Sport Exchange is a new sports betting app based on the world of financial trading. Lee Davy grabs hold of a company spokesperson to find out more.
What would happen if gambling had sex with a market wizard?
You would get Sport Exchange, the new peer-to-peer sports trading platform that combines the principles of financial trading with the excitement of in-play sports betting.
Launched in the UK, Sport Exchange promises to ‘turn gamblers into traders,’ by moving them from the ‘unpredictable world of gambling‘ onto the ‘first rung of the trading ladder.’
Rather than make ‘bets’ like standard sports betting models, Sport Exchange allows punters to make trades in the same way that City Traders do with ‘securities.’
The app, which uses the peer-to-peer model favoured by the likes of Betfair and Matchbook, allows punters to set their prices using mathematical predictions based on real time information and knowledge of the game in question. The app is currently offering trades on basketball and football.
Sport Exchange launched the app with the help of former Liverpool star Razor Ruddock, and I reached out to a Sport Exchange spokesperson to learn more about the product, and this is what they had to say.
Where did the idea stem?
“The entrepreneur behind the company has years of experience working within the financial markets and more specifically the Stock Exchange. The main idea is to enable the use of financial tools and practices, known to anyone who is active in trading when betting on non-financial events such as sport events, presidential elections and so forth.
“The financial tools featured within the platform have proven to be popular with our customers and have helped attract liquidity. Sport Exchange is a peer-to-peer application, which links a bid and ask price. By implementing financial principles, the app enables the fairest possible way to conduct a transaction (place a bet) for all users.”
I know nothing about trading, why would I want to use your app?
“We are aware that people like to place their bets somewhere with familiarity. Having said that, Sport Exchange is an interesting, accessible and exciting application that will give the users a new experience. We believe they will enjoy the dynamic and interactive nature of the application and will choose Sport Exchange as a preferred platform to invest their money.
“Any user can use the application purely as a gambling one by placing a bid and waiting for the outcome. Users will generally find a better price than elsewhere as it is peer-to-peer based app. However, we do hope that people will use the platform as we intended and use the advantage of the trading functions. These involve having the traders tracking their unit price (bid) and finding opportunities to make a profit before an event has started or during gameplay. Alternatively, you can cut your losses when the event doesn’t go to plan. We can see that our current users have learnt to benefit from these advantages and this is our primary goal for the platform.”
What is the Wolf Club?
“The Wolf Club is a club for players who have enhanced their trading skills within our app. The user needs to demonstrate trading skills and make several transactions that provide a guaranteed profit or minimized loss. Users who join the club receive unique promotions and a wider selection of game choice.”
What is the difference between this product and an exchange like Betfair?
“The Sport Exchange application is based entirely on the financial exchange markets, both in appearance and in the processes the user experiences from beginning to end. These processes, among others, enable the possibility to buy or sell a pre-defined number of units, with support for detecting profit opportunities. People who experience the platform will immediately see the differences between the two formats.”
What markets do you expect to be including in the future?
“Succeeding in the U.K. is very important to us, as a nation that is extremely passionate about football and sports. We believe they have the knowledge to become brilliant traders and we wanted to give them first the opportunity not to gamble their money away, but to invest it in what they know best. We will gradually make our application available in other countries.”
Sport Exchange is currently offering new customers £30 free credit to trade with if you open up a new account.
