Online gambling and betting is a multibillion-dollar industry. It's also one of the most highly regulated. The market for gambling and betting APIs is relatively small in the United States, but the activity in this area is growing. Numerous services promise bettors access to data that will help them win, and API-based betting is a driver of business for betting exchanges. And an upstart is enabling developers to add legal, real-money gambling to their apps using an API.

Based on ProgrammableWeb's analysis of the industry and industry trends, here's a look at 10 of the top APIs in this space, with a focused examination of two APIs that change the game.

Betfair

Features

Betfair's Exchange API allows developers to access to market data, including pricing and volume. In addition, the Exchange API can be used to place bets, check bet status and manage bets, as well as to retrieve account information. For developers building their own trading tools, Betfair offers a Heartbeat function that enables unmatched bets to be canceled automatically if their applications lose connectivity with the API.

The Betfair API is accessible using one of two protocols, JSON-RPC or Rescript. To assist developers in getting started, Betfair provides extensive documentation. Betfair also offers sample code for a variety of programming languages, including Java, PHP, C# and Python, as well as an iOS SDK.

Pricing

Access to the Betfair API is free to Betfair players within certain limits. Additional fees apply to usage above the limits, but these fees may be offset by commission paid and API subscription fees. Software vendors, bookmakersand businesses that want to use the API for commercial purposes must obtain a commercial license. Access can also be arranged for Betfair affiliates.

Why It's a Top API

Betfair pioneered the online betting exchange and remains the world's largest player in the market. The publicly traded company counts more than a million active customers, and in 2013 it matched over a billion bets worth more than a whopping $90 billion.

A large, thriving ecosystem has been built around the Betfair Exchange API, which is used extensively by a variety of Betfair market participants. Individual punters use the API to develop their own trading strategies and betting tools. Numerous software vendors have developed commercial trading applications that rely on the Exchange API. And bookmakers use the API to support their own operations.

Betable

Features

Using the Betable API, game developers can add real-money gambling functionality to their apps without worrying about the complexities of running a legal online casino. Betable's API abstracts popular casino games--like slot machines, bingo, roulette and blackjack--into straightforward API calls, eliminating the need for developers to spend time building the core logic that powers these games.

Players deposit and manage their funds with Betable, and use OAuth to authorize a developer's games. All of the regulated gambling activities, such as random number generation, take place on Betable's servers, and Betable handles all of the associated heavy lifting, like fraud detection and payouts. The outcomes of bets are communicated to a developer's app through the API. Betable offers SDKs for iOS, JavaScript, PHP and Node.js.

Revenue Share

There is no cost for developers to use the Betable API. Instead, Betable partners with developers and shares the gambling revenue generated by their games. The terms of the revenue share are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Why It's a Top API

Betable, which holds gaming licensed by the United Kingdom and Alderney, is disrupting the online gambling industry by making it possible for developers to legally add real-money gambling to their games without having to go through the lengthy and costly process of obtaining a gambling license of their own. One of the goals: Take the $3.5 billion social gaming market and bring it together with the $32 billion online gambling market.

According to Betable CEO Christopher Griffin, many of the gambling apps created by traditional gambling companies are boring, but, using the company's API, developers can quickly create innovative new forms of game play based on the logic found in gambling mainstays like slot machines and roulette.

If Betable has its way, its API will power a whole new crop of fun and innovative web and mobile gambling games that will not only provide a significantly more enjoyable experience for players, but will also create a lucrative opportunity that solves the monetization challenges game developers frequently face. For that reason, investors have poured more than $17 million into the company, and Betable notes it's just the second gambling company to receive investment from Silicon Valley venture capitalists in more than a decade. Betable has a number of active partners and, according to the company, it has thousands of developers who have expressed an interest in developing games using its API.

SharkScope

SharkScope aims to help its customers improve their odds of success in the highly competitive world of online poker. It does this by allowing players to track their statistics and retrieve information about their opponents.

Using the company's comprehensive REST API, developers can build applications on top of all the data SharkScope tracks. API access is available to SharkScope subscribers with a Gold plan or higher, or separately starting at $200 per month for 150 searches per day.

OddsMiner

OddsMiner offers XML data feeds for real-time odds at more than 200 bookmakers. The company's goal: Provide the "same wealth of odds information as the industry professionals at an affordable cost." Its coverage includes soccer, rugby, tennis, basketball and American football. For some of those sports, such as soccer and ice hockey, the company's historical data dates back to 1997.

eOddsmaker

eOddsmaker provides several JSON and XML betting data feeds, for both pre-match and live in-play betting odds. The company's pre-match betting odds cover more than 70 bookmakers, while the in-play odds cover a number of leading bookmakers offering 7,000 monthly events. In addition, eOddsmaker offers a unique XML feed containing pre-match arbitrage opportunities it has identified.

