Smarkets issues redundancies amid operational difficulties
Operator makes 17 staff redundant at London office as it pins hopes on product development
Smarkets has handed out a series of redundancies as the company looks to reduce its costs heading into 2023, EGR can exclusively reveal.
EGR understands the betting exchange and sportsbook operator handed redundancies to 17 staff at its London office during Q4 2022.
It is understood that additional redundancies have also taken place at Smarkets’ global offices.
The operator has offices in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Malta and in London, where the majority of its staff are based.
Speaking to EGR last year, Smarkets chief people officer (CPO) Céline Crawford confirmed the staff headcount stood at 140 in May, which at the time was the most in the company’s history since its inception in 2008.
The redundancies come despite Smarkets adding a number of new hires across multiples divisions just six months ago.
According to LinkedIn, the operator onboarded staff across its compliance, CRM and tech divisions.
EGR understands that the product department was not impacted by the lay-offs, with one ex-Smarkets employee describing product as the “core of the future” for the business.
In September 2022, Smarkets’ CEO Jason Trost told EGR product would ultimately be the defining factor in the US sports betting gold rush.
The redundancies come amid a period of operational difficulty for Smarkets, with a spokesperson confirming to the Racing Post the firm had lost numerous accounts on its exchange platform due to “intrusive” affordability checks.
The spokesperson told the Racing Post: “We regret any time compliance checks result in a customer choosing to cease trading with us, which is unfortunately a very common response due to the detailed standard of affordability and source-of-funds checks the regulations require us to apply to customers in the UK.”
Those comments were issued after pro poker player Joe Beevers revealed he no longer used his Smarkets account after the operator insisted that Beevers ask two of his friends who’d deposited funds in his account to share their financial data with the firm.
Beevers claimed Smarkets demanded to see banking history of two friends, one of whom was repaying a £2,000 loan, and the other a “few hundred pounds” for a holiday.
Beevers refused to disclose the information, informed Smarkets of his decision and eventually withdrew his funds from the exchange.
Smarkets declined to comment on the redundancies when approached by EGR.