Creating the World's Best Place to Bet

How it started: Andrew and I were roommates in college when we shifted our attention from our failed sports careers (his cut short by injury, mine by a lack of talent) to sports betting. While we had dreams of winning big, we were initially small and losing players. Until the 2017 UK election exposed us to the dark side of sports betting.

Andrew noticed the Labour party’s polling numbers surge into election day with no movement in the riding by riding betting offered by Bet365. He went big. Unloading not only his betting balance, but most of his bank account across over 60 bets on the UK election. The bet paid off handsomely as the Labour party won 30 seats more than the previous election. Andrew’s first big betting win.

Now came trouble, Bet365 initially froze Andrew’s account, preventing him from betting more and even withdrawing. After weeks of back and forth Andrew was thankfully able to withdraw his money, but he has never been welcome to bet with Bet365 again.

Around this same time, I decided to do my final business school project building out a model to project the winner of professional tennis matches (was somehow able to convince my professors this was a useful financial modeling project). The model wasn’t revolutionary, but it did drastically improve my insights into tennis betting and what stats were important. Within a few months I was making some money, and then it happened… I logged on and my max bet was $1. 

Sports books have a fundamental and immoral flaw.

1. They advertise the dream of winning big.

2. They ban users of the platform who they believe could win big.

This is because sportsbooks like bet365, Fan Duel, Stake, etc take the other side of bets. They profit when their users lose, and lose when their users win. This means they ONLY want losing bettors. For an industry built on selling the dream that you can win big, this lit a fire in us.

The Goal

When Andrew and I set out to create SX Bet, our vision was clear from the start: to build the world's best place to bet. Our goal wasn’t simply to create another sportsbook, but something fundamentally better—a platform with the lowest fees, the best odds, the deepest liquidity, and aligned incentives.

The answer was obvious, a stock exchange for sports. When users bet versus each other, the site is indifferent as to who wins, the site simply acts as a marketplace matching bettors. The leading betting exchange at the time was a site called Betfair that was out of the UK. As we researched we saw this was because the site was built for the UK bettor, fractional odds, back/lay and a site design that was optimized for non binary sports like soccer and horse racing.

To improve upon Betfair, meant stepping away from traditional methods and embracing a different approach. That’s why we chose cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as the foundation of SX Bet, building what we believe will become the global liquidity hub for sports betting.

Here's why crypto is not just a buzzword for SX Bet, but the essential technology powering our mission.

Putting Bettors in Control: Non-Custodial Security

Andrew and I both know the feeling all too well of going to withdraw funds from a betting site and getting the dreaded “Failed, please contract support”. It's a sickening feeling and a reminder that the money is not yours. You need to be prepared to provide tax documents, source of funds, proof of address and more, paperwork they didn’t ask for when you were losing, just to get control of your money.

At SX Bet, your money stays in your control at all times. Using crypto wallets means your funds remain fully under your control—we never touch your money. Bets are settled automatically through blockchain smart contracts, paying out directly to your wallet instantly, without delays or arbitrary restrictions. Crypto empowers bettors, putting safety and control back into their hands.

Radical Transparency and Fairness on Every Bet

Trust is the cornerstone of betting, yet traditional sportsbooks hide their inner workings behind closed doors. SX Bet takes transparency seriously, using blockchain technology to make every bet fully auditable on-chain in real-time. This means every transaction, every payout, every outcome is provably fair and tamper-proof. With this transparency, bettors can verify for themselves that the odds they received were fair, and the results were correctly settled.

No Bans, No Limits—Everyone is Welcome

Bettors often face bans or limits simply for winning consistently. We knew that to create the best betting platform all players must be welcome. Because our platform is decentralized and peer-to-peer (aka users bet versus each other), we never ban or limit successful bettors. We want winners because we don’t gain from bettors losing—we gain when all bettors transact in one place. 

Most serious bettors will make thousands of bets each year, and often even winning bettors do not agree on a bet. Meaning matching them on SX allows everyone to get the best odds and bet without the risk of being banned.

Lower Fees, Higher Returns

Traditional payment processors and bookmakers charge significant fees, cutting into your potential profits. Crypto rails eliminate these middlemen, significantly reducing costs. At SX Bet, we charge zero percent betting fees, ensuring more money stays in your pocket. By using stable coins, which are rapidly gaining popularity, we cut out expensive and slow banking partners that prey on sports bettors.

Global Access, Equal Opportunity

Betting shouldn’t be limited by geography or banking infrastructure. Crypto solves this by providing universal access: anyone of age, in a legal jurisdiction, with an internet connection and stablecoins, can participate. This creates more liquidity, tighter odds, and a fairer, more vibrant betting ecosystem. At SX Bet, varying opinions from all over the globe lead to the smallest spread and best liquidity.

Building the Global Liquidity Hub for Sports

Our ultimate ambition is clear: to become the global stock exchange for sports betting. Crypto provides the rails that enable the security, transparency, and openness required for such a global marketplace. Our open API encourages developers and third parties to build innovative tools and services, continuously enhancing the platform and user experience. And, crucially, through the SX token, our users not only bet on SX Bet—they govern it, sharing in its growth and success.

Our Mission, SX Bet’s Future

SX Bet isn’t just about crypto or blockchain—it’s about creating the best possible betting experience. Crypto technology is the essential tool allowing us to deliver this vision. 

Our mission is ambitious, but clear: SX Bet will be the safest, cheapest, fairest, and most liquid betting platform in the world, powered by crypto, driven by users, and designed for serious bettors.

Join us, and let’s change betting together.