FairLuck

Behind just about every gambling game is a random number generator. For players, those random numbers are the difference between winning and losing, so the integrity of how they're generated is crucial.

FairLuck aims to help establish trust between game operators with its "Fairness Assurance Technology," which consists of a random number externalization service. According to the company's SourceForge page, the service operates as an XML-RPC API that can be accessed through the use of libraries the company provides.

Pinnacle Sports

Pinnacle Sports is a traditional online bookmaker that operates in more than 200 countries. It offers its customers and affiliate program participants access to an XML API that provides live odds and enables customers to place bets directly. There is no cost to use the Pinnacle Sports API.

The company's API documentation is published publicly and contains C# and PHP code samples. Non-customers, including commercial data providers and software vendors, are offered access to the API through a licensing agreement.

Betfair Games API

Betfair Games allows users to play popular casino games like Blackjack, Hi-Lo, Bullseye Roulette, Hold 'Em and Baccarat. With the Betfair Games API, players can retrieve historical data about game play on the platform. The REST XML API also has transactional capabilities, making it possible for developers to build bots that play games on their behalf.

LotteryFeed.com

Lotteries generate more than $100 billion in revenue globally each year and represent one of the most common ways in which consumers participate in games of chance. Using LotteryFeed.com, publishers and media companies can access XML, JSON, HTML and text API feeds for global lottery results.

LotteryFeed.com's data covers all lotteries in the United States and Canada, as well as lotteries in dozens of other countries. In addition to its results feed, the company offers APIs for other data, such as payouts, frequency charts and smart picks. According to the LotteryFeed.com website, access to feeds starts at $100 per month.

Locaid

Different countries have different licensing regimes for gambling and betting, and, in certain places, gambling and betting are not allowed. To help companies stay on the right side of the law, Locaid offers a SOAP-based Compliance API that enables companies to accurately identify the location of users in real time across multiple sources to ensure that they're within a company-specified geographical boundary before they're allowed to perform a potentially restricted action, such as placing a bet.

For more gambling and betting APIs, check out our full list of gambling APIs.

The use of technology in the sports industry has risen rapidly in recent years. More and more professional and amateur sports teams are using technology for scorekeeping, team management, team statistics, live game updates, sports analytics and more.

Today, applications like GameChanger allow amateur basketball, baseball and softball team administrators to manage the team and record the action during games. The app uses the data to provide advanced real-time stats and charts, a live play-by-play stream, live updates to fans via web or mobile, and more.

Not only is the use of technology in sports becoming more prevalent, but so is the use of advanced technology such as mathematical modeling, machine learning and convolutional neural networks (deep learning). Many sports data companies use these advanced technologies to provide sports analytics and predictions.

One example of a company using advanced technology is numberFire, which uses mathematical modeling, predictive algorithms and other technologies for sports analysis and predictions. NumberFire analyzes the players and match-ups for several leagues, including the NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL.

STATS LLC acquired BSports in 2014, allowing the company to integrate predictive modeling with the STATS platform and provide new types of data-driven models for team and player performance. Earlier this year, STATS announced the launch of a product that utilizes the BSports technology for daily fantasy sports projections.

The APIs that made it to our top 10 sports APIs list provide a wide range of capabilities and data, including activity tracking, fantasy sports, event tickets search, event tickets price comparison, live sports scores and statistics, and online sports bookmaking. The APIs also scored well against a diverse set of criteria:

• Popularity
• Potential
• Documentation
• Ease of use
• Functionality

API popularity is determined using a variety of metrics, including ProgrammableWeb followers, GitHub activity, Twitter activity and search engine popularity based on Google Trends.

Nike+

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/nike-plus
Provider: Nike
API Documentation URL: https://developer.nike.com/

Nike launched the Nike+ API developer portal back in January 2013 to provide programmatic access to data captured by the Nike+ FuelBand and Nike+ Running app. Later that year, the company launched Nike+ Fuel Lab, a 12-week program aimed at expanding the Nike app ecosystem.

The Nike developer portal is nicely designed and provides SDKs (iOS, Android and JavaScript), code samples, a test console and well-organized API documentation. At the time of this writing, access to the Nike+ API and SDKs was limited to Nike+ Fuel Lab partners. However, the company plans on increasing access to the Nike+ API and developer tools in the future.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/yahoo-fantasy-sports
Provider: Yahoo
API Documentation URL: https://developer.yahoo.com/fantasysports/

First released back in October 2010, the Yahoo Fantasy Sports API is available as a Web service as well as via Yahoo Query Language. In July 2013, Yahoo acquired Bignoggins, a mobile fantasy sports startup founded and operated by software engineer Jerry Shen. The acquisition helped Yahoo increase its mobile presence and boost the popularity of the Yahoo Fantasy Sports service.

