Kelly Pracht, co-founder and CEO of Dallas-based nVenue, was recently named to Sports Business Journal’s 2024 class of SBJ Game Changers, recognizing female sports business executives.
Pracht was highlighted among 50 honorees from sports teams, leagues, and media. She’s the only technologist and one of only two women from the sports betting industry to be included.
She started her career in technology at Hewlett-Packard and has played a pivotal role in developing and implementing groundbreaking technologies, including the world’s pioneering ARM supercomputer, Comanche.
nVenue said that after discovering a disconnect between fans and live sports during a New York Yankees versus Houston Astros game, Pracht saw an opportunity to combine her technology expertise and love of sports to revolutionize how fans interact with sports through the application of AI in sports betting.
Micro-betting requires ‘advanced technology’
“Micro-betting on a fast-paced sport like basketball requires advanced technology to keep up with the live action and can enhance the fan experience,” Scott Kaufman-Ross, NBA executive vice president of Media & Gaming and nVenue board observer, said in a statement. “We have enjoyed our collaboration with nVenue in creating personalized, contextual experiences for fans to engage with the game and congratulate Kelly on her recognition as an SBJ Game Changer.”
nVenue, which launched in 2018, is a portfolio company of ComcastSportsTech and NBA Launchpad.
Pracht will be honored in September at the SBJ Game Changers conference along with other powerful female voices in sports from organizations including NASCAR, FanDuel, USA Gymnastics, Formula 1, and more.
Pracht previously was awarded Cynopsis Media’s Digital Executive of the Year and was a finalist for Sports Business Journal’s Tech Executive of the Year.
nVenue is a micro-betting engine built for live sports.
The platform’s technology leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to quickly and accurately generate probabilities and odds for live, in-play betting opportunities.
The company’s predictive data feed allows sports betting operators to introduce thousands of new micro-betting markets for basketball (NBA), baseball (MLB), motorsports (NASCAR), and football (NFL) while also providing rich, entertaining predictive content for fans to use via broadcast or in-app experiences. To date, nVenue’s ML/AI engine has delivered over 5 billion predictions.
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