The Betting Startups Podcast

We're back with Ep. 5 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry.   In this one, we speak with Charles Gillespie & Kevin McCrystle, CEO & COO of Gambling.com Group.   Hear them discuss: The go-to-market plan for launching the business in 2006, which involved moving to Shangha...

Ep. 102 features Andrew & Ethan Ehrenberg from Eberg Capital, which help creators and their fans develop closer, more authentic relationships across sports, gaming and the arts.   Hear them discuss: The origins of Eberg Capital, which they started alongside their father after graduating from university Their thesis on the betting industry, and why they decided to align their investing activity...

Ep. 101 features Chris Spagnuolo from Probly, which helps bettors win more and lose less.   Hear him discuss: His background in content and helping to grow Barstool “from a regionalized sports blog to a national powerhouse” Learning to use data to become a successful DFS player while working at Stokastic How Probly is using data to help people make educated bets in a simplified mobile UX The impor...

Ep. 100 features John Gordon from Incentive Games, which is the leading free-to-play games provider.   Hear him discuss: The progress that Incentive Games has made since John appeared on Ep. 1 of the podcast, which includes partnerships with tier-1 operators like Fanduel and bet365 Why focusing heavily on player retention has helped Incentive Games position itself as the leading free-to-play games...

Ep. 99 features Greg Dean & Gianni Settino from HotStreak, which is AI-powered sports gaming technology.   Hear them discuss: Their backgrounds at other startups, including Gianni’s time as the first engineer at Draft before its acquisition by Paddy Power Betfair The origins of HotStreak as an NFT-based collectibles game that they pivoted into the current in-play DFS product The challenges of...

Ep. 98 features Pierre Lindh from Next.io, which is a content-driven conference company that focuses on both in-person and online events.   Hear him discuss: His reflections on 2023, which included new investment, a major re-brand, and a doubling of the headcount of the NEXT.io team Rising up to meet the new challenges that come with being on a growth trajectory His assessment on the state of the...

Ep. 97 is our quarterly Investor Vibe Check, where we chat with 3 industry investors to get their perspective on the landscape from their side of the table.     The vibe check for Q3 features Jeffrey Haas ( Dreamcraft Ventures ), Quinton Singleton ( Zero Labs ) and Tom Waterhouse ( Waterhouse VC ).     The investors reflect back on a Q4 that saw more funding announcements, but also saw some eviden...

We're back with Ep. 4 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry. In this one, we speak with Pini Yakuel, Founder & CEO of Optimove.   Hear him discuss: Life in Israel right now, and how the Optimove organization is adapting to the realities of being based in Tel Aviv His backgro...

Ep. 96 features Kyle Wiltshire from Testa, which is crowdsourced quality testing built for the iGaming industry.   Hear him discuss: His 10+ year background in the industry, and how that experience led him to discover the problem that Testa is now solving The challenges faced by operators to localize the customer experience, and the role that crowdsourced testing plays in that How his experience r...

Ep. 95 features Jonathan Strause from Invincible GG, which is AI powered virtual sports.   Hear him discuss: How InvincibleGG is combining AI, NFT’s, and horse racing to create a new category of “competitive gaming” The multi-year journey building the Invincible GG technology, and how he feels about the impending beta product launch The process to get AI simulated games approved by regulators in N...

Ep. 94 features David Isaacson from Spectrum Gaming Capital Tech Exchange, which is helping connect gaming industry companies and investors.   Hear him discuss: His background as an investment banker in the real-money gaming industry for the last 10+ years How the SGX platform is giving industry founders a new channel to reach investors with zero cost The types of companies and businesses investor...

Ep. 93 features Shubs Kausal & Jaiden Sarai from SharpStakes, which turns your passion for sports into profits.   Hear them discuss: Their passion for business and entrepreneurship, which led them to co-founding SharpStakes as full-time university students How they’re taking a different approach to building betting tools specifically targeted towards Gen-Z Their perspective on Gen-Z’s relation...

We're back with Ep. 3 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry. In this one, we speak with Omer Sattar, co-founder & CEO of Sightline Payments. Hear him discuss: The importance of putting in the work, and why “10,000 hours is not enough” to become an expert in your domain A cra...