The Yahoo Fantasy Sports API provides access to fantasy football, baseball, basketball and hockey data. Information that can be retrieved via the API for each type of sport includes game, league, team and player. Yahoo provides adequate documentation for the API, a testing console and an active forum.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports is one of the most popular fantasy sports providers, and Yahoo sports apps have been installed by millions of Android and iPhone users. Despite a recent security breach involving Yahoo Sports API servers, the Yahoo Fantasy Sports API remains one of the most popular sports APIs listed on ProgrammableWeb.

Fitbit

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/fitbit
Provider: Fitbit
API Documentation URL: https://dev.fitbit.com/

Fitbit is one of the leading activity-tracking product companies and, according to a recent New York Timesarticle, Fitbit claims 85% of the activity-tracking gadgets market share. A few weeks ago, Fitbit went public, debuting on the stock market with an initial price of $20 a share and at market close was priced at $29.68 a share.

The Fitbit API provides read and write access to Fitbit users' tracker collections, profile data, social resources and more. The company provides a nicely designed developer portal, and the API documentation is well-organized and comprehensive. A number of companies, including IFTTT, MyFitnessPal and Walgreens Balance Rewards, use the Fitbit API for third-party app integrations.

Eventful

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/eventful
Provider: Eventful
API Documentation URL: http://api.eventful.com/

Acquired by CBS Local Media last year, Eventful is a digital media company and entertainment discovery service that helps consumers find sports, music, comedy, performing arts and many other types of local events. According to the company website, Eventful serves more than 22 million registered users via the Web, mobile and email.

The Eventful API allows developers to integrate Eventful platform capabilities and data with third-party applications. The company provides a basic API site for developers with well-organized documentation, client libraries, search tutorial and other developer tools.

Sports Data

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/sports-data
Provider: Sportradar US
API Documentation URL: http://developer.sportradar.us/

Sportradar US (formerly SportsData) is a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Sportradar AG, a leading sports data and digital content provider. Sportradar US provides comprehensive data for all major U.S. sports and hundreds of leagues around the world. The company covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, FIFA and more.

Sportradar US provides a developer site that includes comprehensive and detailed API documentation. It should be noted that a lot of the information about Sportradar US data feeds is provided in PDF format. However, interactive documentation powered by Mashery I/O Docs is also available.

In February, Sportradar US announced a partnership with NASCAR that allows the company to distribute real-time NASCAR data (all three national series) to third-party digital outlets. In April, Sportradar US announced that it had entered into a new multiyear agreement with the NFL, becoming an exclusive distributor of comprehensive NFL statistics to digital outlets.

Strava

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/strava
Provider: Strava
API Documentation URL: https://www.strava.com/developers

Strava is a popular social fitness-tracking application provider as well as a global community of runners, cyclists and other athletes. Strava allows users to track their runs, bike rides and cross-training using the Strava mobile app (iOS and Android) and/or a GPS-compatible device such as Fitbit, Garmin or Microsoft Band.

Continued from page 1. 

The Strava API provides programmatic access to Strava platform data and endpoints include athletes, activities, clubs, gear and road segments. The company provides a nicely designed API site that includes well-organized documentation with example requests, example responses and client libraries.

A little over a month ago, Strava launched a dozen athlete-curated local city guides that feature the best runs and rides, coffee shops, photo spots and more. Strava also provides a data service called Strava Metro, which allows city departments of transportation and advocacy groups to analyze and gain insights from Strava data.

SeatGeek

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/seatgeek
Provider: SeatGeek
API Documentation URL: http://platform.seatgeek.com/

SeatGeek is a popular ticket search engine that makes it quick and easy for users to find and compare ticket prices for sports, music, theater, comedy and other local events. SeatGeek includes a variety of features such as recommendations, personalized event calendar and email alerts. SeatGeek also gives users the ability to track sports teams, musical performers, etc., sending users notifications of upcoming games or concert dates.

The SeatGeek API provides access to information for live events in the U.S., Canada and internationally (limited), including venue lat/long, venue details (name, address, etc.), average ticket price and date/time of events. The company provides basic, well-organized API documentation for developers.

Last year, SeatGeek signed an agreement with LivingSocial that has allowed SeatGeek ticket search technology to be integrated with the LivingSocial platform.

