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In this installment of the CalvinAyre.com Innovation in iGaming profiles series we focus on Tradesports.com, a “completely different fantasy sports game”, according to Founder and CEO Ron Bernstein.

Instead of having players making up a team as we see in traditional fantasy sports sites, Tradesports contestants buy “stocks” in the form of a yes or no prediction.  Contestants are challenged with making smart picks and purchasing the right amount of shares in each of their picks, so when their “predictions accuracy” is determined after the event, they have the highest account value in comparison to the other contestants.

To learn more about the innovation behind Tradesports, I sat down with Bernstein to discuss his background, how he came up with the idea, why his product is different and the future of fantasy sports in America.

Becky Liggero: Thank you so much for joining me today, Ron. It’s always a pleasure to have a sports betting enthusiast in my chair.  Tell me about your professional background and how it led you to Tradesports? 

Rob Bernstein: I’m an old school commodity and options floor trader, having traded in the pits in New York and in London…and I really miss those days…it was always during lulls in the markets that conversation would turn to sports (and sometimes page 3!).

We were already trading March Madness basketball futures using a $1-$64 dollar scale (where the winning team paid $64) with some pretty good size at stake.  Then we heard a story about a pit in Chicago with huge pots and that a clerk entrusted to hold the stakes had run off with whole pot, a couple hundred grand is the rumor. The next convo was talk about “trading sports like stocks” on a proper exchange. Online trading and no credit risk.