Ep. 143 is a roundtable discussion on the Sweepstakes industry, featuring Trevor Pope from The Money Factory, Zach Bruch from MyPrize, and Jeff Laniado from Optimove.   Hear them discuss: The massive growth opportunity they see for social sweepstakes gaming The origins and growth trajectories of The Money Factory and MyPrize Challenges of compliance and barriers to entry in the sweepstakes space How MyPrize innovates through content creator partnerships and community engagement Why social...

Ep. 142 features Nigel Eccles, CEO and Co-founder of BetHog, a crypto casino and sportsbook from the creators of FanDuel.   Hear him discuss: His early career at Flutter where he helped bring the betting exchange concept to market The origin story of Fanduel, and his reflections of its impact on legalized sports betting in the U.S. The role that he sees startups playing in driving innovation within real-money gaming The vision behind BetHog, the gaps it's addressing, and how he thinks about...

Recorded on the day of their public launch, Ep. 141 features Cal Spears and Jonathan Bales from Gambly, which is your sports betting copilot. Hear them discuss: How Cal and Jonathan came together to launch Gambly after their non-competes expired following their last exits The inspiration for Gambly, and the founding use cases for the product Why they think Gambly will add value to both casual and sharp bettors alike How they're thinking about the journey towards finding product-market...

Ep. 140 features Robert Lenzhofer, CEO of Hölle Games, which produces slot games and gaming platforms, with a focus on regulated markets and localized content.   Hear Robert discuss: His journey in gaming, from tech in Austria to founding Hölle Games The origins and growth of Hölle Games, which focuses on the German market with localized content The challenges and nuances of slot game development and creating a unique platform How Hölle Games differentiates in a crowded slot market through...

Ep.139 features Jesse live from the SBC Summit in Lisbon, joined by Adam Wilson from Splash Tech, Hear them discuss: How Adam's early journey in the betting industry took shape and evolved The post-mortem on his first startup Bookee, which became known as the "Tinder for Betting" The origin story of Splash Tech, and how his learnings from the Bookee journey influenced his approach to building Splash Tech How Splash Tech’s free-to-play games drive customer acquisition and engagement, and what...

Ep. 138 features Jesse live from the SBC Summit in Lisbon, joined by Rob Rubio from Fluid, which is a cutting-edge checkout solution powered by machine learning.   Hear them discuss: Rob’s journey through the industry, and how his time working for an operator helped him identify the pain point that Fluid is now solving The positive response that Fluid got from the market after launching at ICE earlier this year, and the traction they have experienced since How is improving the "money in,...

Ep. 137 features Jack Andrews and Justin Phan from Unabated, which is the tools and resources you need to become a winning sports bettor.   Hear them discuss: The recent G2E conference in Las Vegas, and Jack's biggest takeaway from it What has surprised Jack the most since launching Unabated 4 years ago Jack's view of how the American betting population "breaks down in cultural generations" The crazy story of serendipity that led Justin to joining Unabated as their new Managing Director Why...

Ep. 136 features Matt Bresler, Founder and CEO of Odditt, a suite of world-class sports betting tools and analytics. This episode was recorded in person with Jesse at the G2E conference in Las Vegas.Hear them discuss: Why Matt relocated to Las Vegas to work on Odditt, and the value that move has brought to the company Matt's experience participating in ZeroLabs' inaugural cohort, and more recently as a mentor in the latest cohort How developing his own betting models uncovered the problem...

Ep. 135 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 Evan Meyer (Astralis Capital), Paris Smith (Life Winning), and Joel Simkins (XST Capital). Hear them discuss: Their investing background, and current focus areas within real-money gaming Recent consolidation amongst micro-betting technology providers, and how they see that shifting the dynamics within the...

Ep. 134 features Evan Kirkham from Outlier, which is a cutting-edge sports betting app that helps users make smarter bets, no matter the sportsbook.    Hear him discuss: How life has changed for Evan and the Outlier team after finding product-market fit since his last appearance on the podcast Insight into Outlier's internal product development process, and how they maintain a strong shipping cadence with a lean team The flywheel that has led to Outlier pushing over 500,000 bets per week to...

Ep. 133 features the winner of SBC's First Pitch, Radek Psurny from Match Hype.   Hear them discuss: Radek's reflections on winning the SBC First Pitch competition and pitching on the big stage The journey of building Match Hype, a platform for dynamic sportsbook video content How Match Hype automates videos with real-time stats, predictions, and content in 30+ languages The tech behind Match Hype being built by an experienced team Match Hype's future plans with live content The opening of...

Ep. 132 features Keith Stewart from Read the Line, which delivers actionable golf betting insights & analysis from the perspective of a PGA Professional.   Hear him discuss: His life's journey in golf and how becoming a PGA Professional has elevated his career Four reasons why golf is one of the best sports for betting The origins of Read the Line and how it's filling a gap in the golf content space. The importance of why Read the Line covers the LPGA How proactive content is a key...

