Former Superbet CRO launches sports-focused UK prize draw platform
Founder Adam Shaw rolls out The Big Leagues after raising £500,000 through seed funding round
Former Superbet chief revenue officer Adam Shaw has launched sports-focused prize draw platform The Big Leagues in the UK.
Built “exclusively” for sports fans, players can win prizes from holidays and sports hospitality packages to sports season tickets and a share of a racehorse.
Customers enter by purchasing tickets from just 20p or earning free entries to the prize draw platform by playing The Big Leagues’ free-to-play (F2P) prediction games. Free postal entries are also available to players.
The Big Leagues’ proprietary tech platform was developed by the co-founders of F2P supplier Hunch, Daniel Williams and Alexander Wall. In January, Hunch partnered with Star Sports to deliver F2P football and racing games.
The sports prize draw platform launch arrives after The Big Leagues completed a £500,000 seed funding round, as it now looks for further “strategic investment opportunities” as well as partnerships with brands and sports organisations.
Commenting on the launch, Shaw, who stepped down from Superbet in September 2024 to take a career break, said the prize draw market was missing a “real challenger brand” that puts sports fans first.
“With The Big Leagues, we’re offering them [players] the chance to win prizes they genuinely want within a frictionless user journey,” he said.
“Through our attractive prize draws and wide range of free-to-play prediction games across multiple sports, we’re building a community that brings sports fans together for increased entertainment.
“We’re incredibly ambitious and are keen to explore further investment and partnerships that will accelerate our business growth.”
Last May, the UK government revealed its voluntary prize draw operator code of conduct.
It came after a government-commissioned report called for the sector to be put under the Gambling Commission’s watch.
In other funding news, CRSHMARKET, a livestreaming prediction market, has raised $3.5m (£2.6m) in its latest seed round – bringing its total funding to $4.3m.
The round was led by blockchain and AI-focused venture capital firm 6MV and saw participation from Reciprocal Ventures, Lattice and Starting Line.
Since its launch in May, the platform has surpassed $10m in trading volume, 42,000 users and 500,000 trades, co-founder and CEO Evan Rama wrote in a LinkedIn post on 6 October.
For more on the UK prize draw market, check out the latest episode of the Power Seat podcast where we caught up with ZEAL Network CEO Stefan Tweraser, who discussed the firm’s acquisition of SevenCanyon