I've been the guy running that spreadsheet for three tournaments. After the last one, I decided to just build something that does all of this automatically.
What It Does
BuddyLot is a group chat with game rooms built in. You create a room for a football match, the odds sync automatically from major platforms, your friends place their bets, and game billing tracks every transaction in a shared ledger. No spreadsheets, no chasing payments, no disputes about who bet what.
The key difference from a sportsbook: there's no house edge. The money moves between friends, not to a corporation. You set the rules, you run the room — the platform just handles the math.
Tech Stack
- Frontend: Flutter (the app itself runs on www.buddylot.com)
- SEO site: static HTML + CSS + JS on hello.buddylot.com, served via Cloudflare
- Voice chat: <100ms latency, built for watch parties
Current State
Phase 1 is live: group chat, voice channels, and football prediction rooms with real-time odds. Phase 2 (in development) brings blackjack with friends — deal at your own table, play for stakes, auto-settle.
It's free forever for communities. If you've ever been the person running a betting pool spreadsheet, you'll understand why I built this.
Originally written for my blog where I also have guides on running betting pools and explaining football betting odds.
Tags: #showdev #webdev #flutter #gamedev #startup
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