Online betting giant BetFred has come a long way since its 1967 inception. Founded by CEO Fred Done in a Salford betting shop, the company now sees an annual turnover of over £10 billion and is one of the largest sponsors of horseracing in the UK.
As one of the largest online betting companies in Europe, Betfred.com offers a full range of sports betting, online casino, online games, bingo, lotto, online poker and virtual sports as well as pool betting – all running 24/7. The company recently undertook a multi-million pound revamp of the 50,000-square-foot Spectrum building as its’ new HQ in Warrington, which is now enjoyed by more than 450 Betfred employees.
With a wealth of video data and technology running round the clock, the company wanted to improve its digital signage messaging, with several displays in prominent positions throughout the building. Content was to come from a variety of sources, including employee messages, news, live TV and company information. Consisting of two 4×3 video walls in the main office area and a 3×2 video wall, plus a single display, in the reception area, the requirement was to use a single user interface for control of content across all displays, with Aetria from Datapath emerging as the standout solution for comprehensive content flexibility.
For Duncan McDonald, Head of Retail Support at BetFred, past experiences of working with Datapath made them the frontrunner for supporting technology following a considerable HQ investment. “When our CEO, Joanne Whittaker, decided to embark on a huge refurb for our head office operation, she invested about £10 million in turning this iconic building, which goes back to the 1970s, into something that was really going to appeal to our employees,” he said.
“From a technology standpoint, it needed to spark innovation and stimulate growth & creativity among our teams. Our relationship with Datapath goes back nearly ten years – to when we asked them to help with our sportsbook installations in America. For us, Datapath was the obvious choice. We needed that wow factor. We needed, something that turned people’s heads and gave them a positive place to focus for employee news, for live TV, for information about the company and its goals as well as targets and things that we’re working on.”
At the heart of the video management, and working in tandem, are Datapath’s multi-award-winning VSN V3 video wall controller, along with a VSNMicro 600 supporting pixel management in BetFred’s reception area.
Equipped with several Image 2K graphics cards and VisionSC-HD4 capture cards, the system allows for full ‘any content, anywhere’ capability, with Aetria-WC-PRO software allowing operators to easily switch content sources or display templates.
Following installation, Datapath provided a comprehensive commissioning service to BetFred staff, giving them side-by-side support to ensure optimal efficiency with bespoke templates and layouts, as well as ensuring operators had instant access to the tools required for full display control. During the commissioning phase, any pain points can be addressed, giving complete peace of mind to BetFred’s end users.
Furthermore, beyond the commissioning, Datapath provide three years of Premium Support service, staying readily available to assist and promptly address any issues or concerns.
Adam Marsden, Datapath sales manager for UK & Ireland, said: “We are both proud and delighted to see our Aetria platform being utilized by the fine people at BetFred. The project has been a delight to be involved with from start to finish and the stunning transformation of Warrington’s Spectrum building has been a real eye-opener. Using Aetria, visitors and staff now have flexible digital content to keep them both informed and engaged in an environment that is fitting for one of the world’s biggest online bookmakers.”
With the project now up and running for several weeks, Duncan has high praise for both the installation process and the end result: “It does exactly what you expect it to do, and It does it very well,” he concludes. “The installation itself was seamless, and the operation of it since has very much ‘set it and forget it’ from the point of view of a technical install, which is ideally what you want.
“From the very beginning, the planning, installation and ongoing support that we have received from Datapath has been, as it always is, absolutely outstanding. We knew early on that we’d made the right choice. You want something to just go in and do what it says it’s going to do really well. This system from Datapath does exactly that.”
Datapath kit utilised, installed and agreement was:
- 1x VSN-V3-11-B-RPSU
- 1x VSNMicro 600-ATX
- 9x Image2K
- 4x VisionSC-HD4+/H
- 5x ActiveSQX2
- 2x Aetria-WC-PRO
- 1x Aetria-SRV2
- 1x Aetria-LIC-VSN
- 2x Commissioning
- 1x Premium 3 Year Service
