oli_sussex
Market Sharp
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2025
- Messages
- 340
- Reaction score
- 3
- Points
- 3
Courtsiding is the practice of being physically present at a sporting event and transmitting what you've just witnessed to someone outside the venue who places bets on an exchange before the official data feed updates the market.
A point won in tennis. The person in the stadium sees it happen in real time. The broadcast has a delay. The official data provider has a delay on top of that. The exchange price reflects the previous point for several seconds after the new point has actually happened.
Someone at courtside who can transmit "point won" faster than the broadcast and data feed combined: they're betting on a result that has already happened while the market still prices it as undetermined.
This isn't analysis. It's not even information asymmetry in the sense we usually discuss it. It's knowing the outcome before the market has any chance to reflect it.
There was a well-publicised arrest at Wimbledon in 2014 involving exactly this. Tournament organisers and exchanges have spent the years since closing the gap.
The question: how much of the gap is actually closed, and does any version of "being faster than the market" remain available to anyone, legally or otherwise.
A point won in tennis. The person in the stadium sees it happen in real time. The broadcast has a delay. The official data provider has a delay on top of that. The exchange price reflects the previous point for several seconds after the new point has actually happened.
Someone at courtside who can transmit "point won" faster than the broadcast and data feed combined: they're betting on a result that has already happened while the market still prices it as undetermined.
This isn't analysis. It's not even information asymmetry in the sense we usually discuss it. It's knowing the outcome before the market has any chance to reflect it.
There was a well-publicised arrest at Wimbledon in 2014 involving exactly this. Tournament organisers and exchanges have spent the years since closing the gap.
The question: how much of the gap is actually closed, and does any version of "being faster than the market" remain available to anyone, legally or otherwise.