Pinnacle Sports

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/pinnacle-sports
Provider: Pinnacle Sports
API Documentation URL: http://www.pinnaclesports.com/en/api/

Pinnacle Sports is an online sports bookmaking site that has been around since 1998 and operates in more than 200 countries. The Pinnacle Sports website betting menu includes baseball, basketball, football, rugby, soccer and tennis. Pinnacle Sports also features eSports betting, which has become more popular with users than golf or rugby.

The Pinnacle Sports XML feed API provides access to the platform's industry-leading odds and allows bets to be placed programmatically. The API documentation is one page but provides detailed instructions on how to use the API.

In 2007, Pinnacle Sports voluntarily withdrew from the U.S. market, no longer accepting wagers from U.S. customers. In late 2014, Pinnacle Sports withdrew from the U.K. market because of new gambling regulations. According to an article on OSGA.com, Pinnacle Sports may try to obtain a UKGC license, which would require the company to withdraw from gray markets.

Under Armour Connected Fitness

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/under-armour
Provider: Under Armour
API Documentation URL: https://developer.underarmour.com/

Under Armour is a leading performance apparel company that was founded back in 1996. Today, the company not only sells a wide range of athletic clothing and accessories, but also provides a leading digital health and fitness platform. Under Armour Connected Fitness is self-described as the largest connected fitness platform in the world and features activity tracking, activity graphing, device connectivity, goals setting and much more.

The Under Armour API allows developers to integrate the Under Armour Connected Fitness platform with third-party applications. The company provides a nicely designed developer site that includes comprehensive API documentation, SDKs for iOS and Android, interactive API documentation powered by Mashery I/O docs, an app showcase and more.

The company recently increased its app ecosystem through the acquisition of popular fitness apps including MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness and Endomondo.

RunKeeper Health Graph

Link: http://www.programmableweb.com/api/runkeeper-health-graph
Provider: RunKeeper
API Documentation URL: http://developer.runkeeper.com/healthgraph

RunKeeper is a mobile app that uses GPS technology to automatically track fitness activity, including running, walking and cycling. RunKeeper users can manually enter their fitness activities if needed. Users can view their tracked activity history, measure workout distance, chart weight loss, set fitness goals and more.

The RunKeeper Health Graph API provides access to a collection of resources based on the RunKeeper Health Graph as well as a user's information such as profile, sharing settings, display settings and friends. The developer site is nicely designed and provides well-organized API documentation, third-party client libraries, Google Groups forum and a developer console.

Last year, RunKeeper incorporated Mapbox Outdoors into the RunKeeper app, giving users maps of biking, hiking and skiing trails as well as the ability to view maps of their activities for analysis.

Online gambling and betting is a multibillion-dollar industry. It's also one of the most highly regulated. The market for gambling and betting APIs is relatively small in the United States, but the activity in this area is growing. Numerous services promise bettors access to data that will help them win, and API-based betting is a driver of business for betting exchanges. And an upstart is enabling developers to add legal, real-money gambling to their apps using an API.

Based on ProgrammableWeb's analysis of the industry and industry trends, here's a look at 10 of the top APIs in this space, with a focused examination of two APIs that change the game.

Betfair

Features

Betfair's Exchange API allows developers to access to market data, including pricing and volume. In addition, the Exchange API can be used to place bets, check bet status and manage bets, as well as to retrieve account information. For developers building their own trading tools, Betfair offers a Heartbeat function that enables unmatched bets to be canceled automatically if their applications lose connectivity with the API.

The Betfair API is accessible using one of two protocols, JSON-RPC or Rescript. To assist developers in getting started, Betfair provides extensive documentation. Betfair also offers sample code for a variety of programming languages, including Java, PHP, C# and Python, as well as an iOS SDK.

Pricing

Access to the Betfair API is free to Betfair players within certain limits. Additional fees apply to usage above the limits, but these fees may be offset by commission paid and API subscription fees. Software vendors, bookmakersand businesses that want to use the API for commercial purposes must obtain a commercial license. Access can also be arranged for Betfair affiliates.

Why It's a Top API

Betfair pioneered the online betting exchange and remains the world's largest player in the market. The publicly traded company counts more than a million active customers, and in 2013 it matched over a billion bets worth more than a whopping $90 billion.

A large, thriving ecosystem has been built around the Betfair Exchange API, which is used extensively by a variety of Betfair market participants. Individual punters use the API to develop their own trading strategies and betting tools. Numerous software vendors have developed commercial trading applications that rely on the Exchange API. And bookmakers use the API to support their own operations.

Betable

Features

Using the Betable API, game developers can add real-money gambling functionality to their apps without worrying about the complexities of running a legal online casino. Betable's API abstracts popular casino games--like slot machines, bingo, roulette and blackjack--into straightforward API calls, eliminating the need for developers to spend time building the core logic that powers these games.

