Patent ID: 8684827

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that are configured to cause the processor to: determine a first set of entries in a sports competition, in which each entry of the first set of entries corresponds to a respective team of a set of teams participating in the sports competition and in which the sports competition has one or more stages; distribute the first set of entries to a plurality of users; receive a buy order placed by a first user of the plurality of users, in which the buy order is associated with at least one entry of the first set of entries; receive a sell order placed by a second user of the plurality of users associated with the at least one entry of the first set of entries; match the buy order with the sell order and execute a trade of the at least one entry between the first user and the second user; determine a winning entry of the first set of entries based on at least one first outcome of the sports competition; and determine a payout to be paid to one or more users who hold the winning entry.