ParlayGrade
Data behind every pick, not just an opinion
- Role
- Product designer
- Team
- Senior director, project manager and dev team
- Timeline
- February 2026 – August 2026
- Platform
- Web, mobile first
- Status
- Shipped March 2026 · Retired August 2026
- Problem
- Bookies.com's picks were written by pundits, with no statistical backing behind them.
- My role
- Product designer: competitor audit, the grading system and the mobile-first UI.
- Key decision
- We gave each prop a letter grade, with a tooltip explaining it, instead of a stats table.
- Result
- Shipped in March 2026 and used by real bettors, then retired in August 2026 after a change in direction for Bookies.com.
The brief
Picks with nothing behind them
Bookies.com's picks were player and team suggestions written by pundits, with no stats behind them. The senior director of product asked us to replace them.
The brief was a data-rich tool that showed bettors trends in a player's or team's recent form, so they could build parlays on evidence, not opinion. It had to be mobile first from day one.
I looked at similar products, including Covers, BettingPros and RotoWire, to see how they handled prop data and grading. Most leaned on raw stats tables, or on picks with no visible reasoning.
Decision 01
A letter grade per prop, not a stats table
Each prop gets a letter grade, with an on-demand tooltip explaining the logic behind it.
Why
We wanted bettors to trust a grade and act on it in seconds, without reading the stats themselves.
Core structure
One prop in focus, the rest within reach
The main view showed one prop in detail, with the rest in a compact list. Experienced bettors could decide from the compact cards alone. Anyone who wanted more could open a prop without leaving the list.
Picks went into a bet slip that stayed on screen. It showed the parlay's combined grade and linked out to the best combined odds across sportsbooks.
Mobile first, with the slip always in reach
Bettors built and checked parlays on the move, so the bet slip had to work as well on a phone as on desktop. On mobile it sat at the bottom of the screen and expanded like a drawer. Bettors could review picks or head to a sportsbook without losing their place.
Where it stands
Shipped, used and later retired
ParlayGrade shipped in full. Real bettors used the whole flow, from browsing graded props to building a parlay and heading to a sportsbook.
Its reach was limited by where it lived. It sat behind a banner linking to a separate URL, not in Bookies.com's main navigation. That placement came from the affiliate business model, not from product strategy.
ParlayGrade was retired in August 2026. Management changed the brand's direction, and the product was no longer needed.
Lesson
Looking back
What I learned
I should have pushed harder for better placement. The product was a bit hidden and out of the way for bettors, and that limited its reach.
What I'd do next
If it were still live, I'd focus on the start of the NBA season.