Independent advisory practice · Guernsey
Building the trust that operators, exchanges and regulators depend on.
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StraightForecast is an independent practice founded by Jonathan Russell. The career began in Securities and Futures Authority regulated spread betting at William Hill Index and Ladbrokes Sporting Spreads, trading sporting outcomes as contracts for differences. That is the closest British antecedent of the event contract markets now taking shape in the United States, and it is why the questions being asked there are familiar rather than novel.
From there to South Africa to establish the trading department of the first corporate sports betting operation on the continent, then Victor Chandler Index in Gibraltar with the team assembled by Tony Bloom before Starlizard, then Spreadex. At Sportingbet, part of the team that built the first automated in-play and derivative markets in the regulated sector.
At Betway, Global Head of Trading for a decade, building the function across more than fifty sports and forty licensed territories, followed by board appointments across the group's regulated entities in Europe, Latin America, Canada and Africa.
Three consecutive terms as elected Non-Executive Chair of the International Betting Integrity Association, leading its transition from European to global scope and working directly with the International Olympic Committee, UEFA and the International Tennis Integrity Agency on coordination protocols. That was followed by a Senior Advisor role at IC360, spanning integrity analysis, regulatory positioning and monitoring architecture.
Work
Sportsbook trading consultancy covering trading function design, odds compilation and pricing strategy, automated risk management and exposure frameworks, built from a decade running a sportsbook across fifty sports and forty licensed territories.
Regulated betting market analysis for operators, investors and acquirers, covering market entry, licensing strategy and operator due diligence. Structural review rather than desk research, based on having built operations in most of these markets.
Sports betting integrity consultancy covering match-fixing and competition manipulation, suspicious betting alerts, and the frameworks that turn an alert into a case. Three elected terms chairing the International Betting Integrity Association sit behind this work.
Prediction market integrity and event contract governance, where settlement is final and there is no voiding mechanism. The question is how an outcome is produced in the world and how it reaches settlement. Includes CFTC rulemaking and regulatory positioning.
Non-executive director and board advisory work, and expert witness instruction in betting market conduct, sportsbook operations and integrity matters, where a position has to survive examination by people paid to dismantle it.
Services
Defined pieces of work for operators, exchanges, regulators, governing bodies, investors and legal teams. Most begin with a scoping conversation and a fixed-scope proposal.
Integrity programme design, alert framework development, regulatory liaison and standards compliance. Covers the reporting duties that turn an operator observation into evidence a governing body can act on.
Trading function design, odds compilation, automated risk management, exposure frameworks and multi-jurisdiction operations across fifty sports, pre-match and in-play.
Manipulation susceptibility assessment, pre-listing contract review, settlement source assurance and surveillance architecture for venues where settlement is final.
Drafting and filing of regulatory submissions, consultation responses and position papers. Includes comments filed with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission in July 2026.
Structural market review, channelisation analysis, regulatory landscape mapping and operator-level due diligence on trading, risk and integrity posture. Pre-deal, in-deal and post-acquisition.
Independent expert evidence for civil, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings involving betting market conduct, sportsbook operations, integrity matters and trading standards. Available to legal teams, regulators and sports bodies.
Independent director and board-level work for regulated operators, technology providers and Guernsey-domiciled entities. Governance, integrity oversight and risk committee participation.
Executive education and trader development for operators, regulators and governing bodies. Odds compiling, probability, margin management, manipulation typologies and monitoring methodology.
Safer gambling strategy, policy development, customer interaction frameworks and compliance advisory, embedded within commercial operations rather than layered on top of them.
Keynote addresses, panel chairing and moderation for industry events, regulatory forums and academic institutions. Moderating an integrity panel at NEXTPredict, New York, October 2026.
Record
| 2019 – 2025 | Non-Executive Chair, elected three terms | International Betting Integrity Association |
| 2023 – 2024 | Director | Betway Group and subsidiaries |
| 2013 – 2023 | Global Head of Trading | Betway |
| 2025 | Senior Advisor | IC360 |
| 2000 – 2013 | Head of Football Trading | Sportingbet and Sportingodds.com |
| 1995 – 2000 | Trading roles | William Hill Index, Ladbrokes Sporting Spreads, IGN SuperSpreads, Victor Chandler Index, Spreadex |
Writing
May 2026 · Interview · CasinoBeats
The US is asking the wrong question about prediction marketsOn the structural difference between how regulated jurisdictions categorise sports betting derivatives, and the architecture taking shape around event contracts in the United States.
Read on CasinoBeats →March 2026 · Regulation
Prediction markets: what does effective integrity monitoring look like?When a price moves sharply the night before a vote, the instinct of anyone from regulated betting markets is immediate. Accurate and clean are not the same thing.
Read the full piece →Contact
For advisory enquiries, expert witness instruction or speaking engagements. All enquiries treated in confidence.
St Peter Port, Guernsey · Available worldwide