An entrepreneur is cashing on his 9 to 5 experience of the online gambling business and publishing industry in the shape of a ‘news predictions’ website.
Nigel Eccles is planning to unleash Hubdud on the UK this week, having already built a US version of the site which currently attracts a reported 200,000 users each month.
Given 1,000 Hubdub dollars, each new user can challenge users’ predictions on the outcome of news stories and events around the globe, in pursuit of the play currency.
Users can also create new ‘bets’ on stories yet to be posted, allowing news junkies or pundits to vent their views and test their plausibility among the site’s community.
Like the facility to create a leaderboard to include their friends, the aim of the dollars is to convey who among the players has predicted what correctly, and how often.
Past bets are divided by categories, so players can see a rival may be hot on entertainment news but less astute at guessing the outcome of science stories.
The best predictor has accumulated over 3.6m dollars so far, partly proving the site’s success at fusing the buzz of e-gambling with the mass following of news and events.
In the future, advertising is expected to be selectively introduced to monetise the site though not before the business has achieved scale and built up its community.
According to reports, Mr Eccles is also considering other revenues streams, including a premium offering similar to fantasy sports leagues and partnerships with publishers.
He previously worked as a product and project manager at two online betting outfits and more recently worked for Johnson Press advising on strategy and business development.
Nov 10, 2008
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