Players deposit and manage their funds with Betable, and use OAuth to authorize a developer's games. All of the regulated gambling activities, such as random number generation, take place on Betable's servers, and Betable handles all of the associated heavy lifting, like fraud detection and payouts. The outcomes of bets are communicated to a developer's app through the API. Betable offers SDKs for iOS, JavaScript, PHP and Node.js.

Revenue Share

There is no cost for developers to use the Betable API. Instead, Betable partners with developers and shares the gambling revenue generated by their games. The terms of the revenue share are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Why It's a Top API

Betable, which holds gaming licensed by the United Kingdom and Alderney, is disrupting the online gambling industry by making it possible for developers to legally add real-money gambling to their games without having to go through the lengthy and costly process of obtaining a gambling license of their own. One of the goals: Take the $3.5 billion social gaming market and bring it together with the $32 billion online gambling market.

According to Betable CEO Christopher Griffin, many of the gambling apps created by traditional gambling companies are boring, but, using the company's API, developers can quickly create innovative new forms of game play based on the logic found in gambling mainstays like slot machines and roulette.

If Betable has its way, its API will power a whole new crop of fun and innovative web and mobile gambling games that will not only provide a significantly more enjoyable experience for players, but will also create a lucrative opportunity that solves the monetization challenges game developers frequently face. For that reason, investors have poured more than $17 million into the company, and Betable notes it's just the second gambling company to receive investment from Silicon Valley venture capitalists in more than a decade. Betable has a number of active partners and, according to the company, it has thousands of developers who have expressed an interest in developing games using its API.

SharkScope

SharkScope aims to help its customers improve their odds of success in the highly competitive world of online poker. It does this by allowing players to track their statistics and retrieve information about their opponents.

Using the company's comprehensive REST API, developers can build applications on top of all the data SharkScope tracks. API access is available to SharkScope subscribers with a Gold plan or higher, or separately starting at $200 per month for 150 searches per day.

OddsMiner

OddsMiner offers XML data feeds for real-time odds at more than 200 bookmakers. The company's goal: Provide the "same wealth of odds information as the industry professionals at an affordable cost." Its coverage includes soccer, rugby, tennis, basketball and American football. For some of those sports, such as soccer and ice hockey, the company's historical data dates back to 1997.

eOddsmaker

eOddsmaker provides several JSON and XML betting data feeds, for both pre-match and live in-play betting odds. The company's pre-match betting odds cover more than 70 bookmakers, while the in-play odds cover a number of leading bookmakers offering 7,000 monthly events. In addition, eOddsmaker offers a unique XML feed containing pre-match arbitrage opportunities it has identified.

FairLuck

Behind just about every gambling game is a random number generator. For players, those random numbers are the difference between winning and losing, so the integrity of how they're generated is crucial.

FairLuck aims to help establish trust between game operators with its "Fairness Assurance Technology," which consists of a random number externalization service. According to the company's SourceForge page, the service operates as an XML-RPC API that can be accessed through the use of libraries the company provides.

Pinnacle Sports

Pinnacle Sports is a traditional online bookmaker that operates in more than 200 countries. It offers its customers and affiliate program participants access to an XML API that provides live odds and enables customers to place bets directly. There is no cost to use the Pinnacle Sports API.

The company's API documentation is published publicly and contains C# and PHP code samples. Non-customers, including commercial data providers and software vendors, are offered access to the API through a licensing agreement.

Betfair Games API

Betfair Games allows users to play popular casino games like Blackjack, Hi-Lo, Bullseye Roulette, Hold 'Em and Baccarat. With the Betfair Games API, players can retrieve historical data about game play on the platform. The REST XML API also has transactional capabilities, making it possible for developers to build bots that play games on their behalf.

LotteryFeed.com

Lotteries generate more than $100 billion in revenue globally each year and represent one of the most common ways in which consumers participate in games of chance. Using LotteryFeed.com, publishers and media companies can access XML, JSON, HTML and text API feeds for global lottery results.

LotteryFeed.com's data covers all lotteries in the United States and Canada, as well as lotteries in dozens of other countries. In addition to its results feed, the company offers APIs for other data, such as payouts, frequency charts and smart picks. According to the LotteryFeed.com website, access to feeds starts at $100 per month.

Locaid

Different countries have different licensing regimes for gambling and betting, and, in certain places, gambling and betting are not allowed. To help companies stay on the right side of the law, Locaid offers a SOAP-based Compliance API that enables companies to accurately identify the location of users in real time across multiple sources to ensure that they're within a company-specified geographical boundary before they're allowed to perform a potentially restricted action, such as placing a bet.

For more gambling and betting APIs, check out our full list of gambling APIs.

