Rams fan football mum takes on the big gambling companies

Locally-based Prophet League hopes to pioneer a new era of gaming by prioritising positive social impact and player safety ahead of profits. By imposing low entry fees and weekly game limits, players can never spend more than the price of a cup of coffee on a game each week. Contrary to traditional odds-based gambling platforms, Prophet League operates a pooled prize pot system where the top 10% of players with the most accurate predictions share the weekly prize pot. This means that players are competing against the community, not a bookmaker. Players can also opt to donate 50p to the designated “charity of the week” thereby raising money for UK charities. The more people play, the bigger the prize pot, and the bigger the donation to good causes.

Co-founder and Derby County season ticket holder, Amy Perkins from Mansfield said “We believe Prophet League is the future of sports social gaming. We exist to provide a true alternative and to provide players with all the fun and excitement of a small flutter on the football, whilst doing good and staying safe.” As part of its “Gaming For Good” model, along with a weekly Premier League and Championship predictions game, Prophet League also aims to provide greater exposure for under-represented football in the UK with games dedicated to the Women’s Super League and Scottish football. Prophet League offers additional features such as the ability to create a Friends League, making it a platform for players to use football as a way to raise funds for their own good causes via ‘Just Giving’. This gives amateur clubs, community enterprises, or corporate businesses an easy-to-administer, recurring revenue stream for their fundraising activities. Amy continues: "I'm a mum of two girls who love football. I know how hard it is to raise money for the teams my girls play for and it felt like rather than just keep asking people for donations we could combine people's love for football and giving at the same time"

Prophet League launches at a critical juncture in the gambling industry. In April 2023, the UK Government announced gambling reforms intended to address concerns over player safety and industry practices. Many have commented that these reforms haven’t gone far enough to protect players and affect positive change within the industry. Prophet League hopes to stand as a beacon of progress, demonstrating that entertainment and social responsibility can go hand in hand, and creating a community where everybody wins.

Amy said: "Gambling companies seemingly just want shareholders to win and they constantly feed their ads and promotions to people that they know are most vulnerable to these temptations. They glamourise their products and use known sports celebrities to create an illusion of trust. Instead, we want to offer something that is safe, kind but still fun and exciting. We have designed Prophet League to be socially responsible. We led with the principle that no-one should be able to spend more than the cost of a cup of coffee per week to play the game and that when players win, they win, and can withdraw their winnings immediately. No gimmicks to get them to play more, free bets or things to confuse players. Simple, easy and kind"

Prophet League has launched it's first game dedicated to UEFA Euro24. The game will raise money exclusively for East Midlands charity Rainbows Hospice. Gary Farnfield from Rainbows said: "We are grateful to Prophet League for choosing us to be their first charity beneficiary. The money raised will go towards providing care and support to young people with life limiting or life threatening conditions." For more information and to join the game, visit www.prophetleague.com