Smarkets to become a sportsbook :(

For a year or two, I had a bit of money in Smarkets. But I've never been able to see how the company actually makes any real money at all.

It's always been a bit of a mirage on there. Big liquidity on popular markets, but it's just the company's own money. It has bots that follow the prices on here. I've never even believed the matched money as I think it just  gobbles up its own liquidity as the price moves and then adds that to the total for amount matched.

To me, it just seems like a lot of these new tech companies. They appear to have decent market capitalisation as they keep attracting investment, but without any real sign of turning a profit. These companies always have a CEO that talks a good game though.

Excellent post romfordiron.

i've also think it just  gobbles up its own liquidity as the price moves and then adds that to the total for amount matched.

So they are keeping exchange going and adding sportsbook has that ever been done before ? (successfully )

Smarkets are a strange one, from the point of view of an exchange trader there seems to be little happening there yet in terms of innovation or liquidity yet they seem to be expanding and growing rapidly (12th in this list:  https://www.inc.com/inc5000eu/list/2018) and somewhat the darlings of the financial tech sector so they must be doing something.

Hopefully they can add something to the sector, adding a sports book isn't wildly exciting but a sports book which integrates fully with a liquid exchange to offer exchange prices further afield could be beneficial.

it's impossible to say what's genuine turnover.

Hanson Applied Sciences trades in large scale on sports betting markets through automation and a small but efficient staffing structure. The core business is the market making of betting exchanges with annual betting turnover of over a billion pounds per annum. We recognise the challenges of attracting liquidity to the betting exchanges and the demand for companies specialised in pricing outcomes to fill that gap.  We believe very strongly in automation in order to scale activities and remain competitive.

Hanson Applied Sciences is part of the Smarkets group.

About 18 months ago Smarkets refused to pay out when their bot offered incorrect prices.

Speaking to Bloomberg Business, Trost detailed that Smarkets had spent circa $5 million developing its sportsbook extension which will attached to the Smarkets exchange.

I have no idea about these things but $5 million does seem a high figure.

please guys dont join SMARKETS,,  the problems ive had with them is unbelievable,,  winning bets disappearing,,  money been drawn from account,,no one  prepared at smarkets to talk about the situation,,,when you inquire about said bet , account closed,,  and im not the only person with these problems,,

I thought you said that was your "mate" cardenden?  For those of you watching at home cardenden's "mate" almost def did something shady.

btw that isn't an endorsement of smarkets who def were well ooo in a much publicised case.

What could he have done 'shady' on a betting exchange? People put up bets and others take them, there was a case a year or so ago where IBAS ruled against smarkets voiding some exchange bets they said were clearly an error at 1.01.

I would guess that his "mate" had a bet settled incorrectly and decided to freeroll with the money.  Hence bet not honoured, money removed from account and account closed. 

I referenced that case and said they were out of order.