The use of technology in the sports industry has risen rapidly in recent years. More and more professional and amateur sports teams are using technology for scorekeeping, team management, team statistics, live game updates, sports analytics and more.

Today, applications like GameChanger allow amateur basketball, baseball and softball team administrators to manage the team and record the action during games. The app uses the data to provide advanced real-time stats and charts, a live play-by-play stream, live updates to fans via web or mobile, and more.

Not only is the use of technology in sports becoming more prevalent, but so is the use of advanced technology such as mathematical modeling, machine learning and convolutional neural networks (deep learning). Many sports data companies use these advanced technologies to provide sports analytics and predictions.

One example of a company using advanced technology is numberFire, which uses mathematical modeling, predictive algorithms and other technologies for sports analysis and predictions. NumberFire analyzes the players and match-ups for several leagues, including the NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL.

STATS LLC acquired BSports in 2014, allowing the company to integrate predictive modeling with the STATS platform and provide new types of data-driven models for team and player performance. Earlier this year, STATS announced the launch of a product that utilizes the BSports technology for daily fantasy sports projections.

The APIs that made it to our top 10 sports APIs list provide a wide range of capabilities and data, including activity tracking, fantasy sports, event tickets search, event tickets price comparison, live sports scores and statistics, and online sports bookmaking. The APIs also scored well against a diverse set of criteria:

• Popularity
• Potential
• Documentation
• Ease of use
• Functionality

API popularity is determined using a variety of metrics, including ProgrammableWeb followers, GitHub activity, Twitter activity and search engine popularity based on Google Trends.

Nike+

Link: /api/nike-plus
Provider: Nike
API Documentation URL: https://developer.nike.com/

Nike launched the Nike+ API developer portal back in January 2013 to provide programmatic access to data captured by the Nike+ FuelBand and Nike+ Running app. Later that year, the company launched Nike+ Fuel Lab, a 12-week program aimed at expanding the Nike app ecosystem.

The Nike developer portal is nicely designed and provides SDKs (iOS, Android and JavaScript), code samples, a test console and well-organized API documentation. At the time of this writing, access to the Nike+ API and SDKs was limited to Nike+ Fuel Lab partners. However, the company plans on increasing access to the Nike+ API and developer tools in the future.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports

Link: /api/yahoo-fantasy-sports
Provider: Yahoo
API Documentation URL: https://developer.yahoo.com/fantasysports/

First released back in October 2010, the Yahoo Fantasy Sports API is available as a Web service as well as via Yahoo Query Language. In July 2013, Yahoo acquired Bignoggins, a mobile fantasy sports startup founded and operated by software engineer Jerry Shen. The acquisition helped Yahoo increase its mobile presence and boost the popularity of the Yahoo Fantasy Sports service.

The Yahoo Fantasy Sports API provides access to fantasy football, baseball, basketball and hockey data. Information that can be retrieved via the API for each type of sport includes game, league, team and player. Yahoo provides adequate documentation for the API, a testing console and an active forum.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports is one of the most popular fantasy sports providers, and Yahoo sports apps have been installed by millions of Android and iPhone users. Despite a recent security breach involving Yahoo Sports API servers, the Yahoo Fantasy Sports API remains one of the most popular sports APIs listed on ProgrammableWeb.

Fitbit

Link: /api/fitbit
Provider: Fitbit
API Documentation URL: https://dev.fitbit.com/

Fitbit is one of the leading activity-tracking product companies and, according to a recent New York Timesarticle, Fitbit claims 85% of the activity-tracking gadgets market share. A few weeks ago, Fitbit went public, debuting on the stock market with an initial price of $20 a share and at market close was priced at $29.68 a share.

The Fitbit API provides read and write access to Fitbit users' tracker collections, profile data, social resources and more. The company provides a nicely designed developer portal, and the API documentation is well-organized and comprehensive. A number of companies, including IFTTT, MyFitnessPal and Walgreens Balance Rewards, use the Fitbit API for third-party app integrations.

Eventful

Link: /api/eventful
Provider: Eventful
API Documentation URL: http://api.eventful.com/

Acquired by CBS Local Media last year, Eventful is a digital media company and entertainment discovery service that helps consumers find sports, music, comedy, performing arts and many other types of local events. According to the company website, Eventful serves more than 22 million registered users via the Web, mobile and email.

The Eventful API allows developers to integrate Eventful platform capabilities and data with third-party applications. The company provides a basic API site for developers with well-organized documentation, client libraries, search tutorial and other developer tools.

Sports Data

Link: /api/sports-data
Provider: Sportradar US
API Documentation URL: http://developer.sportradar.us/

Sportradar US (formerly SportsData) is a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Sportradar AG, a leading sports data and digital content provider. Sportradar US provides comprehensive data for all major U.S. sports and hundreds of leagues around the world. The company covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, FIFA and more.

