William Hill joins rival Ladbrokes on Betfect social sports betting platform

william-hill-betfect-social-sports-bettingUK bookmakers William Hill have become the second major online betting operator to sign up with the Betfect social sports betting platform.

This week, Hills went live on the Betfect site, joining rival Ladbrokes, which became the first major UK real-money betting operator to integrate its application program interface (API) with the social betting startup last October, back when Betfect was still in beta mode.

Betfect aims to be a one-stop shop for socially minded sports bettors, providing a single platform from which bettors can share their betting experiences with their online friends, see what bets their friends have made and even copy the bets of more experienced bettors should the urge strike.

For the more competitive minded bettor, Betfect offers a leaderboard that tracks which of its members wager more successfully. There’s also competitions between bettors for prizes including free bets and sporting event tickets.

Betfect offers players the complete A-Z process of wagering – new account registration, comparing prices, deposits, withdrawals and placing wagers – all from within its platform.

Alex Rutherford, Hills’ head of product innovation, called Betfect “a great idea” and said his company was keen to support startups that sought to “increase the level of engagement amongst our customers and to bring new ideas to market.”

Betfect founder Giacomo Alpago celebrated the addition of Hills and hopes other major UK bookies and sports data providers will come onboard in short order. Alpago said Betfect hoped to “do for the betting industry what eToro is doing for the financial trading markets.” Betfect is currently working on the release its first iOS and Android apps.