Alt Sports Data Bringing Alternative Sports Directly To America’s Sportsbooks

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In the ever-evolving world of sports betting, where mainstream sports like football and basketball usually take center stage, ALT Sports Data is betting big on a whole different lineup: Action and lifestyle sports like surfing, Supercross, and drag racing. 

Co-founded in 2021 by Todd Ballard and his longtime friend Joe Dunnigan, ALT Sports Data is aiming to cater to fans who might not find traditional sports all that enticing.

“No one had really taken a serious crack at unlocking the value of these other peripheral sports out there,” Ballard said. “We knew, from our experience, that they had massive audiences behind them.”

It all started when Dunnigan, with his background in horse racing and action sports, asked Ballard a simple question: “Why can’t we bet on these lifestyle sports we’ve built our careers and lives around?” That question sparked the idea for ALT Sports Data.

Ballard, a former chief marketing officer at GoPro, saw the potential right away. There was an entire community of fans passionate about sports like surfing or Supercross — fans who didn’t necessarily feel a strong connection to the NFL or NBA but lived and breathed their chosen sport.

“When we introduce a sport they’re passionate about, it’s something they know and are not intimidated by,” Ballard explained. “That gets them into the betting platform, and once they’re in, we see them start betting on Final Four, the NFL, and more mainstream events.”

ALT Sports has signed deals with over 24 different leagues, from the World Surf League to NHRA drag racing to Athletes Unlimited women’s sports. They also just signed Formula 1 to a deal.

The company provides sportsbooks with real-time data and odds for these niche sports, acting as a one-stop-shop that allows operators to quickly offer betting markets.

But to make these sports betting-friendly, ALT Sports Data needed a solid foundation. 

The back end

“We built our own proprietary back-end data platform to ingest and distribute data,” Ballard said, describing the process of hiring data scientists, modelers, and live traders to create a full-service product for sportsbooks.

But convincing operators that betting on niche sports would be worth it wasn’t easy.

“It’s taken a good couple of years to really convince the operators that there’s something here,” he said. “What we painted to the sportsbooks was that they’re all fighting for the same football fans, basketball fans, college sports fans, soccer fans, and they’re driving up acquisition costs because they’re all fighting to get that same customer. And we’re coming along saying there’s a whole other group over here and you’re not resonating with them because they’re just not that interested in those sports. There’s hundreds of millions of people over here, though, who are interested in these other sports.”

Their persistence has paid off. ALT Sports Data has secured partnerships with major platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365, and ESPN BET, as well as other technology providers in the sports betting space. These partnerships have allowed ALT Sports Data to offer a turn-key product, enabling sportsbooks to offer bets on niche sports like surfing or drag racing.

“We’re bringing quality players to the sportsbooks,” Ballard notes. “These are younger, risk-tolerant, higher-spending bettors that the books are really excited about.”

The response has been promising.

“Combat sports continue to do really well, motor sports are doing very well,” Ballard said. “Surfing, believe it or not, is picking up as well, although it’s limited by the number of events.” 

Let us play!

Part of the appeal, he says, is that these sports are “participatory” and accessible in a way that traditional team sports often aren’t.

“People actually do these sports on the weekends, and can very easily connect to the sport in a way you can’t really relate to playing professional football,” he said. “These are lifestyle sports that people connect to because they live it.”

In addition to providing data, ALT Sports Data has developed a media platform called NXTBets.com, where fans can get insider knowledge on betting across niche sports. 

“It’s like what you’d see on an OddsChecker or Action Network,” said Ballard, “but focused on these other sports that none of them are talking about.”

The site offers tons of information, from betting tips to event previews, responsible gaming advice to bonus offers, giving both know-it-all bettors and newcomers all they need to bet on non-mainstream sports.

“If Sportradar and Catena Media had a baby in Southern California, that’s who we are,” Ballard quipped, describing the mix of data services, affiliate marketing, and media content ALT Sports Data offers.

He sees potential for even lesser-known sports to shine, particularly around high-energy events like Supercross and drag racing, both of which have massive fan bases but limited exposure in the betting world. And for fans looking to engage in these sports beyond watching, ALT Sports Data is ready to provide the platform.

“It’s still early days, but we think there’s a ‘there’ there,” Ballard said.