Swopstakes wins Innovators Circle award

Sunday 3rd of January 2016

Swopstakes, a new wagering game developed by Australian start-up, Six Faces Pty Ltd, won the Innovators’ Circle Award at the 42nd Global Symposium on Racing & Gaming held 7- 9 December, 2015 in Tucson, Arizona.

The competition attracted 89 submissions from 5 continents.

Swopstakes integrates popular concepts from fantasy, fixed odds betting, & lotteries, by offering life-changing prizes with social, skill-based gameplay.

Games can be played on any combination of live racing and sports events with players competing in a head-to-head knock-out to score the major prize.

The unique, multi-event sweepstake element guarantees a big winner in every game, with 1000’s of opportunities for smaller prizes.

Presenting to an audience of industry leaders in a Shark-Tank style pitch-off, Six Faces’ Product Director, Shaun Pyrah, explained:

“Swopstakes employs contemporary game mechanics to repackage traditional wagering for a new generation, a market that racing around the world is failing to attract.”

“We looked at the success of online poker and daily fantasy and asked how can we apply the model to racing and sports betting – how do we make it exciting and feel more like a game?”

Pyrah commented that Racing was fairly conservative when it comes to product innovation, despite persistent difficulties in attracting a new audience.

“With Swopstakes you get a new genre of social wagering that doesn’t look or feel like a traditional wagering site.”

Swopstakes impressed the three judges of the Innovators’ Circle: John Ford, CEO of BAM Software & Services, Mike Tanner, CEO of U.S. Trotting Association, and John Hartig, Chairman and CEO of the Daily Racing Form.