Key points in betting platform development: Top tips for sustainability

In this article, PIN-UP Global's Domain Technology Officer, Illia Halashko, addresses the key points operators should consider during the development phase of a betting platform. According to the executive, these solutions will help operators "avoid failures, save their budget, and maintain peace of mind."

There is no secret that in the midst of major sporting events, such as the World Cup or Super Bowl, many betting platforms face enormous loads. As a result, system failures, delays in processing bets, or even complete denial of service. Of course, it is impossible to completely eliminate risks. But building up a stable and scalable system that can handle prime time is an achievable goal. 

In this article, I will tell you about the key points which are important to consider at the stage of betting platform development. These solutions will help you avoid failures, save your budget, and keep your peace of mind.

Be aware of failure points

Failure points are key system elements that, if failed, render your platform completely or partially unavailable. These can be databases, microservices, message queues, external dependencies, or infrastructure components. If these nodes fail, business logic stops, users lose access, and the company loses revenue and reputation.

The first step is to identify which components are crucial to the platform’s viability. The second is to understand how vulnerable each one is, and what consequences its failure will cause. For example, if you have a separate microservice responsible for accepting bets, its stability is critical. If it stops working after an update, then the system stops accepting bets, which means the company stops making money. 

Insight into such dependencies will allow you to:

• Rationally prioritise development and release planning.

• Build a more resilient architecture.

• Prepare scenarios for failure in advance of it happening.

The earlier you identify key failure points, the easier it will be for you to make informed technical decisions at all stages of development.

Store and transmit data optimally

Determine what data you store and how you transfer it across the network. Don’t transfer extra stuff, because every extra parameter slows you down and puts more strain on your infrastructure. Optimise your data models. To transfer data over the network, it needs to be serialised and deserialised, which is resource-intensive. When working with message brokers (such as Kafka or RabbitMQ), choose an adequate routing pattern. Don’t mindlessly apply fan-out just because “it’s easier”. Adding extra information to data models “just in case” may overload both brokers and clients who do not need this information, and lead to delivery delays.

The database is the core of the entire platform and one of the most common causes of failure in betting systems. The trouble comes from the fact that the database architecture in many systems was created in the early stages of development, when no one thought about scaling. Rewriting it later becomes expensive, risky, and painful.

Avoid the “all-in-one database” strategy. Instead, separate areas of responsibility. For example, use a separate database for betting and calculations, and a separate database for the sports tree. This separation increases fault tolerance and reduces the risk of total system degradation if one of the subsystems fails. In addition, take into account that the databases in betting are systems with high record volume. Design data schemas for such a load. Do not store data in the database that is not used — it only slows down query execution and takes resources. Use caching! If you are still pulling data directly from the database for every single read operation during prime time, you probably have a cache problem. At PIN-UP Global, we have dramatically accelerated the delivery of information to the customer by offloading the database through optimal data storage and properly configured caching. 

Avoid heavy client-side logic

During development, it is often tempting to move some of the business logic to the client side. For example, sorting, grouping, filtering or searching data. This seems like an easy solution, especially when using modern frameworks. However, in reality, it can severely impact performance, especially when it comes to web clients in the browser.

Browsers are not multi-threaded environments. All operations are performed sequentially, and as the amount of data or complexity of logic grows, the interface starts to slow down. Page loading slows down, interaction with elements becomes unresponsive, and the overall user experience is negative.

The browser is already exhausting resources on code loading, scripting, and rendering. By adding business logic on top of that, you only increase delays. This is especially acute for users with weak devices or unstable internet.

Remember, you can always increase capacity on the server, but you can’t do it with the client.

Do proper load testing

Load testing is one of the most effective ways to identify weak points in a system before they manifest themselves in reality. Betting platform is not a static site. Even with a small number of users, it processes thousands of requests every second. Live sporting events start and end, odds get updated, calculations get made, and notifications get sent.

It is important not to limit testing to just the growth in user numbers. The real load comes not only from online, but also from the intensity of concurrent events. Simulate complex scenarios: simultaneous match starts, massive data updates, lots of parallel bets. Such simulations will show how well your system scales and where its real limits are.

Load testing should be done on a regular basis. We, at PIN-UP Global, perform it at least once a month, which allows us to avoid incidents during prime time. The fact that the system showed good results three months ago does not guarantee anything today. Codes change, logic becomes more complex, new dependencies are added, and every such detail can cause bottlenecks. Moreover, during load testing, you often see failure points that you might not have even suspected.

Finally, I would like to say that you should not be afraid to experiment with algorithms for optimisation or load balancing. As I said earlier, every millisecond counts in betting and if you think that optimising for 50 milliseconds on a Tuesday with 100 people online is pointless, then in prime time, this figure can save your system from overloading.