What micro betting is
Traditional betting asks who wins the match. In-play betting asks the same question while the match is running. Micro betting goes one step further and asks about the next small piece of play, a moment that resolves within seconds or minutes.
- Tennis. Does the server win the next point, is the next serve an ace.
- Soccer and ice hockey. Is there a goal in the next five minutes (three in hockey), is there a corner in the next two minutes.
- American football. Does the next drive end in a touchdown, a field goal or no score.
- Basketball. Does the next possession end in points.
- Baseball. Does the next batter reach base, is the next plate appearance a strikeout.
- CS2. Which side wins the next round.
Because each market is short, a customer watching the match faces a new question every few minutes. That is why operators add micro-markets: they match how people watch sport today, with a phone in hand. Broader live markets are covered on the in play betting page.
How the micro-market generator works
A micro-market has a short and busy life. It has to open at the right moment, carry a fair price, close before the outcome is known, resolve correctly and give way to the next one. Doing that by hand across dozens of matches is not possible, so the Platform runs it as a module called the micro-market generator.
- Open. The generator watches the match state and opens the next market when the previous one ends, for example the next point the moment the last point is recorded.
- Price. The sport model computes a fair probability and the engine adds a margin of about 6 percent. Prices are recomputed every second.
- Suspend. A dangerous incident closes the market for a few seconds while the price is recomputed.
- Settle. The incident or the end of the window resolves it, and for every bet you recorded a webhook signed with HMAC SHA-256 tells your backend whether it won.
The generator is part of the Growth and Enterprise plans and works for every sport in the engine.
The models behind the prices
Short markets are only worth offering if the price is right. A next goal window priced too generously gets picked off, and one priced too tight gets ignored. RealTimeBets uses model-based pricing, with a statistical model fitted to each sport rather than one formula for all.
Goal windows in soccer and ice hockey come from Poisson models that account for the time left in the window and the current state of the game. Next point and ace markets in tennis come from a serve and hold model that works point by point. Basketball and American football markets use possession models that know who has the ball and how much time is left.
Every selection in the payload comes with the fair probability behind it, and every market carries its margin. Take a worked case. If the model's fair probability for the server winning the next point is 0.587, the 6 percent margin gives a price of 1.61, and your trader can read both numbers straight from the payload. The margin is the same on every market type.
| Source | Commercial model | Published price | Self-serve | Generates micro-markets | Settlement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RealTimeBets Growth | Flat subscription | $1,999/mo or $999/mo yearly | Yes | Yes, every sport in the engine | Signed webhooks |
| Simplebet | Revenue share, enterprise | No | No | Yes, now owned by a sportsbook | Not published |
| Sportradar or Genius Sports | Enterprise contracts | No | No, sales process | By contract | By contract |
| The Odds API | $30 to $249/mo | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Micro-markets over the API
Micro-markets arrive through the same endpoints as any other market, so a book that already uses the API only needs to show them. Requests go to https://realtimebets.com/api/v1 with the header Authorization: Bearer rtb_sk_ and your secret key.
- GET /api/v1/events/{event_id}/markets?type=micro returns the open micro-markets for one match.
- The streaming endpoint at /api/v1/stream?event={event_id}&type=micro pushes the full market set of one match once a second, so new markets, price changes and suspensions all arrive in the next push.
- POST /api/v1/risk/check checks a bet against liability and customer limits before you accept it.
A micro-market object carries its key and type, such as next_point or goal_next_5_min, the window it covers and its lock time, its selections with price and fair probability, the margin and a status of open or suspended. Results of the bets you record arrive by webhook. Short markets attract fast bettors, so pair them with the controls on the sportsbook risk management page. Every plan also includes an embeddable micro-market tile if you want a ready component instead of your own design.
See micro-markets in our fan game
You do not have to imagine how micro-markets look to a fan. RealTimeBets runs its own game on the exact same engine. In RealTimeBets Play, fans call the next point, the next goal window or the next round with points, and the tiles update every second while the match runs.
Play is a game. Nobody stakes money, there are no prizes, and points carry no cash value, so they cannot be bought, transferred or exchanged. It exists so fans 18 and over can enjoy calling the match with friends, and it also happens to be a live, public view of the generator at work.
Open the homepage, pick a match and watch a market open, tick, suspend after an incident and resolve. Matches marked "Live" come from the licensed data feed, and matches marked "Replay" are replays of fictional teams. What you see there are the same markets your customers would see on your own front, under your brand.
Who sells micro-markets today
Micro-markets used to come from a short list of specialists. Simplebet built much of the category for the US market and is now owned by a sportsbook, so it is no longer an independent supplier. Sportradar and Genius Sports offer in-play trading services under enterprise contracts. Turnkey providers include fast markets inside their full books on revenue share. Cheap odds feeds such as The Odds API resell bookmaker lines and do not generate micro-markets at all.
RealTimeBets offers the generator as part of a self-serve plan with a published price. Growth costs $1,999 a month, or $999 a month billed yearly. You sign up, test the feed on a sandbox key, store your licence record and buy online. An upgrade from Starter charges the difference at once, and the generator starts on your next request.