Ep. 183 features Tom Lemke, founder of Savage Tech, the world's first true gamified retention engine for the iGaming industry. Hear him discuss: His review of the recent SBC Summit conference in Lisbon How his experience co-founding esports teams shaped his understanding of player engagement How avatars, achievements, and progression systems improve retention and customer loyalty Why being likeable is an underappreciated quality when it comes to B2B sales The importance of continuing to show up ...
Oct 01, 2025•33 min•Ep. 208
Ep. 182 features Pranav Tadikonda from Pikkit, which is a social sports betting tracker that automatically aggregates bets, analyzes performance, and connects users through community and content. Hear him discuss: • Why he and co-founder Anthony Jonikas started Pikkit after learning big tech wasn't for them • The switch from fantasy to sports betting after PASPA’s repeal • How they validated the idea through real user frustrations with bet tracking • Their early decision to ban manual entry to e...
Sep 23, 2025•40 min•Ep. 207
Ep. 181 features Tony Ryan from Bet Caddy, which is building the ultimate sports remote to personalize and streamline the fragmented sports streaming experience. Hear him discuss: • How betting and fantasy sports make every game moment meaningful for modern fans • The origin story of Bet Caddy, sparked by college sports bars and basement brainstorming • How Bet Caddy delivers a RedZone-style experience for every day of the sports calendar • Using real-time notifications to surface key betting mo...
Sep 16, 2025•37 min•Ep. 206
The Gamble & The Glory showcases founders that built their companies into category leaders in the betting and gaming industry. In Episode 1 of Season 2, we speak with Einar Knobel from TXODDS, recorded in person at the SBC Summit Americas Conference in Fort Lauderdale. Hear him discuss: The early days of TXODDS and landing first customers like Betcris and World Sports Exchange How a scrappy, bootstrapped journey scaled into a 25-year industry leader powering global betting markets The rise o...
Sep 11, 2025•30 min•Ep. 205
Ep. 180 features Zach Wick from BtrBet, which is a SaaS platform offering a white-labeled tool stack for sports betting creators to manage content, engage audiences, and monetize their communities. Hear him discuss: • How legal sports betting in Ohio sparked his idea to build a personal betting tracker • The pain points of spreadsheets and the inspiration behind automating bet syncing and analysis • The evolution from a consumer app to a full-stack community tool for content creators • How BtrBe...
Sep 09, 2025•29 min•Ep. 204
Ep. 179 features Ryan Murphy of SharpSports and Vijay Dewan from Pine Sports, who sit down to talk through their recent merger to form the new Pine Sports, a full-stack sports data and AI company serving both bettors and B2B partners. Hear them discuss: • The origin story and strategic rationale behind the Pine Sports and SharpSports merger • How mutual investor Chris Grove sparked the deal by introducing the two founders • How the merger combines SharpSports’ B2B infrastructure with Pine Sports...
Sep 02, 2025•34 min•Ep. 203
Ep. 178 features Trent Hoerr from BullRush, which is a gamified platform offering multi-participant competitions using virtual currency with real cash prizes. Hear him discuss: • His early days as a professional runner turned prop trader during the 2008 financial crisis • The legal and regulatory path to proving BullRush competitions as games of skill • Why he believes traders often overlap with sports bettors due to shared analytical skills • The significance of peer-to-peer competition and res...
Aug 26, 2025•35 min•Ep. 202
Ep. 177 is the official First Pitch preview episode, where we will meet the 5 startups selected to present at SBC Summit on September 18 in Lisbon, Portugal. Sue Schneider, Co-founder of Defy the Odds, shares her perspective of the upcoming event, highlighting the global nature of this year’s competition with finalists representing 5 different countries across 3 continents, the evolution of First Pitch, and the opportunities for all startups at the Summit. In this episode, you will hear from the...
Aug 20, 2025•33 min•Ep. 201
Ep. 176 features Reid Rooney from Betsperts Group, which acquires and builds brands with loyal, engaged communities in fantasy sports, golf, and sports betting. Hear him discuss: How Betsperts began by exploring crypto, cannabis, and sports betting before ultimately focusing on sports betting Applying a Stanley Black & Decker “multi-brand” mindset to execute a roll-up strategy in sports media How he was able to partner up with Matthew Berry and Paige Spiranac Mapping out a portfolio that inc...
Aug 12, 2025•41 min•Ep. 200
Ep. 175 features Rick Allec from OddsLogic, a classic odds screen platform delivering real-time betting data to both sportsbooks and bettors, built by one of the industry’s most experienced operators. Hear him discuss: How he’s launched 3 data startups over 25+ years, including Sports Options and OddsLogic Why he merged Sports Options into Don Best after a decade of head-to-head competition The story behind Don Best’s acquisition by Scientific Games post-PASPA Why Rick left media/pick-selling be...
Aug 05, 2025•35 min•Ep. 199
Ep. 174 features Evan Fisher from Sparket, which is a B2B platform helping operators reach new demographics through alternative betting markets and gamified slots. Hear him discuss: How he and co-founder Aaron built Sparket after work hours while still at Google and in finance Why Sparket is doubling down on alternative markets like pop culture and reality TV to attract underserved bettors New partnerships with Penn Entertainment and Wonder Nation, and what they signal about Sparket’s momentum T...
