A blockchain-based application that helps sports fans receive “reliable and transparent” betting advice has launched its main platform – only a couple of days after the football World Cup kicked off in Russia.

BlitzPredict aims to provide innovative solutions to the issues that have plagued the betting industry in recent years by recording predictions on the outcome of sporting events on an immutable blockchain. These predictions will be time-stamped against true market odds, with the Las Vegas-based company saying this feature will create a “verifiable, public record of everyone’s predictions.”

It is hoped that this technology will enable users to make informed decisions on which betting strategies to back, as it will become harder for experts to hide their record, lie about the prices they got, and delete their losses altogether. A transparent figure showing each expert’s return on investment is shown – providing users with an at-a-glance assessment of an expert’s past performance. Without this, bettors could end up putting their money at risk by following bad advice because they do not have the fuller picture of an expert’s history.

Users can purchase World Cup betting advice using the platform’s XBP token, which is ERC-20 compliant and built on the Ethereum network. The BlitzPredict platform offers blogging functionality, and as well as soccer, it also provides a major league baseball (MLB) model. According to the company, the MLB model has had a 25-8 start – resulting in a win percentage of 76 percent and BlitzPredict says it has already “recommended plenty of underdogs that have come through.”

The XBP token is being listed on several exchanges including HitBTC, Cryptopia, Bancor and Idex, making it easy for users to make deposits, trades and withdrawals easily.

Times are changing in the US market

BlitzPredict says May’s ruling by the US Supreme Court to legalize sports betting in certain US states was particularly welcome news for the company. As reported by Cointelegraph at the start of the year, the judgment was long awaited.

Illegal sports betting is estimated to be worth billions of dollars in America alone, and the company believes that legal betting platforms have a “tremendous market opportunity” to entice these players into using their services. BlitzPredict says this newly established demand will be accompanied by an appetite for high-quality content and tools which can enhance a person’s odds of winning a bet – and it believes its blockchain-driven tools will help it to stand out from competitors.

The platform is already plotting its expansion beyond football and MLB, with plans to release a tennis model ahead of the Wimbledon championships commencing in London next month. BlitzPredict also intends to turn its attention to the flourishing eSports market by launching tournaments and offering a smart contract betting feature.

Better prices and faster payouts

BlitzPredict says it wants to ensure that bettors can quickly and consistently find the best prices for their bets – eliminating the time-consuming process of scouring different marketplaces which offer different odds for the same event. The company is establishing a liquidity reserve which ensures that users receive immediate payouts once an event has concluded – a far cry from the long waiting times that bettors can experience through centralized platforms.

The company says that its soccer model is going to predict the outcome of every World Cup match based on the vital statistics surrounding each team – adding that it has a “ton of content” planned including regular articles and a weekly podcast to ensure football fans can keep up to date on the latest twists and turns in the tournament.