Tinder and Uber the New Sportsbook Model?

If you’ve invested years into sports betting, you are all too familiar with the industry’s technological advances. The guys behind Bookee, a London-based start-up company, aren’t convinced that we’ve come far enough along, so they’ve turned their attention to companies outside of the bookie biz to get some inspiration. If you can swipe right to get a date, why can’t it be as simple to place a bet? The high-profile bookies across the UK like Ladbrokes and William Hill list their odds in a format much like a spreadsheet of data. Bookee recently launched their own iOS app using a simplified format and allowing its users to swipe left and right much like the what single Tinder customers do to weed out dating profiles. Bookee founder, Adam Kalmanson, said, "We looked around at other apps like Uber trying to revolutionise the taxi space, other apps that are trying to revolutionise all different sectors but betting has remained very stagnant." The app drew inspiration from Uber’s fare split option bringing this element to sports bettors. Users may want to share a bet with a contact and by selecting them from their contact list, an SMS is sent. To get in on the action, the recipient must accept, or decline, the invitation. Regarding co-founder, Adam Wilson, Kalmanson said, "We came together and we decided that there was a few issues with the current state of play in the sports betting market. One, it was quite clunky. All the website layouts and apps were just Excel spreadsheet type layouts shrunk onto a smartphone. It’s quite intimidating for the casual user." Social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, have affected the way we, as a society, take in information. Doesn’t it seem appropriate to study them for concepts that may be applied to gambling? Source: 'This gambling startup is looking to Tinder and Uber to bring bookies into the 21st Century’, Billy Wood, bdaily.co.uk, January 23, 2017