Anyone use Football Index?

[Gone a bit AMG]

Yep a painful week for some

[blue_haddock]

jammy-git said:

blue_haddock said:

I'm thinking of signing up, any up to date tips?

In all honesty I would hold off. There's been some major changes this year which has left little liquidity in the platform and not much is being bought or sold at the moment.

The upside is that prices have fallen quite a bit, so if you do sign up now, the prices (should) only go one way...

For once my "i'll do it tomorrow" attitude has finally paid off!

Seriously sucks for those that had big money invested though

[jammy-git]

Yea, people on Reddit saying they've lost tends of thousands which I think is crazy. Apparently they have "medium protection" under the UK Gambling Commission. What that means exactly though I'm not sure and I can't imagine anyone will see any of their money again.

[fiatpower]

I stuck with my £50 as a taster. When it would take days/weeks to sell a player and i'd missed any increase I binned it off thankfully. I know of a couple of people who have lost thousands though.

[48k]

BetIndex Limited (the company behind Football Index) are applying to go in to administration. "The Company is a Jersey company. It is therefore necessary to apply to the Royal Court of Jersey for an order of that Court asking that the High Court of England & Wales takes jurisdiction in this matter. That hearing will occur at the Royal Court of Jersey at 09:00 on Thursday 18th March 2021."

Shame really. I think it was a good idea, poorly executed. Wish the BBC would bring back SportDaq

[jammy-git]

I agree. I think the idea has some legs, but in order to work I think there needs to be a lot more transparency around how players are valued and how dividends are paid and a set formal process required to go through in order to change the share structure/value/dividends.

[272BHP]

I do wonder about these investment sites, are they underwritten? could they fail?

If for example I have a few grand in coinbase, binance or robinhood is it feasible that they could just go the way of football index and you just lose everything?

[48k]

272BHP said:

I do wonder about these investment sites, are they underwritten? could they fail?

If for example I have a few grand in coinbase, binance or robinhood is it feasible that they could just go the way of football index and you just lose everything?

This is the trap many fell in to. It's not an investment site, it's a betting site. It's regulated by the Gambling Commission.

When you "buy" a "share" in a player on Football Index you are (were!) essentially placing a bet that lasts for three years. During that three year period the bet could pay out zero or more times. During that three years, you could decide to sell that bet, and thus stop receiving any more payouts. Initially you had two choices for selling - you could either immediately sell back to Football Index at a fixed price, or offer it for sale on the exchange at a price you choose and wait for another punter to put in an order to buy at that price. If you still held the bet at the end of the three year period, the bet expired and you lost your original stake.

The main nail in the coffin for Football Index was when they removed their immediate buy-back feature, meaning the only way to sell shares was to other players. That sucked the liquidity out of the market and prices started dropping, and the thing essentially ground to a halt. There were other problems to such as them changing the rules over payouts, and minting more shares for players, devaluing the existing shares in circulation and dropping prices further, compounding the problem.

As usual with these platforms it's about reading the T&C and understanding what you are getting in to and only betting/investing what you can afford to lose. I punted £500 in to the Football Index last year and have made some dividends in that time (in the tens of pounds not hundreds of pounds region) which is essentially my betting return. Currently my account is showing a dividend of £14 which I can't withdraw because the platform is suspended. The portfolio itself has a "value" of £354 which is dead money. Hopefully the High Court will today permit the UK to have jurisdiction over the company which owns Football Index so that an Administrator can be appointed, and hopefully the administrator finds a buyer who can make a better fist of things because like I said earlier I think it's a good idea just poorly executed in this instance.

[48k]

Another one bites the dust - FootStock has this morning announced it has entered administration.

https://footstock.com/

I'm guessing there are people who have taken a bath on Football Index that have just been hit by a double whammy.