Joe Peta & Gill Alexander Preview Prophet Exchange

What better way to take an exclusive first peek at the Prophet Exchange platform than with betting industry luminaries: Joe Peta and Gill Alexander. In the series of videos, Joe and Gill cover how to navigate the novel experience of a betting exchange and more importantly how users will be able to find their betting edge once Prophet Exchange is live in their state. Here’s what they had to say:

1/7 - Joe and Gill introduce a new way of betting giving you a first glance of the Prophet Exchange site - you can watch the video and the series on our YouTube channel now

• Gill: Hello everyone, I’m Gill Alexander, the host of A Numbers Game on VSiN and I’m here with author and sports betting enthusiast, Joe Peta.
• Joe: Gill, it’s always a pleasure to sit down and talk sports betting with you, but this time it is particularly sweet because we’re going to help American bettors, who might be unfamiliar with exchange betting, get up to speed.
  
• Gill: That’s exactly what we want to do - hear about Prophet Exchange, which is set to be the first U.S. Sports Betting Exchange. We know about sportsbooks in the US, and that Betting Exchanges are widely used in the UK and throughout Europe, but why is a betting exchange coming to the US a good thing?
  
• Joe: Prophet Exchange is a peer to peer Sports Betting Exchange, meaning your bets are matched with others, so you can request a bet at the odds that you would like, unlike traditional sportsbooks where you're stuck with their price.
  
• Gill: So you get better prices on an exchange?
  
• Joe: Exactly - on an Exchange, moneyline odds will be significantly better and the odds are always EVEN for a spread or total bet. No more vig. For instance, on spreads, if I want to bet $100 on the Jets +3, then I will risk $100 to win $100. At a traditional Sportsbook, you would have to typically risk anywhere between $105-$120 to win $100.  
  
  The immutable fact is this: on an Exchange, you will either win more or lose less, every single time.
• Gill: Wow, so let’s get into what this actually looks like.
  

• Gill: As you would expect, we have an interface that displays a series of sporting events for you to bet on. When you click into an event, you will see the moneyline, spread, and total markets and all existing wagers available for you to match. Prophet Exchange will show you the best odds and lines currently available to be matched.
  
• Gill: Ok so real quick - what exactly does a peer to peer sports betting exchange mean? Does that mean I am betting against my friends?
  
• Joe: I see what you mean, when the words ‘peer to peer’ are thrown around, it is easy to think of you betting directly against your buddy - however, that’s not actually how it works. You are betting against anyone who wants to be on the other side of your requested wager - it can be 1 person or it can be made up of several smaller wagers from different players, all of whom are anonymous.

Video 2/7 - Joe and Gill get into how Prophet Exchange allows you to get the best available price on the market - you can watch the full video here

• Gill: Alright Joe, you had me at best odds. Now I’m excited, I want to place a bet. How do I do that?
• Joe: There are three types of bets: matched, partially matched, and unmatched bets. Let’s start with matched. Navigating over to a market page, the best price on the market is always shown for either side in the green and blue boxes, also even if you chose a worse price, you will always get the best available price.
  
  Underneath every market we offer, we show the existing amount available to bet on for each line or price. This is referred to as the liquidity in the market.
  
• Gill: So this “liquidity” being shown is the maximum amount available for you to place a bet on and get matched immediately?
  
• Joe: Right. For example, if you were to bet on team Nets at +156 odds for 50 dollars, I simply click on the price, navigate to my betslip, type in the desired amount of money I want to bet, click confirm, and if there is enough liquidity at that price, my bet is fully matched and confirmed. As you can also see, the liquidity amount decreases on the price by the amount that I just wagered.
  
• Gill: So you can take the liquidity available by matching a bet directly?
  
• Joe: Exactly, or you have the option to ask for a bigger price or line.
  
• Gill: Ok, and what exactly are the red and green numbers underneath each team name?
• Joe: The green number is the amount you stand to potentially win if that team wins, whereas the red number is the amount you stand to potentially lose.

Video 3/7 - Gill gets excited around the ability to request a new price on your chosen market and Joe shows him how it's done - watch the full video here

• Gill: So is it really true I can get better odds if I don’t like the odds that are available to me?
  