Sportradar US provides a developer site that includes comprehensive and detailed API documentation. It should be noted that a lot of the information about Sportradar US data feeds is provided in PDF format. However, interactive documentation powered by Mashery I/O Docs is also available.

In February, Sportradar US announced a partnership with NASCAR that allows the company to distribute real-time NASCAR data (all three national series) to third-party digital outlets. In April, Sportradar US announced that it had entered into a new multiyear agreement with the NFL, becoming an exclusive distributor of comprehensive NFL statistics to digital outlets.

Strava

Link: /api/strava
Provider: Strava
API Documentation URL: https://www.strava.com/developers

Strava is a popular social fitness-tracking application provider as well as a global community of runners, cyclists and other athletes. Strava allows users to track their runs, bike rides and cross-training using the Strava mobile app (iOS and Android) and/or a GPS-compatible device such as Fitbit, Garmin or Microsoft Band.

Continued from page 1. 

The Strava API provides programmatic access to Strava platform data and endpoints include athletes, activities, clubs, gear and road segments. The company provides a nicely designed API site that includes well-organized documentation with example requests, example responses and client libraries.

A little over a month ago, Strava launched a dozen athlete-curated local city guides that feature the best runs and rides, coffee shops, photo spots and more. Strava also provides a data service called Strava Metro, which allows city departments of transportation and advocacy groups to analyze and gain insights from Strava data.

SeatGeek

Link: /api/seatgeek
Provider: SeatGeek
API Documentation URL: http://platform.seatgeek.com/

SeatGeek is a popular ticket search engine that makes it quick and easy for users to find and compare ticket prices for sports, music, theater, comedy and other local events. SeatGeek includes a variety of features such as recommendations, personalized event calendar and email alerts. SeatGeek also gives users the ability to track sports teams, musical performers, etc., sending users notifications of upcoming games or concert dates.

The SeatGeek API provides access to information for live events in the U.S., Canada and internationally (limited), including venue lat/long, venue details (name, address, etc.), average ticket price and date/time of events. The company provides basic, well-organized API documentation for developers.

Last year, SeatGeek signed an agreement with LivingSocial that has allowed SeatGeek ticket search technology to be integrated with the LivingSocial platform.

Pinnacle Sports

Link: /api/pinnacle-sports
Provider: Pinnacle Sports
API Documentation URL: http://www.pinnaclesports.com/en/api/

Pinnacle Sports is an online sports bookmaking site that has been around since 1998 and operates in more than 200 countries. The Pinnacle Sports website betting menu includes baseball, basketball, football, rugby, soccer and tennis. Pinnacle Sports also features eSports betting, which has become more popular with users than golf or rugby.

The Pinnacle Sports XML feed API provides access to the platform's industry-leading odds and allows bets to be placed programmatically. The API documentation is one page but provides detailed instructions on how to use the API.

In 2007, Pinnacle Sports voluntarily withdrew from the U.S. market, no longer accepting wagers from U.S. customers. In late 2014, Pinnacle Sports withdrew from the U.K. market because of new gambling regulations. According to an article on OSGA.com, Pinnacle Sports may try to obtain a UKGC license, which would require the company to withdraw from gray markets.

Under Armour Connected Fitness

Link: /api/under-armour
Provider: Under Armour
API Documentation URL: https://developer.underarmour.com/

Under Armour is a leading performance apparel company that was founded back in 1996. Today, the company not only sells a wide range of athletic clothing and accessories, but also provides a leading digital health and fitness platform. Under Armour Connected Fitness is self-described as the largest connected fitness platform in the world and features activity tracking, activity graphing, device connectivity, goals setting and much more.

The Under Armour API allows developers to integrate the Under Armour Connected Fitness platform with third-party applications. The company provides a nicely designed developer site that includes comprehensive API documentation, SDKs for iOS and Android, interactive API documentation powered by Mashery I/O docs, an app showcase and more.

The company recently increased its app ecosystem through the acquisition of popular fitness apps including MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness and Endomondo.

RunKeeper Health Graph

Link: /api/runkeeper-health-graph
Provider: RunKeeper
API Documentation URL: http://developer.runkeeper.com/healthgraph

RunKeeper is a mobile app that uses GPS technology to automatically track fitness activity, including running, walking and cycling. RunKeeper users can manually enter their fitness activities if needed. Users can view their tracked activity history, measure workout distance, chart weight loss, set fitness goals and more.

