World Series of Poker Champ James Bord to Buy Sottish Soccer Team

Posted on: January 10, 2025, 08:43h. 

Last updated on: January 10, 2025, 09:08h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) champion James Bord is on the brink of acquiring Scottish Championship soccer team Dunfermline Athletic.

James Bord, Dunfermline Athletic, DAFC Fussball, WSOPE, Tony Bloom, Matthew Benham
James Bord, above, is hoping to bring the kind of success to Dunfermline that his data-loving mentors, Tony Bloom and Matthew Benham, have brought to Brighton and Brentford, respectively. (Image: Cordopolis)

The Brit, who won the WSOP’s European Main Event in London in 2010 for $1.1 million, is leading a consortium of investors in a bid for the 75% stake currently held by German soccer investment group DAFC Fussball GmbH.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is expected to approve the sale to Bord and his fellow investors, US citizens Wai Yin Kelly Kung and Justin Royce Harkema. The parties are set to meet next week to complete the purchase of the team, which plays in Scotland’s second tier, The Daily Mail reports.

The group already has a minority ownership in Spanish La Liga 2 team Cordoba CF.

Who is James Bord?

Bord is a former Citigroup banker who left the world of finance in his mid-20s to pursue his interests in poker and sports betting. In addtion to winning the WSOPE, he also ran a training and staking company for players, known as the Poker Farm.

He’s the founder of the San Francisco-based company, Short Circuit Science, which specializes in sports data analytics, medical prescription technology, and climate adoption analysis.

At Dunfermline, Bord will be hoping to emulate the success of his two former mentors, both of whom went on to own major soccer teams.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, Bord worked for Tony Bloom, whose gambling syndicate and advisory service, Star Lizard, is one of the biggest winners in soccer betting.

Bloom is also a well-known poker player who earned the nickname “The Lizard” because of his demeanor at the table.

Following ‘The Lizard’

Star Lizard made Bloom very rich, and in 2019, he purchased his boyhood club, Brighton FC, then languishing in the third tier of English soccer. Applying the same cold, hard analysis to the transfer market as he did to the betting markets, Bloom took Brighton to the English Premier League, where it remains.

At some point, Bord jumped ship from Star Lizard to work for another sports betting fund operated by Matthew Benham, who had also previously worked for Bloom. Benham later became an investor in the Matchbook betting exchange, and in 2012, took over the reins at his boyhood club, Brentford FC.

The team was promoted to the Premier League in 2021, proving once and for all that data nerds are the future of soccer.