Billy Bets, the AI-powered sports-betting startup, closed a $1 million pre-seed round with Coinbase Ventures, and participation from Virtuals Ventures, Contango Digital, CMS Holdings, and a roster of athlete and crypto-native angels. The capital accelerates the public launch of the Billy Terminal, personalized autonomous betting agents, and expanded $BILLY token utility.

Sports wagering generates an estimated $250 billion in annual handle, yet fewer than 1% of bets are executed by AI agents on prediction markets.

“That inefficiency is our wedge. AI agents have already changed investing; now they’re coming for sportsbooks. Billy Bets will turn that small sliver into the default way fans bet,” said Joe O’Rourke, Co-founder & CEO.

Built on Base (Coinbase’s Layer 2), Billy supports bet discovery across prediction markets, including Kalshi and Polymarket, by highlighting edges, routes wagers to the best available price, and enables customized automated strategies. Billy’s natural-language terminal turns “Show me plus-EV NFL props tonight” into live odds, automated execution and real-time, traceable ROI tracking. Billy has routed over $1 million in betting volume, growing at 23% per week, since the launch of the Billy Terminal in June.

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“Fundamentally, we believe all sports bettors will eventually rely on AI to improve their chances, particularly so with the advent of prediction markets, and we aim to be the best supplier of that agentic technology,” said Jared Augustine, Co-founder & Executive Chairman.

The Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.80 billion ahead of Saturday night’s drawing, officially making it the second-largest Powerball jackpot in U.S. history.

The jackpot has been building since June 1, when a single ticket in Michigan claimed $224 million. In the 37 drawings since, no player has matched all six numbers — the most drawings ever in a single jackpot run — sending the prize pool into historic territory. It is the first time Powerball has reached this level since November 2022, when a California player won $2.04 billion.

“This jackpot is truly a historic moment in lottery history. At $1.80 billion, this Powerball run has already set records for longevity and now ranks as the second-largest prize ever. At Jackpot.com, we’re excited to help players across the country take part in a truly unforgettable moment.”

Jackpot.com allows customers to digitally order official state lottery tickets and scratch offs. Through the Jackpot.com platform, lottery players can place orders for their favorite games, choose their lucky numbers, and get notified if they win. Winnings under $600 are automatically deposited into customer accounts, while winning tickets over $600 are sent to the winners to be redeemed at lottery redemption centers. The service is available now in Colorado, Massachusetts, Arkansas, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Arizona.

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