parlay construction faster.
Outcome: +49% MLB live parlay conversion and +29% overall bet conversion. NFL live parlay conversion increased by +19% and overall bet conversion by +6%.
The problem
Quick Bets are short-duration markets tied to moments such as a batter, drive, or possession. The opportunity was strong, but the experience was built with generic sportsbook templates that treated every market separately.
Customers had to scroll, open collapsed sections, and interpret betting opportunities without enough game context. In a live environment, that friction meant missed moments and abandoned bets.
The three decisions that shaped the work
1. Group markets around the customer decision
I replaced long lists of isolated markets with structures that grouped related opportunities. This reduced scanning effort and made the page easier to understand at speed.
2. Put context directly in the experience
Player information and game stats were most useful when they appeared next to the betting decision. Surfacing context inline reduced the need for extra interactions or external research.
3. Let post-launch behavior overrule design intent
An NFL market stepper looked promising in concept, but only a small proportion of users engaged with it and conversion declined. We treated that as evidence to change the pattern rather than defend it.
The trade-off
Sport-specific optimization versus system consistency
MLB and NFL created different live moments and customer needs. A single universal template would have been easier to maintain, but less effective. I created sport-specific experiences around shared principles so the system could remain coherent without forcing identical interactions.
What I delivered
MLB
- Grouped related markets
- Clearer Quick Bets naming
- Player status and imagery
- Inline contextual stats
- Faster bet and parlay construction
NFL
- Grouped main markets
- Game and player context
- Simplified market presentation
- Post-launch iteration based on behavioral data
Result
- +49% MLB live parlay conversion
- +29% MLB overall bet conversion
- +19% NFL live parlay conversion
- +6% NFL overall bet conversion
- Reusable principles for future short-duration live betting experiences
Reflection
The strongest result came from narrowing the problem. Quick Bets did not attempt to reinvent the sportsbook; it removed friction from a valuable behavior and made the improvement immediately understandable to customers.
