Beyond the Bet: LiveDuel’s Blueprint for a Fan-First Sports Economy
- Kevin Jones
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
In an incisive conversation with Gaming Eminence, Will Martin, CEO and Product Owner of LiveDuel, reveals the deep philosophical and technical pivots required to reimagine live sports betting. Confronting friction between sleek UX instincts and systemic liquidity constraints, Martin recounts the shift toward decentralised infrastructure as both necessity and opportunity. He dissects his evolving leadership lens—merging behavioural economics, design thinking, and DeFi mechanics—while questioning entrenched industry cadences around "fun" and fairness. The interview culminates in a radical thesis: can betting transcend transactionality to become the scaffolding of a fan-empowered sports economy? LiveDuel may just be the architecture for that bet.
Gaming Eminence: You’ve spoken about redefining the live sports betting experience, but I’m curious—what part of your own thinking have you had to unlearn or rewire to build a product like LiveDuel? Where did the friction show up between instinct and execution, and how did you reconcile it?
WM) "Initially, LiveDuel's genesis was rooted in a frustration with the stagnant user experience within the sports betting landscape. For far too long, the digital evolution of betting seemed confined to replicating the old physical formats. We recognised that modern digital consumption and social interaction had moved far beyond this. Our initial instinct was to revolutionise this through a cutting-edge UI and UX.
However, we quickly realised that a visually appealing interface alone wouldn't address the deeper systemic challenges, particularly the issue of liquidity. This created a significant friction point. We asked ourselves: how could we truly offer a different and better experience if the fundamental mechanics remained constrained? This led us to explore the transformative potential of decentralised technology. The advent of smart contracts and liquidity pools presented a novel opportunity to decentralise liquidity, rewarding participants. This marked a significant shift. While a superior UX remained crucial, our core focus expanded to leveraging DeFi to solve fundamental industry limitations and create a more equitable model.
From this point, we recognised that while the underlying technology offered a powerful solution, the user experience and messaging still needed to prioritise simplicity and the core passion of sports fandom. We had to unlearn the assumption that users would be inherently drawn to the complexities of web3. Our reconciliation involved simplifying the user journey, focusing on the sports and the thrill of live betting, while seamlessly integrating the benefits of decentralised technology under the hood to deliver a fundamentally better and more sustainable platform for sports fans. This journey underscored the importance of user-centricity, a principle that now deeply informs how I balance vision and precision as both CEO and Product Owner."
Gaming Eminence: As both CEO and product owner, you're straddling two radically different gears—vision and precision. How do you personally decide when to trust the broader narrative versus interrogating the pixel-level decisions? When you're context-switching, what mental markers guide you back to what matters most?
WM) "As both CEO and Product Owner, this balance is dynamic and informed by my background in economics, particularly behavioural economics and game theory, my deep interest in design thinking, and crucially, a deliberate focus on our users. My economics background shapes our overarching vision, helping us anticipate competitive moves against industry giants with vastly more resources. We can't simply replicate their strategies; our advantage lies in a fundamentally different product built from the ground up, leveraging unique technological and business model innovations that traditional companies struggle to match.
My immersion in design thinking, stemming from my time in San Francisco, ensures that this strategic vision translates into a user-centric product. I actively use design sprints and have developed my own frameworks to bridge the gap between high-level strategy and the granular details of the user experience. A critical part of this is consciously applying different 'user lenses' – understanding the perspective of the passionate sports fan, the community member, and the DeFi user. This ensures that every decision, from strategic partnerships to the placement of a button, is evaluated through the lens of its impact on these key stakeholders.
When context-switching, these user lenses serve as vital mental markers, guiding me back to what truly matters: delivering value to our diverse user base and maintaining our strategic differentiation. Informed by game theory, our goal is to create a superior value proposition for each user segment. By constantly evaluating the potential impact through these lenses and empowering our team through collaborative design processes, we ensure that even the smallest details contribute to our broader vision of a truly impactful and competitive product."
