With the start of every football season, bettors like to think of their record as a clean slate. For those who promote picks or sell selections though, those previous records are useful data points for consumers to base decisions about whether or not they fade or follow someone.
Enter SharpRank.
“We built SharpRank to be the independent ratings agency for anyone or thing that holds themselves out publicly as an expert sports bettor,” founder and CEO Chris Adams explained to Mollie Chapman in a video interview.
To Adams, sports betting and the financial sector have a lot of similarities. With that in mind, SharpRank wants to create a means to hold sportsbooks accountable and ensure the marketing department and the bookmakers don’t intermingle in inappropriate ways.
“Right now there’s no way for the public to know if they’re getting actual content creators’ beliefs or they’re getting sent on a ride to a side of a sportsbook that the operator needs,” Adams explained. “The ability to create that actual transparency and that validation over the content side is really, really important for the next level of consumer engagement, who are going to rely more heavily on these experts as somebody to look to and say, ‘Hey, I might not know, but I want to be a part of the action somehow.'”
Adams acknowledged that this transparency does face an uphill battle, as it is very difficult to win consistently, so many pick sellers and social media touts find it necessary to obfuscate their records. Adams and SharpRank are still moving ahead and also diversifying what the company offers beyond just win-loss rates. The company is creating new measurements and improving the algorithm every day, pushing the sports betting industry to a new level of transparency.
Check out the full interview here.
