Member Article

Profits double at London betting exchange Smarkets following Wimbledon success

Smarkets, which has its headquarters in Old Street, has seen profits double for the first two quarters of the year.

With every major sporting event resulting in triple-digit growth numbers on the year, the online betting exchange is poised to position itself for growth into other strategic markets.

Smarkets is on track to report pre-tax profit of £6m for 2015. The company’s valuation valuation has swelled to over £100m within the last year, as it moves closer to a possible IPO.

The “Win with Wimbledon” campaign has been a major contributing factor to Smarkets’ success, attracting tens of thousands of entries.

In less than four years, Jason Trost has grown Smarkets into a successful company that has seen more than £1bn traded on the exchange.

While most bookmakers and exchanges outsource technical services, Smarkets has an in-house team of engineers who have built the product from the ground up.

Jason Trost, Founder and CEO of Smarkets, said: “We believe our growing customer base is a result of our continued efforts to provide transparency, excellent odds and industry low commission. We’re hoping the momentum continues as traction for this year’s Wimbledon has overshadowed the previous year completely.

“We’re pleased to see that our drive to build on the tennis vertical is resonating with existing and importantly, new customers.”

Earlier this year the business celebrated reaching the one billion pound traded milestone, following an epic response to the Cheltenham Festival and record-breaking interest in the Grand National.

The drive continued into the conclusion of the football calendar and a current record breaking Wimbledon.

Smarkets has proved the potential of applying financial trading principles to the online sports world. Their goal was to make a difference by developing an online platform focused on honest, transparent and user-centred trading.

Smarkets offers trading opportunities on all major sports and niche markets such as politics and current affairs. The firm’s commission structure of a flat 2% of net profits is drastically lower than other online competitors.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .