Score
A football betting app for beginners
Never launched
Role: Product Designer
Team: Small in-house squad (PM, FE, PD)
Timeframe: Mar 2017 to Sept 2017
Stage: Concept, built but never shipped
TL;DR
Score was a concept to make football betting accessible to casual fans. We stripped away complex odds, focused on accumulators, and designed motion and flows that explained the betslip visually. The product tested well with novices but was blocked by backend and compliance limits.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I removed confidential information from this case study and changed the name of the product, and there will be some gaps in the arguments I bring forward. All information is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Casumo.
Background
Football betting is often presented in jargon-heavy odds tables. Casual players don’t understand the formats, which stops them from engaging. The idea behind Score: lower the barrier with simple language, clear flows, and a design system that taught the betslip without overwhelming new users.
59% — Casual fans who do not gamble
38% — Obsessed fans who do not gamble
3% — Fans who gamble on football
Competition analysis
We reviewed leading sportsbooks and identified two gaps:
Odds-first presentation excluded novices.
Accumulator flows were buried and hard to follow.
The opportunity was to flip the hierarchy… start from the player’s intent, not from the book’s inventory.
Interviews
User sessions with casual football fans confirmed:
Odds were confusing, especially fractional.
They wanted to combine bets but didn’t know how.
Visual cues and plain-language prompts gave confidence.
Research insight
How do we design an app for 97%, in a business that is extremely saturated and competitive?
The insight shaped two design bets:
Simplify odds — focus on fixtures and outcomes, not abstract numbers.
Guide accumulators — motion and step-by-step flows to show how selections combine.
Wireframes
Early flows replaced odds tables with match cards in plain language. Accumulator building was framed as adding “legs” step by step.
Prototypes
We built interactive prototypes to test
How motion could illustrate a growing betslip.
Alternative accumulator UIs: card stack vs animated path.
Copy tone: plain English vs hybrid odds.
High-fidelity
We brought the flows into polished UI: bold typography, flags, smooth transitions between legs. The design goal was confidence and comprehension, not traditional bookie spreadsheet clutter.
Final concept
Match cards instead of odds tables.
Step-by-step accumulator builder with motion.
Simplified betslip that explained itself visually.
The concept resonated in tests but stalled before launch due to evolving compliance and backend constraints.
Results
Strong qualitative feedback from novices: easier to understand, felt “made for me.”
Task completion for bet building improved in tests.
Compliance and platform issues blocked general availability.
Learnings
Simplification works, but requires backend and regulatory alignment.
Motion is powerful for onboarding, but must be subtle and purposeful.
Not all promising concepts survive — documenting and testing them still informs future bets.