Is Circle an exciting future for entertainment for sports?

Will Hawkins came up with the idea of distracting his fellow students at university while they were watching a 1-1 match between Southampton and Crystal Palace.

The founder of a betting app believes that his venture could change the world of sports entertainment forever.

Will Hawkins came up with the concept for Circle to entertain his college friends as they watched a dull 1-1 draw between his favorite Southampton and Crystal Palace.

The Circle was founded in 2020 and already has more than 2,000 users on the platform. It has raised PS1m.

It is reported that the Manchester company is working on raising PS400k via Crowdcube. With less than three weeks remaining, the total amount is less than PS340k.

Hawkins admitted that he might not think of the business if the match of 2019 was more intriguing.

“Anyone who’s been to a football game knows the feeling you get when you realize that you’re about to witness the awful game ever,” he recalled.

“I removed my hat and looked around at my group of friends and said, ‘lads, all put five dollars in the hat. Every time the ball goes beyond the field, put the hat to you right’.

“15 minutes into the game, everyone was completely absorbed into it because we’d changed slightly the way we watch it.

“I began receiving groups of fans surrounding me and asking me why we ran around in a frenzy every time the ball was kicked off the field.

“The winners were the person who held the hat when the final whistle. There was a half-time ceremony and one at full-time.”

When the game was over, Hawkins started considering ways to turn his idea into a company, which he began the following year with Mark Quinn and Eddie Ross.

Hawkins declared it crucial to tackle the ‘elephant of the room’ by speaking about gambling.

Betting

“Betting tax is the second-largest source of income for the government under PAYE,” he explained. “It’s a PS180bn market worldwide with an 8.3 percent annual compound growth rate. It’s not going away.

“However, the rules are evolving, and new players have an opportunity to create socially inclusive concepts and not focus on the addictive nature of exclusion. This is something we’re genuinely thriving on.

“We are playing with you and your friends, and the worst case is that your buddy is the winner.

“It’s an entire game of luck. We’ve learned to be more innovative by using our platform. I’ve just told you how one game. How often the ball is removed from play. Various measures allow the pot to move one way to the right for an edge and two places to the left to get the yellow card.

“By adding these values, you’re beginning to observe the game differently. The last time I checked, someone was able to win a jackpot of PS1,000 due to a late-minute substitution!

“We’re making micro-moments of the game and making an experience out of them built on it.

“It’s super-scalable and is suitable in any sport. We’ll continue to expand our product to include various sports.”

Acquisition of customers

Will Hawkins, CEO, Circl

Hawkins claimed that the current Crowdcube campaign was not only about raising funds.

“I’m more interested in the investments made by Crowdcube and more focused on the evangelists who come out through this platform,” the evangelist said.

“A few days ago, I was given a PS190k ticket in the angel syndicate. Happily, I can say that. But another investor, whom I will not name, and a frequent customer of Circle, placed the colossal sum of PS25.60.

“He’s the one I am committed to because I’m confident he’ll tell his buddies about his investment.

“Cost for acquisition” is an essential factor for us. I believe that the convergence of sports media, betting on sports as well as a consumer brand is the next phase of entertainment on the internet.”

Hawkins stated that Circle could turn the entire world of customer acquisition upside down.

“One of the most challenging issues in the betting on sports is the expense of the acquisition of the sports betting market,” he explained.

“In the UK, the cost per acquisition is PS150 for each customer. In the US, it’s $900 for each customer. This is the reason you’ll see a lot of marketing.

“One thing we’re trying to prove and the reason we’re making use of Crowdcube as a tool for this, and different ways, is that we believe we can attract customers at 30% of the average cost of acquisition. That is precisely what we’re doing currently.

“If we keep doing that, we could save firms hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising costs and acquisition expenses.”

Circle has increased to six staff members and is currently looking to expand into new sports and nations.

“We’re currently in the market fit,” he said. “There’s an old saying, ‘ if you’re not ashamed of the initial edition of your service, you’ve launched it too late. This is a fact.

“We’ve gained a lot of new experiences. We’ve got eliminated. These are devices that may let yellow cards can remove your name from the circles.

The goal we have for the UK is that we’ll try to develop in different sports. However, we’ve already started conversations with VCs across the US to raise our next round, which will create a concept for The NBA and the NFL.”

But the most exciting development could see it expand into areas that are not gambling.

“I’m talking to many B2C brands, and we’re looking to create a gaming experience in which players could receive 50% of their merchandise, for example,” he said.