Prophet Exchange makes hires ahead of New Jersey launch

Matt Stolarz has been appointed as director of technical product and Zhifeng Shi director of software engineering.

US.- The peer-to-peer sports betting exchange Prophet Exchange has made several new hires ahead of its New Jersey launch. Matt Stolarz has been appointed as director of technical product, Zhifeng Shi as director of software engineering and Casey Halpern as the director of social media and content.

Stolarz joins the company from Caesars Entertainment, where he was a senior software engineer. He served in the same role at William Hill, where he worked as part of a team that was responsible for the sportsbook’s launch in New Jersey and in the US.

Stolarz commented: “I am beyond excited to join Prophet Exchange to help guide and build the first and best sports betting exchange product in the United States.

“I am also looking forward to working alongside a brilliant and talented team of fellow sports betting industry experts. You couldn’t dream up a better product or a better team to come into.”

Shi, the new director of software engineering, worked at 1010DATA, where he built large-scale data ingestion pipelines to provide business insights into near real-time data for industry leaders. He most recently served at Compass as a software engineer.

He said: “I am very excited to have the opportunity to join Prophet to work with the product and engineering teams and to build the most reliable and trustable platforms to power the next revolution in US sports betting. I am looking forward to being a part of Prophet’s challenging and exciting journeys ahead.”

Halpern joins as director of social media and content from Action Network, where he managed social media channels. He also worked as a producer and researcher for NBC’s Football Night in America for the past five NFL seasons.

Halpern commented: “I am thrilled to join Prophet Exchange. This is an incredible opportunity to help scale an important and innovative product that will be the first of its kind in the US.

“I firmly believe that Prophet Exchange will solve a plethora of problems that everyday sports bettors currently face. I am looking forward to the exciting, yet challenging times ahead as we build a best-in-class-sports betting exchange.”

New Jersey sports betting handle totals $926.9m in April

New Jersey’s sports betting handle was $926.9m in April, the lowest since August 2021’s handle of $664.7m. The figure represents a drop of 17.3 per cent from the $1.1bn wagered in March, but a rise of 23.9 per cent from $746.8m in April 2021.

Sports betting revenue was $50.3m, down 8.2 per cent from $54.7m in the same period last year, and down 24.2 per cent from $66.4n in March. Online sportsbooks attracted $863.1bn in wagers, or 93.1 per cent of April’s handle, and won $46.3m in revenue on those bets.

See also: New Jersey sportsbooks take $143.7m in Super Bowl bets