Smart home devices have been around for a few years now.

While they were initially thought of as a bit of a gimick, Alexa can now do some pretty cool things; from delivering a Domino’s Pizza to ordering you next Uber!

So this got me thinking, could you place a bet using Alexa?

Is it even possible?

In this months Betting on Tech we’re going to discuss Alexa betting apps and how easy is it to place a bet with Amazon Alexa.

Nearly 50% of search terms will come from voice by 2020. 

We’ll also cover the latest sports betting apps you can download to your smart hub today.

Plus i’ll give you my two-cents as to why I think it’s inevitable we’ll be betting on Alexa much sooner than you think.

Contents:
Shift to Voice Search
Alexa has Skills
Betting Apps on Alexa
4 Catalysts to spark voice search betting
Will we place a bet using Alexa in the future?

The Short answer: No You Can’t

But as you’ll see later on, we’re on the cusp of a change in search preferences that will completely change we search for information in the future.

Shift to Voice Search

According to a recent article by Wordstream:

• 50% of all searches will be involve voice by 2020.
• 30% of searches by 2020 will not be done via a screen.
• 15% of all US homes now have a home hub.

This was quite a surprise to me, as I would have expected the majority of search requests are still done using more traditional methods such as a keyboard interface and display.

There certainly appears to be a secular shift towards voice search but are industries ready for this titanic shift?

Alexa has Skills

So recently my wife very kindly gave me an Amazon Alexa as a birthday gift for reaching a milestone, that’s right I just turned 30.

In fact Amazon regularly has half-price offers on both Alexa and Echo Dot for those of you interested.

After searching the web to see what cool things my new smart home can do I came across the usual suspects, which i’m sure you’ve seen before. These include:

Anypod – Play your favourite podcasts
Big Sky – Provides up-to-date weather news
Philips Hue – Controls home lighting
Nest – Thermostat heating controller

Here’s a complete list of Alexa Skill apps currently available to download on Alexa.

Whilst this all sounds very Black Mirror having my entire home fully autonomous, I was more interested to see what betting skills Alexa had in it’s arsenal. And whether it’s possible to speak to Alexa to find odds for a particular game and place a bet.

No touch, just voice assisted from start to finish – That’s the challenge

Unsurprisingly my search was cut rather short as I couldn’t find any bookmaker with a voice assisted sportsbook app.

I guess we’re not quite there yet with the technology…

Betting Apps on Alexa

Whilst I couldn’t find a one-stop solution to betting with Alexa, here what I did find on Amazon’s Skills marketplace:

Paddy Power
Racing Results
Sky Sports
Basketball Odds
OLGB

Paddy Power had a daily flash news with some of the latest tips and odds of the day.

You say “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

And it will give you the latest sports betting news from Paddy.

It’s hardly ground-breaking tech from the betting boffin’s at gave us money back specials!

Sky Sports app did pretty much the same thing providing you the latest news as text-to-speech.

Then there’s the Racing Results app which provides (you guessed it) racing results.

Even OLBG had a Horse Racing Tips app, but after listening to this you will still need another device to place the bet.

The only skill that came close to it was Basketball Odds which lists the latest 14 games along with the odds for each. But again this is just an automated script with no intelligence.

There was alot of garbage apps out there!

So i’ve comprised a list of the Best Alexa Betting Apps to raise your game.

If you get a chance give them a go and let me know what you think of them in the comments section below.

It seems like the sports betting industry isn’t ready for voice assisted betting…

4 Catalysts to spark voice search betting

After some rather disappointing results, here’s what I believe we need before an Alexa Betting app will enter the mainstream:

1. Tech Takeover

As with most secular trends, a young scrappy start-up company is more likely to change the betting landscape than one of the “old guard” bookmakers such as Betfair or Paddy Power.

Why?

Take online search as an example. It wasn’t Microsoft, Apple or even IBM that lead the way in online search engines with their huge cash pile and infinite resources available. It was Google that came out of the dorms of Stamford university by two young software engineers that to this day dominates the market.

Start-ups are more likely to take a risk and quickly pivot when they see trends or shifts in the market.

2. Visual Interface

I do believe that unless we have some sort of visual display to view the vast amount of odds available for a particular game, it’s going to be very difficult for voice search to gain traction.

Humans find it difficult to store more than several pieces of information at any one time. So if you’re bombarded with multiple odds via voice it’s near impossible to keep track of it all.

Some way of connecting to your TV (be it HDMI or over WIFI) that allows you to visually see and choose the odds just by speaking to Alexa.

More recently Google and Amazon have released smart home devices with a 7” built-in display. So now you can see the results from your query.

This could be the first step to making voice-assisted betting a reality.

3. Advanced Developer Code

You’re only as good as the tools you use and the main reason why Amazon Alexa has become so popular is down to the low-level source code libraries that makes recognising voice and regional dialects so good.

As Amazon continues to improve the core library code, the better the chances of a developer creating new an innovative ways for users to search for queries using voice and paying for services without having to find your debit card.

4. Secular Shift to Voice Control

Consumer trends and preferences will always dictate that way businesses pivot to new technologies. We’re already seeing a significant shift towards voice searches but industries have been slow to catch on.

In the next couple of years you will see more and more companies realise the potential of this ground breaking tech and begin to develop their own apps to improve their bottom-line.

Will we place a bet using Alexa in the future?

To be honest I think it’s entirely possible…

All the pieces are there. From a shift in consumer search preferences, to home hubs with the technology to either have a visual display included or to be connected to.

I think it will require a lot of creativity, and the layout for a voice-assisted betting site could look drastically different to what we’re currently used to today.

But given the current demand for voice search, it’s just a matter of time before we’ll be say “Hey Alexa, place a Paddy Power bet on Spurs winning today”.