Gaming Eminence: LiveDuel is competing in a space with deep-rooted behaviors and high-stakes incumbents. How much of your product strategy is designed to disrupt the emotional cadence of betting itself, not just the UI or flow? And when you think about “fun,” what does that really mean to you—structurally, experientially, mathematically?
WM) "You're right, disrupting this space requires more than surface-level changes. Our product strategy for LiveDuel is deeply focused on shifting the very emotional cadence of betting. We recognise the ingrained habits and strong emotional drivers at play. Our approach is to tap into these emotions in novel ways, moving away from the often solitary and reactive nature of traditional betting towards a more continuous, active, and social experience, amplified by real-time interactions. By building a more transparent and equitable environment through web3, we also aim to foster greater trust and reduce the anxiety around fairness.
'Fun' for LiveDuel is a multi-layered concept. Structurally, it involves creating engaging game mechanics around live events, including innovative user acquisition methods like our gamified TikTok filters, meeting fans where they already are, and providing intuitive control. Experientially, fun is about crafting an immersive and socially connected experience, enhancing the thrill of live sports through interactive features, novelty, and immediate feedback. Mathematically, fun is linked to trust and perceived fairness, leveraging web3 transparency, and carefully balancing risk and reward to encourage engagement without promoting irresponsible behavior. Ultimately, our goal is to augment the core excitement of live sports with a more active, social, and transparent betting experience, offering a fundamentally different and more engaging way for fans to connect with the games they love."
Gaming Eminence: What’s a recent decision you made—technical or tactical—that you would never have made five years ago? What shifted in your leadership posture, your appetite for risk, or your personal tolerance for ambiguity?
WM) "Even the foundational decision to build LiveDuel on-chain is something I wouldn't have considered five years ago! Initially, the focus was purely on a better UI for betting, driven by frustration with the industry's stagnant design. Solving the liquidity problem then became a key focus, leading us to explore the potential of decentralised finance, witnessing the significant trading volumes on Decentralised Exchanges. Back then, my technical background leaned towards traditional, centralised architectures.
The shift was driven by a deeper understanding of decentralised technologies for trust and transparency, coupled with an increased appetite for risk and a growing conviction in our vision. Five years ago, the perceived complexity and regulatory landscape of blockchain would have likely made me hesitant. My leadership posture has also evolved towards a greater tolerance for ambiguity and a stronger belief in disruptive technologies. Observing the rapid evolution of web3 and recognising the long-term advantage of owning our technology platform, liquidity, and customer acquisition tools has been pivotal. While uncertainties remain, I'm now more comfortable leading through that ambiguity, guided by clear milestones and iterative development. This reflects a growth in my technical understanding, a greater appetite for calculated risk, and a leadership style that embraces the potential of the future."
Gaming Eminence: Some founders build products as answers; others build them as questions. When you zoom out from LiveDuel, what question do you feel you're actually asking—of the market, of users, or of yourself? And has that question stayed the same since day one?
WM) "When I zoom out from the day-to-day of LiveDuel, the fundamental question we're asking is: Can we architect a new, fan-centric ecosystem around live sports, where betting is not just a transactional activity but the engine for a global community that ultimately empowers sports fans in unprecedented ways?
My years curating a sports tech newsletter provided a front-row seat to the dramatic evolution of sports consumption and engagement. What was once a slow adopter of technology is now a driving force. For too long, sports betting has primarily been a monetization tool for teams and leagues. Our core question is whether we can invert that model, leveraging the passion and engagement generated on LiveDuel to build for the fans.
This is about creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that incentivises active participation and collectively empowers fans, offering them a greater stake and a stronger voice. While the initial spark was about UI innovation, the question has evolved into a much larger ambition: to build a fan-first economy that fundamentally reshapes the landscape of sports ownership and engagement. The long-term vision, perhaps even owning a LiveDuel-powered sports team, would be the ultimate answer to this driving question."