Professional gamblers often make the assertion that what they do correlates well with a career on Wall Street. Just like traders, successful sports bettors look for weaknesses in the market, they strive to know things that their opponents don't, and they frequently use technology to predict trends. But their prowess has never been tested in the same way that Wall Street's traders have been tested -- until now. Cantor Gaming, a division of bond trading specialist Cantor Fitzgerald, is the first Wall Street firm to become a bookie in Vegas.(DailyFinance.com)
What provokes our attention is Cantor's intention to accept "in-running" action, where a bettor can make constant bets on the fly as various activities unfold on the field. We assume this would require Cantor's software to make constant odds calculations based on existing probabilities of certain things happening or not happening.
We also assume that certain hedge fund types, and certain criminal syndicates, will be watching this effort closely and seeking to see if there is some way to exploit the technology. What would happen if there was a glitch in the software, or in a calculation, handing Cantor huge losses?
Of course we do know that Wall Street's calculations and statistical models always, always hold up to real life situations. Ha ha. I crack myself up. Cantor better be the Goldman of sports betting, or they could end up with unanticipated consequences.
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(Here is a Cantor profile from last year in Time Magazine)
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