Matchbook, a sports betting exchange, is launching a prediction market platform in the UK as it prepares to compete with rivals Kalshi and Polymarket in the US.
The British debut in January will be a “road test” of its technology before Matchbook — registered in Guernsey — obtains US regulatory approval, which it expects as early as March, interim chief executive officer Ronan McDonagh said in an interview.
Matchbook is majority-owned by Zeljko Ranogajec, a professional gambler originally from Australia, after Matthew Benham, the owner of Brentford FC, pared his stake to a small interest. The launch in the UK, a country with a long tradition of legal sports betting, will test how widely American enthusiasm for prediction markets has spread overseas.
