Former FX traders launch SportStack exchange betting game

SportStack, a new peer-to-peer sports exchange platform developed by two former Goldman Sachs FX traders, has launched in the UK.

The platform rates Premier League footballers according to performance, giving players the opportunity to buy and sell against other users.

SportStack, which has been developed over the last two years by Nicholas Smith and Kristian-Brauten Smith, launches today in the UK with a focus on football match markets. The plans are to follow the UK roll-out with expansion into other international markets.

The platform has been developed using AI technology allowing for real time betting on player performance. By removing any form of binary betting, SportStack claims the amount customers win or lose is only ever based on the player’s share price.

“We believe it is crazy that you can bet on almost anything in sports except the most important feature of them: the players,” said Smith, founder and chief executive of SportsStack.

“You shouldn't have to play a fantasy sports game to predict who will and won't perform well and that's why we created SportStack so that now you can with real money.”

Smith has previously said the SportStack concept differs to existing services such as Football Index because it is a true exchange, with the ability to go and long and short, with bets matched by other users rather than betting against the house.

Players will earn and lose value during a match according to SportStack’s Scoring Table which gives a score of 0-100p per game based on pre-determined metrics including tackles won (+2p), shots on target (+5p), goals (+20p) and hitting the woodwork (+5). A pay out of the total amount will happen at the end of each match in line with the Scoring Table.

Match Markets open at the start of every week and remain open all the way through to the end of the game.

Smith said: “We firmly believe that when a bet doesn’t go your way you shouldn’t lose all of you money – that’s a tired industry model. We developed SportStack with responsible betting in mind based on player share price, a model which we will first introduce in the UK before rolling out to multiple sports and sectors in the near future.”