A Day in the Life of an Entain Trader

Not everyone has had the pleasure of walking into the office of a busy trading department to witness the hive of activity throughout the day. While others sleep soundly to wake up for a typical 9-5, trading teams work round the clock surrounded by TV screens, monitors, market data and feeds of information and start their day at pace.

Working in a wagering organisation isn't all about wagering. Working at Entain involves so many roles that contribute to the smooth running of the day-to-day functions. An important department and role within that is the trading team, but many don't really know what a day in the life of a trader actually entails.

To give a glimpse into what trading is in a wagering organisation, we spoke to three employees across the Australian and New Zealand teams to find out what it's really like to be a trader.

A key insight most don't know is that the trading team itself isn't a department filled with only one type of role. We have Sports Traders, Racing Traders, Risk Management, Analysts and other roles that contribute to the success of the whole team.

New Zealand Sports Trader, Matt Oliver, always a fan of the TAB brand while he studied accounting and finance, gained a Chartered Accountants qualification before he saw a trading role advertised. He jumped at the chance of a more exciting career and hasn't looked back.

“People may not expect that there's a lot more to the role than just setting odds. There is a lot more analysis, reviewing performance, model development, site content and finding ways to generally improve the customer experience,” says Matt.

Australian Sports Trader, Todd Henderson, agrees with the scope of the role Matt described, and shared what strengths someone can bring to a trading role.

“The first prerequisite for being a sports trader is a genuine passion for sports, ideally with knowledge across a wide range of them. Beyond that, critical thinking and decision-making are essential skills.

“In this role, we constantly face unique scenarios. Whether it's managing different customers or navigating a variety of markets, the ability to analyse situations quickly and make informed choices is crucial,” says Todd. 

Racing Risk Analyst Chris Zerbe starts his day around 7am.

“Most of the reports I need to review each day have been automatically generated and sent overnight. Collating the reports into one big file for review begins at 7am, and we look at things like betting behaviour, generosity use and other relevant data. As we are a 24/7 company, we cover every day of the year with at least two team members rostered (including Christmas Day).”

Matt starts his day checking the news for any developments overnight. This includes player injuries, weather conditions, team selections or any other factors that could impact upcoming games. Then he reviews the schedule for the day.

“I set up a list of priorities based on the matches, tournaments or games for the day. If markets were live overnight, I review any significant moves, particularly in early markets.”

Keeping up with the play is a key part of the trading team's role, and it's important to get the information hot off the press.

“Twitter (X) is a primary source of information for most sports we manually manage,” says Todd. “It provides real-time updates from various sources, along with official team and player news.”

Todd's primary focus is NRL, so on game day, his routine involves several key tasks.

“I start by reviewing market pricing, then incorporate player statistical metrics to generate additional markets. We assess the risk we take on, and before the game we finalise the teams for the matches we're covering and prepare for live trading.”

Live trading is a busy time for our trading team, as they adjust and settle markets as the game goes on. Any upsets, injuries, changes – everything results in adjustments to the markets.

“My favourite part of the job is live trading,” says Matt. “We watch and trade these events live using models specifically made for each sport. Odds move based on what is happening, and we settle markets as they come in.”

After the games, the trading team reviews how markets performed, check pricing, and assess the variations that occurred through the matches.

“We spend a lot of down time reviewing our offering and how it could be improved, whether that's our own unique differences or customer experience. A good portion of our day is spent scrolling our own websites to ensure what the customer is seeing looks good!” says Matt.

Like with most jobs, people don't just stick around for the role they perform but for the people and the organisation they work with.

“Our team has many years of experience and expertise in managing risk. I am lucky to have some of the best risk managers in the industry in my team. Knowing I have learned from them and have them to bounce challenges off makes my job a lot easier,” says Chris.

With the whole team working towards the same goal, to provide our customers with a great experience, it's easy to find ways to work together.

“Everyone is working towards the same goal, we all are like-minded, not too serious but hard working at the same time. It's a culture that makes it extremely easy to want to come to work while also making it easy to collaborate with co-workers,” says Matt.

In Matt's experience, his managers have always been open to developing new skills and providing constructive feedback to ensure he is improving as he goes.

For Chris in the trading risk team, staying up to date with the latest trends comes quite organically with a passionate group of racing and sport fans.

“There are a variety of backgrounds in our team, but the one common denominator is a love of racing and sport. Loving the product you work with makes doing your job that much easier and enjoyable.”

There are many ways to get to the trading department, and as our team can attest there doesn't seem to be one common thread of work experience that led them to their roles.

“I didn’t necessarily know I wanted to be in this industry, I didn’t really have any idea what this job entailed prior to joining the team. But I did know that I would enjoy a job that involves both sports and betting. I would say anyone could succeed at this job if you have a love for sports, understand different betting markets and how they work,” says Todd.

All three members of the trading team reinforced that some number know-how, a decent handle on Excel and the ability to analyse and approach things with critical thinking were a big help in being a successful member of the team.

So, if you love sports, racing or the thrill of a dynamic role, maybe the trading team is for you!