Online casino and sportsbetting operator Paddy Power has recently announced the launch of a new chatbot that would allow punters to place bets directly through their Facebook Messenger apps. The new feature was integrated in partnership with Onionsack, who’ve already supplied phone betting systems to other big UK bookmakers, including Ladbrokes and William Hill.
The chatbot is actually a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform developed by Onionsack that analyzes messages written by users and responds to them appropriately, just like a real human would. The feature is very similar to what SMS-betting systems do, only this is the first time such a feature has been integrated into Facebook’s Messenger, with Paddy Power being the first bookmaker to make the pioneering move.
The chatbot will allow registered Paddy Power users to login into their player accounts, check their balance, and then write what kind of bet they want. Once the bot responds, they can confirm the execution and the bet will be placed. And to add more convenience, the bot will also send custom push notifications and updates, but also blogs, videos, and podcasts right to the Messenger inbox.
Paddy Power Product Director, Michael Healy, commented on the launch of the new feature by saying that entering the “chatbot marketplace” was a logical step to make since they knew that most of their customers loved messaging apps. He added that they were “delighted” to be the first to make the leap and that every user will also be able to receive a daily dose of “mischief and entertainment” apart from odds and custom push notifications.
Jonathan Power, Onionsack’s CEO shared a similar opinion that the bot was the “only logical step” since almost the entire world was connected to Facbeook. He added that his company expects other bookmakers to also follow the trend and introduce their own chatbots in the near future.