Are 'Proprietary' Sports Betting Odds Truly Proprietary? Swish Lawsuit Against OddsJam Could Provide the Answer

Proprietary odds from Swish were allegedly found on several competitor’s sites.

Swish Analytics claims that OddsJam and OpticOdds have been scalping its odds to resell on their own sites.

Now Swish Analytics has provided captured screenshots of this alleged "theft" as part of their lawsuit that some say is likely to go absolutely nowhere.

Swish has requested a jury trial.

According to Swish, a “substantial portion” of the defendants’ business involves “misappropriating Swish’s proprietary odds information [appearing] on various sportsbooks and other users of sports odds data, and then republishing and selling access to that information” and “attempted to directly compete with Swish by offering sportsbooks and other customers access to Swish’s own proprietary information taken from Swish’s sportsbook partner websites in an effort to undercut Swish.”

Swish claims that damages from this accumulate to “at least” $100m and is “likely significantly more.”

They may indeed have a case here.

Joe Brennan, Jr, co-founder of the gambling site Prime Sports, appeared on a "Prime Suspects" podcast to discuss the proprietary odds market.

Brennan Jr. has played a key role in the U.S. regulated sports betting market having successfully lobbied NJ Governor Chris Christie to take over the fight in the federal courts to overturn PASPA, which finally occurred in May 2018.

The question asked of Brennan, Jr, whether proprietary odds distributed publicly should be considered protective intellectual property (IP).

2024 Year End @primesportsbook: @AdamBjorn2 recounts the carnage of last week's @NFL action; @swishanalytics lawsuit against @oddsjam for data theft: @cryptocom looks like a duck, quacks like one too on sports betting; & a look back at the best moments of '24 (w/@LayOfTheLandes) pic.twitter.com/q8ukyo7POV

— Joe Brennan Jr (@joebrennanjr) January 1, 2025

"Regarding the merits of Swish's claim, I haven't been able to dig too much into what discovery documents are available other than the initial suit but I think the distinction has to be made when is this data being captured and to whom is it being redistributed?," Brennan Jr. explains.  "So, for instance, Prime has a deal with Spank Odds.  We've given Spank Odds the live API for all of our markets.  And there's nothing we can do really if FanDuel or DraftKings are looking at the screen and saying 'that's what Prime is doing and maybe we should be adjusting our numbers that way'. 

"Another thing entirely, if Spank Odds were to take the API that Adam (Bjorn, co-founder of Prime) gives them our odds and (then) turns around and resells that API as a B2B business feed to FanDuel and DraftKings, so a lot of it is the method of acquiring that data and the method in which it is being resold.

"Some would argue it's a distinction without a difference.  It's still the same data.  It's still going to the same end user whether they are buying a subscription to the SpankOdds feed or they are buying a B2B subscription.  The thing is the B2B subscriptions are usually significantly more expensive."

While Brennan, Jr. notes that some believe these numbers are less important than in the past (think the days when Don Best reigned supreme), for companies that have essentially outsourced the entire oddsmaking portion of their operation to the market making books and they are just free riding on them, he would argue that "it is significant" and that "there has to be a cost and it has to be paid".  

He goes further to say that, if somebody is going to buy a subscription to a feed, the author of the original IP should be getting paid.

In its suit, Swish further claims that the companies in question “ knowingly accessed the computers, computer systems, or computer networks of Swish’s licensees in order to take, copy and make use of Swish’s proprietary odds information without permission” and sell those odds on their own sites.

"It will be interesting to see how it plays out," Brennan, Jr. says. "There is probably about three dozen odds boards out there that we're aware of.  At least two dozen have been in direct touch with me since we've opened up to say 'hey, can we get an API'.  The one thing I always say to them is that you have to agree never to resell it to another sportsbook.  You are allowed to display it to the public.  It sounds like that's not exactly what OddsJam has been doing here."

This all comes as the Gambling.com Group announced it has entered into definitive agreement to acquire odds holdings, parent company of OddsJam.  Whether that deal goes through in light of this new lawsuit remains to be seen.

Gambling.com Group was set to pay $70 million in cash and $10 million in Gambling.com Group ordinary shares up front.

“The accretive acquisition of Odds Holdings will immediately provide Gambling.com Group with additional, recurring revenue streams which are independent of our market-leading online gambling affiliate business, consistent with our strategy to expand our footprint in the online gambling industry,” said Gambling.com Group co-founder and CEO, Charles Gillespie. “We are delighted to welcome the Odds Holdings team to Gambling.com Group as we accelerate growth towards our goal of $100 million in Adjusted EBITDA. Their talented team has not only built a state-of-the art odds technology platform, but managed to build multiple distinct products on top of that platform which have very clear product-market fit. Odds Holdings gives Gambling.com Group a suite of new enterprise products while OddsJam in particular brings a passionate and energetic new consumer audience to the Group.

“We have achieved the vast majority of our growth through organic market share gains, while also successfully executing on several strategic, accretive acquisitions that have contributed to our consistently improving financial performance. Our acquisitions of RotoWire, BonusFinder and Freebets.com have proven that we can leverage our high free cash flow to identify, acquire and accelerate growth, creating value for our shareholders, while prudently managing our capital structure and balance sheet,” added Gillespie.

“Combining with a tech-focused leader in the global online gambling industry like Gambling.com Group is the natural next step for Odds Holdings,” said Odds Holdings CEO, Matt Restivo. “By leveraging Gambling.com Group’s expertise, innovation and resources we will be optimally positioned to scale our technology and data-driven insights to reach an even larger audience of online bettors, including beyond the North American market. We’re looking forward to working with the Gambling.com Group founders Charles and Kevin and their team to create a deeper connection with our customers to enhance their online gambling experiences,” said OddsJam founders Ankit Goyal and Alex Monahan.

That deal was expected to close on this day, January 1, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

Gambling911.com will continue to monitor this deal and the progress of this newly filed lawsuit.