Ep. 131 features Kelly Kehn, Paris Smith, and Sue Schneider from Defy the Odds, which leverages community, mentorship, and capital to drive innovation for the future of gaming.Hear them discuss: Kelly’s broad industry experience that includes time Bodog, to launching the All-in Diversity Project as a not-for-profit, to venture capital with HappyHour.io Paris’ 17-year experience as CEO of Pinnacle, and transition to angel investing and advising in her post-Pinnacle career Sue’s unique career...

Ep. 130 features Chase Richardson from Full Pull, which is growing the sport of truck and tractor pulling through innovative real money gaming and digital streaming platforms.   Hear him discuss: An introduction to the sport of truck and tractor pulling, and why it's perfectly suited for betting The launch of Full Pull's real-money gaming product, and how the early response has been How content and streaming will attract new fans, including through its partnership with Betr The role of...

Ep. 129 is the official First Pitch preview episode, where we will meet the 5 startups selected to present at SBC Summit on September 24 in Lisbon, Portugal.Sue Schneider, VP of Growth and Strategy for the Americas at SBC, shares her perspective of the upcoming event, discussing the diversity of submissions, the evolution of First Pitch, and opportunities for all startups at the Summit. In this episode, you will hear from the five finalists: Adam Fonsica from Random State Tom Lemke...

Ep. 128 features Rob Urwin and Sabin Brooks from Bettormetrics, which offers next-generation sports trading analytics.   Hear them discuss: Rob’s background co-founding BetNOW, a VC-backed startup that enabled mobile betting via SMS (before iPhones were invented!) Sabin’s journey through working at Sky Sports, SkyBet, and PartyPoker.com How Bettormetrics is helping trading teams reduce market downtime, and how that's positively impacting sportsbook KPIs A look behind the curtain at trading...

Ep. 127 features Dan Zimmerman from Verse Fantasy which fuses fantasy sports and real-money gaming. Hear him discuss: His original idea of launching a betting exchange, which he realized would be "a very difficult endeavor" - thus triggering an early pivot to DFS How the LeagueSync product allows season-long fantasy players to win real-money on weekly matchups Using product-led growth tactics to drive user adoption of the Verse Fantasy app The recent launch of Verse Media, which was "built to...

We're back with Ep. 9 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 Jay Deuskar & Dylan Cooper from PrizePicks.Hear them discuss: The origin story of PrizePicks with its goal to simplify the DFS experience for casual fans How the PASPA repeal created an opportunity for PrizePicks to attack DFS while the incumbents shifted focus to sports betting The...

We're back with Ep. 126 of The Betting Startups podcast, where guest host Thomas Coiner chats with Jake Gillikin from Ranked, a community-driven college football stats platform. Hear them discuss: Jake's background in tech and the inception of Ranked The inspiration for creating a dedicated college football app Jake teaching himself to code and building Ranked as a one-man-band Overcoming early challenges and organic growth strategies The importance of solving a specific pain point for...

Ep. 125 features Jon Robin from Dabble, which takes an innovative approach of combining social elements with sports betting. This episode is guest hosted by Benjie Cherniak.   Hear them discuss: Jon's entrepreneurial background led to the founding of Dabble The unique social betting experience that differentiates Dabble in the crowded Australian market Strategies for effective user acquisition through leveraging social features within the app The significant investment...

We're back with Ep. 8 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 Steven Salz from Rivalry. Hear him discuss: How his background laid the foundation for Rivalry The origin story of Rivalry, starting from trading in-game items to becoming a top esports betting brand The importance of understanding the demographic and psychographics of esports...

Ep. 124 features Jay Huffman from Propellor on redefining fantasy sports with friends. Hear him discuss: His early career movement inside the startup environment. The importance of securing legal approval to proceed with Propellor. The concept of Propellor where they're reversing traditional parlay dynamics. Propellor's unique approach to leveraging text messages for group play. Creative game features like the shame bell, veto options, and other engaging social interactions. His product...

Ep. 123 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 Q2 features Chris Grove (Acies Investments), Roger Ehrenberg (Eberg Capital) and Davis Catlin (Discerning Capital).    Hear them discuss: Reflections on Q2 and the six-year anniversary of PASPA’s repeal, and its implications on the iGaming industry. The surprising consolidation of operators in the U.S. market and what...

Ep. 122 features Björn Nilsson from FTDx, which is transforming blocked traffic. Hear him discuss: His career journey through various payment and operator roles, including consulting for Betfair, Unibet, and others. The origins and evolution of Triggy, a product aimed to convert fans into bettors. The founding of FTDx, focusing on monetizing non-local traffic for gaming operators. Challenges in managing regulatory environments and non-monetized traffic. FTDx's simple integration process and...