Online betting firm Smarkets reports 160% profit growth

Smarkets, the betting exchange company founded by 2010 Young Gun Jason Trost, has announced 160% year-on-year growth in group business profit for the year ending December 31 2016.

This was the third consecutive year of profitable growth for the company, which claimed to see group revenue jump 144% to £25.4m last year, while overall business profit rose to £5.2m.

Over the same period, more than £2.6bn was traded on the Smarkets exchange, with popular sporting events such as the Cheltenham Festival and Euro 2016 and the political excitement of the EU referendum and the US presidential race contributing to a 141% increase in trading volume.

The Smarkets Group has now processed over £5bn worth of transactions for its 200,000 users since 2010 and has operations in London, Los Angeles and Malta – which it uses as a base to “tackle other inefficient verticals”.

The platform offers peer-to-peer betting rather than against a bookmaker, with traders able to agree odds between themselves.

Trost commented: “Our mission is clear; we are striving to establish ourselves as a top-tier technology company. I strongly believe that the results of the past two years show the positive trajectory of the business, demonstrate our significant growth opportunities and confirm our ability to challenge an industry ripe for disruption.

“We will continue to further develop our product to deliver a unique and fair trading experience by offering superior technology and industry-leading commission rates and will explore moving into new regulated markets to increase our customer base.”