TradingSports gambles on AIM

AN AMERICAN spread betting guru is gambling on a good reception from the City as he unveils plans to brave the stock market and float his online betting exchange TradingSports.

Joe Tighe, a former derivatives trader, wants to raise up to £4m by issuing new shares in a business he hopes will be valued at £14m by the time it lists on AIM early next month.

TradingSports nets around £50,000 a day by providing clients such as Sportingbet with systems that allow punters to fix bets with each other. It takes a percentage fee on each win.

Its backers include Stephen Davidson, chairman of Enic, Jake Ulrich, managing director of Centrica, and Andrew White, chief executive of WSM Sport, the sports marketing firm that represents the English Cricket Board. Tighe said the success of person2person betting exchange Betfair.com showed the potential of a market punters are increasingly turning to.

'Betfair turns over £45m a week now,' he said. 'We don't see them as a competitor but the guys who created the need that the bookmakers are now having to fulfil. We want to raise the profile of our company. Being on AIM will give us that.'

Tighe launched the venture three years ago. The group now employs 25 people and turns 'a tiny profit'. Evolution Beeson Gregory is handling the float, which will offer new shares accounting for up to a third of the group's enlarged share capital.