Ep. 92 features Ty Masterson and Dan Gentile from Bettle Fantasy Sports, which is the future of social sports gaming.   Hear them discuss: The stickiness of the season-long format, as evidenced by their 20+ years playing in the same fantasy league How Bettle is enhancing the season-long player experience by introducing DFS-style mechanics to it The growth potential of season-long fantasy despite w...

Ep. 91 features Mike Salvaris from Pro League Network, which is betable live sports. Hear him discuss: How thoroughbred racing inspired the idea for Pro League Network by creating betable content during off-peak times What it looks like to launch and operate a “portfolio of leagues” like the World Putting League, Carjitsu, and Slapfight Championship The revenue potential of owing everything “soup...

Ep. 90 features Malcolm Wilkinson and Steve Steck from We The Bookie, which is Ireland’s only truly socially-responsible bookmaker. Hear them discuss: Integrating social impact into stigmatized industries, including gambling Their unique model that sees We The Bookie share its profits with customers that have a losing month Why they picked Ireland as their go-to-market jurisdiction to prove out th...

Ep. 89 features TJ Ross from Splash Sports, which is the leading sports gaming platform for peer-to-peer contests. Hear him discuss: His background working in tech in the Bay area, including as founder of a startup in the 500 Startups accelerator Seeing opportunity in real-money gaming, and the “tremendously underserved” category of office pools Why advice received from Joe Montana’s son compelled...

We're back with Ep. 2 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry. In this one, we speak with Jason Trost, founder & CEO of Smarkets. Hear him discuss: His 16+ year journey starting and growing Smarkets, which has grown to become a £20m per year business How his background in fina...

Ep. 88 features Rourke Struthers from GameBlazers, which is empowering sports fans to create and manage their own experiences. Hear him discuss: The origins of GameBlazers as the ‘NFT League’, and the eventual pivot away from being a web3 product GameBlazers’ unique concept as a hybrid between fantasy sports and non-fantasy game, which brings together “the best of two worlds” Bringing the thrill o...

Ep. 87 features Torey Korsunsky from Units, which is daily fantasy sports for the curious fan. Hear him discuss: His recent experience as a first-time attendee of G2E in Las Vegas Always having the itch to start something of his own, but why he decided to “get a bit of professional experience under [his] belt” before founding a company How Units is combining DFS with “helping fans focus in on the...

Ep. 86 is our quarterly Investor Vibe Check, where we chat with 3 industry investors to get their perspective on the landscape from their side of the table.   The vibe check for Q3 features Dave VanEgmond ( Bettor Capital ), Jon Von Deylen ( Drive by DraftKings ), and Lloyd Danzig ( Sharp Alpha Advisors ).   The discussion goes deep on the shifting operator landscape in Q3, the increasing role of...

Ep. 85 features Joe Brennan and Adam Bjorn from Prime Sports, which is bringing an old-school bookmaking approach to the US market. Hear them discuss:  Being at the forefront of the lobbing effort that eventually led to PASPA’s repeal in 2018 Why they see big opportunity in bringing an old-school bookmaking approach to the US “Doing a really crazy thing ahead of launching” and talking directly to...

Ep. 84 features Ricky Gold from Juice Reel, which is optimizing the sports betting industry and enriching the sports betting experience. Hear him discuss:  His experience bootstrapping Juice Reel for the first two years while working full-time at his day job How Juice Reel is helping people on their path to becoming sharper bettors Reaching the milestone of over $1bn in bets tracked on the platfor...

BettingStartups.com presents its newest sub-series, The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry. In this debut episode, we speak with David Briggs, co-founder & Director of GeoComply. Hear him discuss: His start in the industry launching Ladbrokes' first digital offering in 1999 Laun...

Ep. 83 features Matt Deutsch from Bettor Sports Network, which is Sports Talk 3.0. Hear him discuss: His 17-year career as a professional sports broadcaster, and starting “the first ever radio channel dedicated to fantasy sports” on Sirius XM in 2010 How Bettor Sports Network is bringing more innovative ways for sports fans to engage Acquiring the Fantasy Alarm app earlier this year, and the role...