• Joe: Absolutely, and this is where Prophet Exchange is really unique. Users can go and request better prices on any outcome. Since Prophet is  peer to peer, bets are accepted by other players. If your bet is accepted, it becomes a matched bet. If it is not immediately accepted, it is referred to as an unmatched bet. These unmatched bets will not be locked in until they are either matched by another player, whether partially or full. If neither occur, the unmatched bets can be canceled. For example, in the Celtics vs Nets game on April 17th…let’s say I didn’t like the Nets at +156, but I would bet it at +158. I can simply request the +158 price!

Video 4/7 - Joe and Gill discuss some further key differences between an exchange and a sportsbook, this time, how an unmatched bet gets canceled - watch the video

• Gill: How can I cancel a bet then? Because you certainly can’t do that on a Sportsbook right?
• Joe: Right - As long as it’s not matched, it is cancelable here. Again this a unique feature on Prophet Exchange as well. On a Sportsbook, when you submit a wager, it is locked in and placed/confirmed, whereas with Prophet, you can always immediately pull it down if your bet is unmatched.

• Joe: For instance, if I wanted to cancel my $50 unmatched position on the Nets, I can do that by opening my betslip and clicking the ‘X’ button to cancel
  
• Gill: Ok, so if I have an unmatched position, do I have to manually pull down my requested bet?
  
• Joe: If you request a bet before the game begins, Prophet automatically pulls it down once the game goes live. If you request a bet during the game, it is up to you to pull it down.

Video 5/7 - Gill asks Joe about the option to get big bets down on the exchange - watch the video.

• Gill: Alright Joe, you’ve shown me how to request a bet, or place an unmatched bet, and what placing a fully matched bet looks like. What if I want to place a larger bet than Prophet’s liquidity offers at a certain price?
  
• Joe: Ah, well now we are entering the realm of partially matched bets. I’ll give you an example: If there is $500 available to bet on the Brooklyn Nets at +156, but you want to stake $1,000, $500 of the bet will be matched, and $500 will be requested at the same odds. This is why we call it a partially matched bet - because some of your $1,000 wager has been matched and some is unmatched waiting to be matched.

• Gill: Ok, and the unmatched feature works the same way? Where I have to pull down my request in-play but do not have to worry about it pre-match?
  
• Joe: That’s correct!

Video 6/7 - Gill finds out from Joe how new markets are formed by users on the Prophet Exchange platform

• Gill: Alright Joe - I got more questions? What happens when a market does not have bets available or ‘liquidity’?
• Joe: Buyers, Gill are essentially their own book here, where they set the odds for the outcome. On an exchange, markets are formed when liquidity is added to the book so bets are available. Therefore, the first request that is entered on either side will appear in the green or blue box as the best price available. This and subsequent prices will form the liquidity in the market as they wait to be matched. Prices will improve in the green and blue boxes as people make more attractive offers.

• Gill: So the more money traded or liquidity available in the market, the tighter the prices then?
  
  
• Joe: That’s right, For example, player A wants to place a bet on the Nets at +158. This is reflected as -158 on the Celtics side of the bet. Next, let’s say a player B comes in and wants -154 on the Celtics. This is reflected at +154 on the Nets. This continues on and on, until prices get tighter over time as more people put in competitive prices and eventually bets get matched.
  
  
• Gill: Is there any way to tell if that’s actually happening?
  
  
• Joe: Well, to help understand this we show how much money has been taken in each market by displaying the total Traded amount in the top left corner, underneath the name of a particular market
  
  
• Gill: Very very cool

Video 7/7 - In the final video in the series, Joe explains how it’s possible to always bet +100 odds on Spreads and Totals markets

• Gill: So Joe, we’ve gone through the Moneyline bets, but what about Spreads or totals, can I ask for a better price on those as well?
  
• Joe: Not initially, no. To help acclimate the American bettor to exchange betting, to keep things easier. All the odds are at +100 for spread and totals.
  Meaning its still much better than the traditional -110 you could get anywhere else, Plus you do have the unique option to request a different line on spreads and totals, instead of the price
  
• Gill: Right, so I see a line that’s there, and I can ask for a different spread or total?
• Joe: Yes, for example, here is the Celtics & Nets game with the under at 223.5, at even odds. But if you want to try and get an improved under line because you think the market might move, you can request a higher total number, so your bet will be waiting to be matched.

Watch the series in full along with other videos by Prophet Exchange on our YouTube channel.