Stockholm Syndrome

About Stockholm Syndrome

The investment banking and capital markets firm Jefferies said in a September report that sports had become prediction markets’ “most important liquidity driver”, with combo and parlay-style contracts accounting for an increasing share of activity. But the analysts cautioned that prediction markets are scale businesses with relatively low revenue yields, leaving their economics dependent on sustained liquidity, engagement and trading activity.

James Monk, founder of sports data and streaming provider Catalist Sports, has witnessed that dependence directly. Catalist supplies ITF tennis data to Kalshi and Polymarket and has an exclusive US sports-streaming agreement with Kalshi.

The company must also provide data to the firms making markets on those events.

What is Stockholm Syndrome?

RubyPlay’s broader licensing footprint and distribution also give Splash Tech access to operators and markets it could not have pursued efficiently alone.

“Because you’re a small business, you need to pick your battles,” Wilson says. “I can’t go and get 10 licences this year. It’s just unrealistic. It would require so much work that it would distract us. Now we have that ability through our relationship with RubyPlay, and we are grabbing that opportunity with both hands.”

There is also a natural product opportunity. Splash Tech has traditionally been weighted towards sports within free-to-play, while RubyPlay brings a substantial casino ecosystem. For Wilson, the agreement creates a chance for Splash Tech to bring its distinctive engagement thinking into the RubyPlay world, planting a seed for future products that combine Splash Tech’s free-to-play and jackpot expertise with RubyPlay’s content ecosystem, market knowledge and distribution reach.

About Stockholm Syndrome

Given the rise of prediction markets, this week arguably represents the most frenzied campaign since the historic PASPA decision in 2018. Buttressed by massive capital injection from substantial funding rounds, operators have spent handsomely on celebrity endorsements. Over the last week, ads featuring LeBron James, Sydney Sweeney, Marshawn Lynch and Jeremy Piven have showered the airwaves. Even Pete Sampras, who disappeared from the public spotlight for the better part of two decades, resurfaced in a US Open spot for Kalshi.

While Polymarket pulled off a coup with the signings of James, Eli Manning and Derek Jeter, a Novig ad featuring Sweeney arguably received as much fanfare. Sweeney, an Emmy Award-nominated actress known for her role in HBO’s Euphoria series, stars in the spot titled “Just Sports.” As of Friday afternoon, the Novig post on social media platform X received at least nine million views.

Throughout the ad, Novig throws shade on its rivals for offering niche markets on events such as the timeframe for when traders believe that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will be removed from office. Unlike operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket, Novig has opted to limit its offerings to purely sports. “No betting on wars, or deaths…or politics,” Sweeney mused.