Word has reached the SportIsMadeForBetting rumours desk that BuzzSports, pioneers of the zone live play-by-play betting system have closed down with immediate effect. You wouldn't know it from their website but reliable sources have told me traders were called at 11pm last Wednesday night and informed the founder of the company had decided to pull the pin on the business with immediate effect.
I believe staff were offered a generous redundancy package, rather than the company going bust. It came completely out of the blue for staff, I even know one guy who had a job interview with them scheduled for the following day!
Why did they fail? Purely speculation but they spent heavily promoting their product at trade exhibitions, in industry publications etc but it's not a product I could ever see catching on. It's a niche market, perhaps ahead of its time, and I query whether they could ever have exclusivity over the product - surely it wouldn't be long before another firm, i.e. a bookmaker/betting provider with highly sophisticated data modelling systems, if there was money in it. Perhaps the wealthy founder decided it was time to pull the pin, or as some have alluded to, he has closed down the business in the UK with a plan to restart it somewhere warmer in the future.....
I believe staff were offered a generous redundancy package, rather than the company going bust. It came completely out of the blue for staff, I even know one guy who had a job interview with them scheduled for the following day!
Why did they fail? Purely speculation but they spent heavily promoting their product at trade exhibitions, in industry publications etc but it's not a product I could ever see catching on. It's a niche market, perhaps ahead of its time, and I query whether they could ever have exclusivity over the product - surely it wouldn't be long before another firm, i.e. a bookmaker/betting provider with highly sophisticated data modelling systems, if there was money in it. Perhaps the wealthy founder decided it was time to pull the pin, or as some have alluded to, he has closed down the business in the UK with a plan to restart it somewhere warmer in the future.....
Real pity, It was an exciting proposition, and indeed I think we will see a return of zoneplay or something similar, it seems an inevitable step forward in live betting
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