Talking Super Bowl, Sportsbooks, and Betting With Novig’s Head of Trading
Tell me about yourself! What do you do at Novig?
I’m Henry Kerins. I’m an engineer, and Novig’s head of trading. I created much of our trading software, and I run the trading team. All of our traders are also engineers or researchers -- we’re a small company. Everyone here has to work really hard and do a million things at once.
How’d you end up at Novig?
I was at Bloomberg for seven years as an engineer… and I was also betting on sports for a good chunk of that time. Then I made the jump to Novig.
What makes Novig different from your average sportsbook or exchange?
If you log on to Novig today, you’re getting low prices, instant bet confirmation, and you won’t be limited. You can always bet with us -- even if you’re picking off bad lines. No matter what you’re doing, we want your business. We want to get better to the point where we’re not worried about that anymore.
We have very tight bid/ask spreads and very low prices with no commission. What you see is what you get. If you’re looking at pricing on an odds screen from other exchanges, you may want to double check to see if a commission is factored into their number.
In the very near future, what’ll separate us from most sportsbooks is the ability to set your own price and make bids at any quote you want. And unlike other companies that offer a similar product, we have no commission. If you take something at even money, and someone wants the other side at even money, we’re the only place in America where you can actually get that even money price, and where the marketplace isn’t taking some piece for themselves.
Who do you like in the Super Bowl?
I took the Niners at open, so I'll be rooting for them. If we were completely risk neutral, we would be trading this game at KC +115/-128. But we've taken a ton of Chiefs money, so we're currently sitting at +111/-123. The domestic retail books have been a hair shorter on the Chiefs than the offshores all week which makes sense, the public loves Mahomes as a dog.
Like all NFL games, you can look at a million different ways and talk yourself into either side. And after Sunday, it will all look so clear in retrospect.
Bet the Super Bowl right now on Novig. New users get up to $250 in bonus funds (T+C's apply).
