Patent ID: 8342966

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving by a processor state information of a live event in real time; determining by the processor an initial state and a plurality of possible future states of a performance parameter of the live event based on the state information; creating by the processor a first betting market for betting on at least one of the plurality of possible future states, in which the plurality of users comprises a first user, a second user, and a third user, and in which the act of creating a first betting market comprises: determining by the processor probabilities for the plurality of possible future states; and based on the probabilities, determining by the processor odds for betting on at least one of the plurality of possible future states; after creating the first betting market, receiving by the processor from the first user a first bet comprising a selection of one of the plurality of possible future states; after receiving the first bet, closing by the processor the first betting market prior to an end time of the initial state; sending from the processor an instruction signal to close the first betting market; determining by the processor an actual future state of the performance parameter; determining by the processor that the possible future state selected by the first user is the actual future state; automatically paying a payout to the first user based on the first bet and the act of determining that the possible future state selected by the first user is the actual future state; receiving, by the processor, from the second user a first request to make a bet mutually exclusive to a bet of the third user, the first request comprising a proposal for the second user and the third user to bet against one another, the request comprising a possible future state selected by the second user in a proposed bet of the second user; based on the first request to bet against the third user, transmitting, by the processor, to the third user a second request to make a bet mutually exclusive to a bet of the second user, the second request comprising the possible future state selected by the second user in the proposed bet of the second user; and receiving, by the processor, from the third user an acceptance of the second request to make a bet mutually exclusive to a bet of the second user, in which the acceptance comprises a selection by the third user of a possible future state that is mutually exclusive to the possible future state selected by the second user.