According to founder and managing director Billy Gowing, his social betting exchange Fairplay was created with a view to eventually building a conventional sports betting platform. The plan was for users of the exchange to then be enticed onto the sportsbook, the former providing the latter with new customers. Than plan came to light: Fairplay launched in 2021 and in 2025 a sportsbook was added to its offering.
Betting exchanges are nothing new in the UK of course, with likes of Betfair, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets all having been around since the 2000s. Fairplay, however, has always focused on the ‘social’ element of its social betting exchange platform as its unique selling point.
The company positions itself as a way to “revolutionise” casual, informal bets between friends. On a round of golf, for example. The startup’s stated intention is to make the process as convenient as possible, which includes the removal of cash from the equation. Users enter their details and establish what they wish to wager on and against whom, and the app does the rest. More recently, Fairplay has set its sights on more, including a long-term sportsbook strategy.
EGR: You’ve had an unconventional journey – from an insurance broker in the City to social betting exchange and sportsbook founder. What was the personal motivation behind making that leap into igaming entrepreneurship?
Billy Gowing (BG): The concept came from my friends and I on the golf course, trying to make bets on each other’s performances. We wanted to make bets on things like who would be closest to the pin, who was going to win, etc, but no one ever had any cash on them.
We thought there must have been an app out there that could help us with this but, lo and behold, there wasn’t. So, we started writing down some ideas about what we thought that technology should do, and it snowballed from there. All this was going on while I was still in my City job.
EGR: How did the app become a reality post-ideas stage? Did you know any app developers, for example?
BG: I had some friends who worked in the betting space, and I did some surveys on social media asking people questions about social betting, such as how much they bet with their friends, if they carry cash, and what sort of things they bet on. Soon after, someone I know who is involved in the betting industry gave me a phone call and said, “this looks pretty interesting”, so I gave him a rundown of the idea.
I said there was definitely demand for digitalising cash betting among friends. From that, he gave me a steer about a company called Two-up Digital and put me in touch with their founder, Robbie Morris. He and I began meeting quite regularly to work on the app, how it would look and the details of its technology.
EGR: Fairplay positions itself in its messaging as a way to “revolutionise how people wager, collect and distribute funds” on social bets. How does your app do this?
BG: The app works as a kind of social wallet for your friends. So, if you and I were playing golf, I would send you the bet prior to us playing and you would accept that bet. Within that bet you would specify to a particular sport or a particular event. Once the bet is on, and you and I have had our round of golf, we settle that money towards the winning player. It’s very much leaning on the social side with an element of trust between you and your friends. You can only play on the social side with people you know and people you accept on the app. It’s like social media.
The advantage is you no longer have to keep loads of spreadsheets detailing who owes what and who’s at the top of the leaderboard. It tracks those stats for you and takes away the need to run to the cash machine before your round of golf or before you see the boys at the pub. As with everything these days, there are a lot of cashless transactions going on and people aren’t carrying cash. The Fairplay system allows you to still have fun without having to draw out that physical cash.
EGR: What have been the biggest regulatory challenges in turning these informal, cash‑based transactions into a compliant digital product?
BG: When we got the original pool licence, we worked closely with the Gambling Commission, and we had to be very clear about exactly what we wanted to do. We adhered to everything they wanted us to in terms of money laundering and safer gambling. There are a few restrictions in place on the social betting side that were there originally because we put compliance first. That beginning has put us in good stead for what we’re doing now with the sportsbook. Compliance is absolutely key in this industry these days.
EGR: You launched a full sportsbook offering in early 2025 to complement the social betting product. How do you balance being both a facilitator of peer‑to‑peer wagers and a more traditional operator without diluting the brand?
BG: The original business plan was to see how far we could take the social betting and use it as an acquisition funnel for the sports betting. It’s quite difficult to monetise the social betting. If you and I make a £10 bet with each other and Fairplay takes 10p off each player, someone’s only winning £9.80, which is not going to sit right with us if we had a £10 bet. We decided from the start that we were never going to take fees on those peer-to-peer bets because you cannibalise your audience from the get-go.
