In this tweet I will look at courtsiding and some of the other sports, rather than just golf. Lets start with Tennis as the name courtsiding originates from people being courtside at Tennis matches. A sport couldn’t be more perfectly designed for courtsiding than Tennis.
If a tournament has 64 players, then it has potentially 63 matches across that tournament. Yes, more than one court will be used at a time. However, compare that to most other sports where you only get one big match/tournament for your money.
Even the matches themselves and the scoring system used, means a large number of decisive moments within a match, that will see significant odds swings. It is not easy, in the way it is perhaps portrayed. It is highly competitive. You wont be fastest.
You also have the problem of keeping runners in the stadium. The professional tours have spotters on the lookout for courtsiders. If they suspect someone, they will kick them out. I have heard of stories of spotters being in cohorts with courtsiders. Money talks.
Let’s take a look at Soccer. These markets are different as they are actively managed so that if something significant happens, the mkt will be suspended. That means customers can leaves prices up without significant risk of something hugely detrimental happening to them.
Does that mean courtsiding doesn’t exist on Soccer? Absolutely not. There will still be small edges that people can get. TV pictures are still hideously delayed. One example maybe the advantage to a team having a corner or free kick in a promising position. Not a huge edge though.
Cricket is a fascinating one as it is the one I have arguably heard least about of the big sports. All I do know is that it is probably the most competitive of any sport now, which is no surprise given the huge volumes traded in running. Apparently, what you get at the cricket is an awful lot of people guessing what is happening (i.e. ball in the air, maybe a catch, maybe not, maybe a 6, maybe a 4 etc). There is huge liquidity driven by those dreadful courtsiders at the match.
Horse Racing is fascinating in terms of how it has evolved over the years. The most recent developments have been drone pictures that are relayed back to people sat by a computer and then trading on it. Before that you had people in the corporate boxes on tracks.
You are also seeing developments in terms of the data generated by companies such as Total Performance Data using GPS technology. They measure things like speed, stride frequency etc. Someone will always get the data first, whatever form that looks like.
I believe sports such as Darts and Snooker have seen some pretty strong competition. They are sports that suit courtsiding though. Other sports such as American Football are tricky because of rules complexities such as flags. These other sports also suffer from a general lack of liquidity.
With all these sports, they are all pretty nuanced and you need to know exactly what you are up against, if playing in running, in these markets. Pick appropriate moments where you are less likely to be taking poor value. Maybe between games. Or half time. Or after a wicket.
Take a sport that has big moments like cricket. It is really easy to see how far behind real time your pictures are by watching the market move. The same applies across any sport. Be aware that the delays vary massively between channels/networks (a later tweet). Just be careful.
Don’t get hung up by courtsiding. Someone will always be striving to get the information before others. People have become very efficient at doing so. It has evolved over many many years. Try and use the information they provide for your own benefit. It costs you very little.
ProPunting 