Rithmm Takes MIT Brainpower And Turns It Into Winning Bets

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Rithmm’s pitch is pretty darn tantalizing: Imagine hiring yourself a team of MIT data scientists and a bunch of other quants and insanely smart people, and then having them use their wits — along with a healthy dose of AI — to help you win money at sports betting.

Not bad as far as these things go.

“Rithmm allows us to build personalized predicted betting models at the touch of the fingertips without the need of the expertise or data science background,” said James Santore, the chief marketing officer at the company. “What makes that different is that there’s this old-school method of professional bettors that either have their own models or pay someone to make their models for them, but with Rithmm you can create a model in seconds and it gives people a better way to bet, backed by over three years of data.”

Rithmm‘s platform offers several ways for users to access predictions. They can start with Rithmm’s prebuilt AI models, build their own custom models by adjusting factors on offense and defense, or even copy top-performing models from the community leaderboard.

“A great example is for college football,” Santore said. “I’ve actually had a model that’s been one of the best in our community for the entire season. People have been copying my model because it’s been very consistent.”

Beyond just predictions, Rithmm provides extensive data and research and allows users to test their model’s projections and make more informed betting decisions.

Smart folks, AI help

At its core, though, Rithmm is a group of very smart people who have taken statistical modeling and artificial intelligence into a new direction.

“It’s literally a bunch of quants and data scientists and MIT-trained people,” Santore said. “It’s a bunch of geniuses who have built this — not myself, the other people, to be clear! They’re taking away the need for people to go and trust a random handicapper, the need to trust traditional picks services.”

Instead, Rithmm is replacing it with modeling that can be done with a few clicks.

“This is the modern futuristic approach to betting, where you can understand why you’re making a bet and not just taking something because your gut says it or because some random dude at a bar said it,” Santore said. “We’re creating a consistent method that allows people to become better over time. Trying to help create routine, and giving data, and helping people make better decisions.”

The Boston-based startup offers two tiers: the core level for $30 a month, which allows users to customize up to five game-related factors; and the premium model, which allows for hundreds of factors to be manipulated, for $100 a month. It also offers a free tier where data is available, but not models.

It currently offers NFL, NBA, WNBA, college football and basketball, and golf.

Rithmm’s models generate recommended bets, predicted scores, win probabilities, and expected value based on the models. All “good” bets are marked with a green light. The platform is set to view consensus odds, but a simple toggle switch allows you to see what any individual sportsbook’s odds are.

And the back-end processes make this quick and smooth.

“The AI is what makes us able to do this quickly,” Santore said. “To build a traditional sports betting model takes a lot of time, you have to pay for data feeds, use Excel spreadsheets. We have our algorithms, and combined with AI allows us to do this in seconds for the core product and minutes for the premium. It feels like the future when you can build a model and have projections for every game in seconds.”

The company’s long-term vision is to become the leading data-driven platform for sports betting.

“In five years, I think the goal would be to be the biggest name in sports data and analytics and be able to power every sport, every league, and every single user,” Santore says.