Sports betting software developer Betfuze has launched Sentimeter, an iPad app designed to leverage social media to help bettors gauge the best odds on offer. Sentimeter analyses Twitter comments from millions of fans in real-time to provide crowdsourced insight into the likely outcome of any bet.The tool uses Betfuze’s proprietary technology to assess positive or negative sentiment and offer players a percentage score that reflects how likely a bet is to be successful.
The app also offers users a range of additional features, including an odds comparison tool for all leading bookmakers. It also tailors itself to a user’s interests, based on their preferred sports, teams and leagues.
Betfuze co-founder and chief executive Paul McNea said that Sentimeter combines social media with sport “in a way that’s never been seen before.”
“This is betting for the mobile and social media generation where news and public opinion combine,” he added.
McNea said the idea for the product came from the 2013 singles tennis final at the Wimbledon Championships, when IBM began monitoring social media sentiment around players for the first time.
The eventual winner, Scotland’s Andy Murray, was the most positively referenced player with 42 per cent of Tweets expecting him to win.
“This really woke us up to how we could use the power of the crowd to help predict the outcome of any sporting event,” McNea said. “We looked at how we could utilise this for other sports and there was a clear link between social opinion and outcomes. So the Sentimeter taps into this crowd energy.”
The app is initially only available on iPad, with iPhone and Android versions to follow.
Betfuze, which was launched as a joint venture between mobile developer YUZA and mobile payments entrepreneur Paul McNea, has signed up sponsorship partners including William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral.
source : www.gamingintelligence.com
