blonde poker forum

Hi everyone,

I'm not a regular poster in this bit of the forum, but a recent insight has got me quite intrigued. I'm currently applying for internships at Investment Banks which for things like trading (market-making) and also to Asset Management companies (using investment techniques to gain profits).

However, I've heard a really up and coming industry is the sports betting and gambling industry. I've been led to believe that there might be shops/arcades/trading houses (whatever you want to call them) which make money from these markets. Does anyone know much about them?

Do they use historial data and run analysis to predict future results? Do they simply use a market such as Betfair to trade and perhaps lock in profits? I'm really unfamiiliar with it all, so any insight would be great. Also if you know of any companies that do this, I would appreciate it if you could write in the thread!

Thanks!

There is a shop in Highgate that is set up for people to go in and use betfair/betdaq etc. They charge a daily fee and provide a desk, high speed internet, tv etc. That the knid of thing you mean Sunny?

I don't think so, when I used the word shop, I meant prop shops. So proprietary trading shops. I think in what you have described, they don't collectively use a strategy in order to make money from the markets?

I think it may be quite a specialist area, but with so many punters on this board, I'm sure someone has some insight?

Hi mate

Have a look at 'Betangel' - Trading software for betting markets for both in-running and pre-running.

usefull forum also connected with the site.

No, I don't think they do. Could be wrong. Pm Chompy, he will prob know, he's good with stuff that like, just rubbish at poker.

check out http://www.hyperiongaming.com/ , its a gaming recrutement website but has junior sports trading positions on. Im not sure if they are prop firms or just companies wanting you to hedge their risk etc but worth a look

Is this the sort of thing Tony Bloom does?

No - Tony Bloom takes positions.  Most of these places are geared around in running racing players but there are a lot of traders.  As ChrisBruce said have a look at Betangel or Gruss which are tailored towards traders who take positions on price movements but not on the actual events (on the whole).  i believe there are people that have designed strategies around financial type technical analysis based on weight of money, charts etc but it isn't really my area of expertise.  I would think that the best possible approach would be an understanding of the fundamentals as well as the technical pseudo-financial trading stuff.

i probably can offer some insight into the gaming side of things. pm me with specific questions.

Most of those would be positions as odds compilers at bookmakers I think.

think blatch was a trader or something along those lines till he found he had taken postions and couldnt trade out of them and it all went wrong


made me think twice about trying it

The BetAngel course which costs £400 also looks decent if you really wanted to know more.

I'm a bit late Sunny but I've only just seen this.

If you've not already been pointed in their direction I think that some of the spread-betting firms might be what you are looking for, such as Spreadex and Sporting Index. You can wager on the stock market with some of them in the same way that you can bet on sports and racing with Betfair and Betdaq.

Still not 100% sure what you are looking for...

Unlike most of the other replies, I don't get the feeling you are looking to trade any of these markets on your own coin, you are just looking for some exposure to help you work out how it all works?

Some people are looking to steal a couple of ticks, some look to arb, others look to run positions through to expiry.

Some people use fundamental analysis (factors that will influence supply and demand) exclusively, some use technical analysis (charting) exclusively, most use a combination to some degree.

Most on this board will be IR traders on sports events, which is definitely relevant, but by no means everything.

As an aside (and this really isn't a rub, it is genuine advice) but most Investment Banks are looking for Ox-Bridge types with 1sts and doctorates.  If that isn't you, you may well find that industry to be a complete and utter closed shop.

However, most firms in this area run incredible internal vacancy applications.  It may be quicker to target the firm you want to work for (lets say Goldman Sachs) and try and get any old job you possibly can there.  Janitor, post room, canteen.  It really isn't a rub!  Get in, do a good job, shine at whatever it is and you could be attending an internal interview in your chosen area far quicker than you might by simply sending of scatter gun CVs for junior trader positions.

One final word of note, a lot of 'Asset Management' type companies will advertise junior trader roles, but effectively are nothing more than cold-calling sales positions that you will find impossible to fail the interview for.

I think Sunny is after companies that work in the betting field in the same way as trading firms in the City - they have people who trade on horse races and cricket matches instead of shares and gold. Sort of like being staked to bet, rather than sitting at home with the Geeks Toy and your own money.

I can't remember any of the names of these types of companies and google searching is proving fruitless, so I'm not much help.

Are that that many, if any, companies that do this in the sports markets? I couldn't name any, certainly not of any significant size.
When I was trading a few years back all the forums etc were basically individuals, with the odd bit of paid coaching going on to get individuals going.

These kind of set ups don't really exist on an official basis for obvious reasons. There are major asian arbing operations but sports bettors and betfair traders tend to be one man bands who co-op with other like minded people when it suits.

Thank you for the response guys. There was some detailed posts, so I do appreciate the time and effort. Thanks.

Simon Galloway and AndrewT basically summed up nicely what I was looking after.

Will try and find more of these companies, but they are hard to locate.

More keen to go into the finance route, was just looking into this as an alternative option.