The RunKeeper Health Graph API provides access to a collection of resources based on the RunKeeper Health Graph as well as a user's information such as profile, sharing settings, display settings and friends. The developer site is nicely designed and provides well-organized API documentation, third-party client libraries, Google Groups forum and a developer console.

Last year, RunKeeper incorporated Mapbox Outdoors into the RunKeeper app, giving users maps of biking, hiking and skiing trails as well as the ability to view maps of their activities for analysis.

Since May of 2018 when the Supreme Court struck down PASPA (or the Bradley Act) as unconstitutional, online sports betting has been alive and kicking in many U.S. states. Developers wishing to get in on the action and add sports betting functions (or other gambling functions), into applications need to find the most suitable Application Programming Interface, or API, in which to integrate.

But finding the correct data for an odds-making application can be daunting. The Gambling category on ProgrammableWeb can help. There, developers can find dozens of APIs to look over.

In this article, we highlight the 10 most popular Gambling APIs found in our directory. These APIs return all kinds of data such as schedules, player statistics, odds, and even poker hand probability. They are listed in order of popularity based on page visits on the ProgrammableWeb website.

1. Betfair API

The Betfair Exchange API is the platform on which developers can build customized betting tools and interfaces to use with the Betfair Sports Exchange for themselves or for other Betfair customers. Find markets, place bets, check current bet details, betting history and account statements with this API.

Integrate betting functions into applications with Betfair APIs. Screenshot: Betfair Developer Program

2. Pinnacle Sports API

Pinnacle Sports is an online service that offers information on betting on multiple sports i.e. football, soccer, baseball, rugby. The Pinnacle Sports API allows developers to integrate the functionality of Pinnacle Sports with their applications. Some API methods include retrieving lists of sports, retrieving lists of leagues, and retrieving sports feeds.

3. Betable API

Betable is a platform that handles the regulation of the online gambling industry. The Betable API lets developers to legally incorporate gambling with real money into their gaming applications. There is a wide range of games that developers can incorporate gambling into using this API.

Image: Betable

4. eOddsmaker API

eOddsmaker provides sport betting odds compilation and analysis services using the Oddsmaker engine. eOddsmaker also provides users with information that will enable them to stay up to date with the global market on the sports gambling industry. With the eOddsmaker API, developers will be able to integrate this database into their applications. Data including pre-match odds, live feeds, live scores, and payouts feeds can be returned in XML or JSON.

5. Sportradar API

Sportradar is a provider of sports data and content for over 60 sports, including official partnerships with NBA, NFL, NASCAR, and NHL. Other sports include Rugby, Racing, Tennis, Cricket, Combat sports, Olympics, and others. The Sportradar APIs allow developers to integrate their applications with the Sportradar service using RESTful methods. Data provided includes schedules, matchups, live scores, odds, player statistics, standings, rosters, editorial content, track & driver, medals and much more. On ProgrammableWeb, we have profiled each API by sport, with the most popular being the Sportradar Tennis API.

Screenshot: Sportradar

6. Bets Bet365 API

The Bets Bet365 API provides programmatic access to all markets and odds available on the Bet365 website. Developers can retrieve all markets and odds or just prematch markets and odds. Bets API covers 32 feeds from soccer, tennis, basketball, volleyball, cricket, squash, and water polo.

7. SharkScope API

SharkScope is a service that provides users with information on poker tournament results. The SharkScope's database has information about players in tournaments, and their winning records over time. The SharkScope API allows users to compare, evaluate, and rank between poker tournament players and integrate this information into their applications.

8. Sportmonks Soccer API

Sportmonks is a provider of data feeds for a variety of sports disciplines including Soccer/Football, Formula 1, Tennis, Basketball, and American Football. The Sportmonks Soccer API provides data feeds for live scores, full season fixtures, video highlights, and in-play odds among other features. Users can access historical data back to 2005.

9. Poker Odds Calculator API

The Poker Odds Calculator API calculates the odds and percentages of winning a poker game, as well as the odds of winning and possible scenarios at various points in the game, including the flop, river, and turn.

10. The Odds-API

The Live Odds API offers real-time information about UK and Australian sports. Odds are no older than a few seconds to a few minutes. Data is provided as JSON formatted information and Google Sheets and Excel compatible data. Available bookmakers include Unibet, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Betfair, Pinnacle Sports, Bet Victor, Von Bets, Nordic Bet, Paddy Power, and 1xBet for the UK. Australia's Sportsbet, TAB, William Hill, Crownbet, Ladbrokes, Betfair, Unibet, Ubet, and Pinnacle Sports are covered.

If developers can't find the right API for their gaming applications in this list they can check out the whole Gambling category on ProgrammableWeb, where they will find more than 130 APIs, plus several SDKs and Source Code Samples.