So, the idea was always to bring in a complementary product to the social exchange which we could more easily monetise. If you and I have a bet on the golf course on Saturday morning and you win, you can then decide to bet on Rory McIlroy to win the Masters with the money. Fairplay allows you to do that within one integrated system. And there’s the networking aspect of you recruiting your friends to the app, with that social concept fuelling growth of players more naturally than promoting a sportsbook.
EGR: The UK market is crowded and increasingly regulated. How does Fairplay Exchange maintain a competitive edge when going up against far larger incumbents with deeper pockets?
BG: Where we can set ourselves aside is probably the personal touch from a customer service point of view. We’re a relatively small team compared to other large-scale operators. When you place a bet, you know it’s coming through to us. When you contact our customer service line, you’ll speak to one of us. It’s not outsourced anywhere. You can always speak to a person, and that person will always get back to you quickly.
I believe that’s how we can differentiate ourselves while we’re still growing. We can also look to be a little bit bullish on some prices and accept a smaller margin in order to bring players in. Ultimately, I believe if you look after players and give them that good customer service, that’s how you retain them.
EGR: In an article from 2024, you argued social betting apps were ripe for acquisition by bigger, traditional operators. Is Fairplay looking for potential suitors?
BG: Our social betting side is all proprietary technology for us, as well as our player account management system. Our tech is all built in-house, all owned by us. What we’re trying to do is prove the model works – that the social side can work as an acquisition funnel for a sportsbook, and that can fuel growth. Long term we could sell, but we’re pretty happy with where the business is at the minute with the social side and the sportsbook feeding each other.
EGR: In the same article, you spoke of an opportunity for social betting exchanges to improve public perception of the gambling industry at large. Have you seen any evidence of a softening of public sentiment since then?
BG: There’s no denying ‘gambling’ has become a dirty word in the UK, and I think this definitely needs to change. Gambling has an image problem, which is unwarranted to a certain degree, in my opinion. I think the industry needs to start concentrating on the good it does, and the fun and enjoyment that millions of people derive from it.
The social exchange takes wagering back to what it traditionally was, which is a bit of fun with your friends. It’s certainly a softer, friendlier cross-sell. But that’s not to take away from the fact people can also enjoy having a bet on the horses quite safely.
EGR: You recently engaged Cheltenham Festival racegoers, giving them the chance to enter a quiz and have their rail fare covered in free bets. How important is that type of marketing in your broader strategy, and what have you learned from speaking directly to bettors on the ground?
BG: It was our first Cheltenham as an operator offering horseracing. The team were at Paddington and Charing Cross stations, and some of us were at the festival all week. We were speaking to players every morning, handing out promotional scarves and leafletting. There was a real buzz about it. It was great to announce ourselves on that big stage and let people know we offer an alternative to all the big boys. It allowed people to see the faces behind the sportsbook.
EGR: Finally, what do the next 12-24 months look like for Fairplay? What features or technological innovations are you most excited to bring to market?
BG: We’re definitely going to be making some improvements to the social betting side, making it more interactive. That’s big part of our roadmap over the next six months. We’re going to be bringing in a brand-new bet builder product on the sportsbook side, ready for the World Cup, as well as player prop markets. We’re also doing a few promotional events around the World Cup with some big offers and big prices. But in the longer term, it’s about continuing to invest in our player account management system and the compliance that comes with it, and making sure people know we’ve got something a little bit different.
You can only have an even-money bet on our app currently but we’d like to expand our odds offering, and there’ll be a liability there, but only against your friends. There’s some more community-led games we want to try as well as build around horseracing and football where you can play against the whole Fairplay community. We’re also looking at a potential fantasy sports product being brought into the social betting side and maybe some competition prizes as well.
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Following last year’s launch of a sportsbook to complement the social betting app, EGR speaks to Billy Gowing about his startup’s evolution and how the “personal touch” makes a difference
The post Fairplay founder: Gambling has become a dirty word in the UK – this needs to change first appeared on EGR Intel.