Smarkets is a betting exchange, founded in 2008 by Americans Jason Trost and Hunter Morris. It has offices in central London ^[14], Los Angeles and Malta, and markets itself as the more "advanced trading platform" alternative to its larger rival, Betfair. Smarkets is backed by a consortium of European investors, including former last.fm chairman Stefan Glaenzer, ^[15] Passion Capital and Deutsche Telekom. ^[2]

As a trading platform, all betting is peer-to-peer rather than against a bookmaker; Smarkets allows traders to agree odds between themselves.

Establishing a reputation for its political betting, ^{[3] [5] [16]} Smarkets also offers betting on sports, current affairs and popular culture.

Smarkets has been listed as one of 10 European startups to watch by the Wall Street Journal, ^[17] and in 2012 was named in the Startups 100 awards as one of the UK's most innovative, inspiring and groundbreaking new companies. ^[7]

In April 2015, Smarkets announced that they have handled over 1 billion pounds worth of trades ^[14] and that figure passed the 3 billion mark ^[14] in 2016 after the company filed its first audited annual report. ^[14]

Smarkets became Queens Park Rangers' Global Betting Partner ^[14] in August 2015 and upgraded its sponsorship of the football team to front-of-shirt ^[14] in June 2016.