Rocky Mountain high
Philadelphia tech startup Sporttrade is consolidating its position to rip up the traditional sports betting playbook following its entry into the Colorado market via the acquisition of Momentum Sports and Entertainment Inc.
Sporttrade took to Twitter to share news of its Colorado entry, announced August 4, with its founder and CEO Alex Kane praising the state for being an “early believer in the growth and potential of legalized sports betting.”
Kane’s firm’s deal with Momentum means Easy Street Casino will hold Sporttrade’s Colorado sports betting license. Colorado sports bettors will be able to make wagers via the Sporttrade iOS app, which is slated to roll out in 2022.
gives players the ability to trade sports bets as they would stocks
Sporttrade’s brand differential is that it’s a sports betting exchange. Instead of operating as a traditional sports trading platform, it gives players the ability to trade sports bets as they would stocks.
Founder of Momentum Dan Kelliher said his firm was “proud” to shift its gaming license to Sporttrade’s innovative betting model for the benefit of Colorado sports bettors. Kelliher added that Momentum was the “only sports betting platform that provides a true capital market experience” to its customers.
Sporttrade gearing up to disrupt
After the Momentum acquisition, Kane said his brand was eager to expand its US footprint. He added that Sporttrade would continue fine tuning its sports betting exchange to give its customers “a secure, transparent and technologically advanced platform from which to wager.”
Sports betting exchanges are popular in Europe, but the idea has not fully caught on in the legal US market. While Kane talked up security, bettors across the Pond might point a cautionary finger at the Football Index fiasco in March. The European soccer betting exchange left its bettors who had holdings high and dry after it changed its terms and caused share prices to tank.
Sporttrade has, however, won impressive backing. In June, it raised $36m from a group of investors that include Nasdaq CEO Tom Pittman and former MGM Resorts International chairman and CEO Jim Murren. Nasdaq’s investment arm, Nasdaq Ventures, also jumped on the Sporttrade bandwagon by taking convertible debt.
They think sports betting looks like the stock market in the 1950s with huge room for improvement.”
Kane said in June that Nasdaq shared his vision: “They think sports betting looks like the stock market in the 1950s with huge room for improvement.”
The start-up’s CEO was bullish as he added sports betting exchanges “will become the predominant form of wagering for the audience that is more of a digital native and less of a digital immigrant.”
New Jersey launch comes first
Sporttrade has plans to make its first US sports betting exchange debut in New Jersey via one of Bally’s Corporation’s digital sports betting skins. Subject to pending state regulatory approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Sporttrade plans to have its iOS app go live in New Jersey later this year.
Colorado could conceivably follow next. Roger Brown, GM and director of gaming operations at GF Gaming, can’t wait, saying Easy Street Casino was “thrilled” to team up with Sporttrade. “Together,” Brown trumpeted, “we will pave the way for eager sports fans in Colorado to participate in a new and exciting way to wager online.”