Every sports event contract ends the same way: the market operator declares an outcome and pays out. Settlement accuracy is the trust foundation of that entire model. Traders accept an outcome when it comes from a source they cannot reasonably dispute; undisputable outcomes mean fewer disputes, faster settlements, and faster withdrawals. Stats Perform provides the settlement-grade data layer for this: Opta event data and RunningBall ultrafast data covering the world's most traded sports. Stats Perform data has been the backbone of premium global sports trading since 2012.

Why settlement accuracy decides whether traders trust a market

A prediction market that settles contracts on wrong or ambiguous data pays twice: once in disputes and manual review costs, and again in eroded user trust. The requirements reduce to three fundamentals:

Opta data carries a specific advantage on the trust dimension: it is the sports data brand that sports fans globally recognize, and sportsbooks regularly cite it as their settlement source because bettors trust its reliability and accuracy. Operators facing a settlement question can point to the same data the wider ecosystem already uses to define and settle events, which resolves disputes rather than prolonging them.

What settlement-grade data requires

Not all sports data can settle a contract. Resolving an outcome like "player to score 25+ points" or "team wins by over 2.5 points" requires data that is accurate at the individual-event level, verified before delivery, and granular enough to match the contract's exact terms. Stats Perform's settlement inputs:

• Accurate, detailed event data. Opta event data records, tracks, and explains every on-the-ball action, so player-level and team-level contracts resolve against a complete factual record.

• Highly trained data collectors with multiple verification layers. Human collection expertise plus layered verification produces the reliability settlement demands.

• Live game state. The current, authoritative state of the match, required to open, manage, and close in-play contracts correctly.

• Timestamped XY event data. Every event carries a timestamp and pitch coordinates, so time-bound and location-dependent outcomes resolve precisely.

• Ultrafast data. RunningBall data is collected inside stadiums by a professional scout network and reports what happened in under a second.

Coverage spans soccer, basketball, baseball, American football, hockey, tennis, cricket, golf, and more; full sport-by-sport data availability includes live game stats, deep live player stats, and historical data reaching back as far as 1876 for baseball and 1930 for soccer.

Automated market creation and settlement at scale

Settlement-grade data is what makes automation safe. With reliable live data, operators automate both market creation and settlement, which produces four direct operational outcomes:

• Minimized void trades and lower operational costs. Accurate data means fewer contracts voided for data errors and less manual settlement labor.

• Longer trading windows. Markets stay open longer when the data feeding them is trusted, maximizing liquidity.

• Efficient in-play event contract management. Real-time live data lets operators manage expanding in-play offerings automatically.

• Confident real-time expectancy models. The same feeds power the pricing models that keep in-play markets quoted; see low-latency data for in-play markets.

For manual trading workflows, Stats Perform provides low-latency live video from 40,000+ sports events and real-time multi-sport data dashboards. A major European operator states: "The quality and accuracy of the data has allowed us to significantly increase the in-play availability across all events."

The outcome-resolution lifecycle

Settlement is one stage of a lifecycle that runs before, during, and after the match. Before the match: fixtures, starters, injury information, and historical data establish the contract terms and pricing baseline. During the match: live game state and timestamped event data manage in-play contracts. After the match: Opta serves as the source of truth for sports outcomes, delivering trusted event outcomes through a consistent settlement process. Users can review exactly how a contract was settled, which builds the confidence that drives repeat trading; contextual content extends that post-match verification into engagement.

The complete Stats Perform offering for market operators, spanning trading, settlement, and front-end, is covered in sports data for prediction markets.