Jul 30, 2025•40 min•Ep. 198
Ep. 173 features Kenny Huang from TinyRex Games, which is building next-generation instant games at the intersection of social and iGaming. Hear him discuss: How his experience at EA and Bluebat Games led to founding TinyRex Games during the pandemic Why TinyRex focuses on “original, edgy, cheeky” instant games beyond traditional slots How their catalog has grown from 3 to 12+ games in just the past year Why the crash game format has become so popular amongst players (and profitable for operator...
Jul 22, 2025•27 min•Ep. 197
Ep. 172 features Richard Acosta from Vor Interactive, a UK-based sports data provider creating proprietary first-party data and predictive models. Hear him discuss: How a soccer algorithm built by his co-founder sparked Vor's launch and first predictive model Why their proprietary data now generates 2,000+ prediction points per soccer match across 50+ global leagues How they’ve expanded from soccer into NFL, college sports, cricket, and tennis while focusing on first-party data Why they chose a ...
Jul 15, 2025•29 min•Ep. 196
Ep. 171 features Ben Howard from EdgeSports, which offers sports data and predictive AI at your fingertips. Ben shares how the company is capitalizing on the growth of live betting, building modular tech for both consumers and B2B clients, and bootstrapping the business using its own prediction engine. Hear them discuss: The journey from sneaker software to Penn Entertainment to founder How a winning parlay sparked the earliest version of Edge Sports What makes their predictive models different ...
Jul 01, 2025•26 min•Ep. 195
Ep. 170 features John Wright from StatsDrone, a business intelligence platform helping affiliates eliminate revenue leak and unlock more value from their data. John shares how the company is centralizing fragmented affiliate stats, building tools for operators, and uncovering hidden opportunities in iGaming’s affiliate ecosystem. Hear them discuss: The origin story from professional gambler to affiliate tech founder How revenue leak inspired the earliest version of StatsDrone Why “business intel...
Jun 25, 2025•40 min•Ep. 194
Ep. 169 features Steven Kenway from Rolling Insights, a multi-sport data platform delivering reliable data to everyone from sharp bettors to startup founders. Steven shares how the team built powerful analytics tools and a developer-friendly API ecosystem to level the playing field in sports data access. Hear them discuss: • How Rolling Insights spun out of a real estate startup and consultancy • Why Steven believes most fantasy leagues are won by spreadsheet junkies • How acquiring a U.S. data ...
Jun 17, 2025•38 min•Ep. 193
Ep. 168 features Davis Catlin from Discerning Capital, which invests at the intersection of betting, sports, media, and technology. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale. Hear him discuss: Why starting Discerning Capital gave him new empathy for founders Building a deal-by-deal investor network in a regulated industry The playbook behind their first investment in Australian operator Picklebet Why Midnite is a “challenger brand” winning with faster ...
Jun 10, 2025•31 min•Ep. 192
Ep. 167 features Gino Donati from BetOPENLY, a peer-to-peer betting exchange eliminating the traditional sportsbook model by letting users bet directly against each other at true odds. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale. Hear him discuss: Growing up in a sports-betting Italian family and booking bets in high school How running numbers for syndicates gave him a window into the business Why BetOPENLY was originally built offshore and pre-PASPA rep...
Jun 03, 2025•30 min•Ep. 191
Ep. 166 features Steve “Dakota” Happas and Sahil Patel from FantasySpin, a real-money DFS platform reinventing the fantasy experience through a gamified, slot-style draft mechanic. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale. Hear them discuss: How a friendly fantasy football bet led to the founding of BettorFantasy Steve’s journey from online poker and dating platforms to fantasy sports Why the two companies merged to form FantasySpin and how the deal c...
May 27, 2025•31 min•Ep. 190
Recorded live at SBC Summit Americas 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this episode recaps the excitement of the First Pitch competition. In this episode, you'll hear from all five startup finalists just hours before they took the stage, and at the end of the episode, we bring back the winner for a celebratory chat fresh off their victory. The five startups that competed for a prize package valued at over $100,000 were: Oliver Renner from PromptBet.ai Mark Antal from Staked AI Andrew Lea from Ga...
May 20, 2025•23 min•Ep. 189
Ep. 164 features Alexander Monahan from OddsJam, a data-driven sports betting platform acquired by Gambling.com Group in a deal worth up to $160 million. Alex returns to the podcast after first joining in early 2023 to share what has changed and what has stayed the same since the nine-figure exit. Hear them discuss: What life looks like after a $160M acquisition Why he is still focused on helping bettors win with data His reflections on the due diligence and acquisition process Why he and his co...
May 07, 2025•38 min•Ep. 188
Ep. 163 features Mark Antal from Staked AI, which is crafting an Amazon Alexa-like AI for sports to deliver personalized, real-time audio content. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025 with guest host, Thomas Coiner. Hear them discuss: How his background in AI and machine learning at Vault AI led to building Staked AI Why audio is a breakthrough for sports engagement The importance of time-sensitive content and its impact on driving sportsbook engagement How...
Apr 29, 2025•30 min•Ep. 186
Ep. 162 features Owen Monagan and Oisin Tiernan from Layup, which is a FinTech company providing a gamified savings product that turns interest into free sports picks. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025. Hear them discuss: Their journey from building a Fantasy Premier League app together to launching Layup How growing up with “prize bonds” in Ireland inspired Layup’s concept Why their product offers a responsible alternative to sports betting and lottery ...
Apr 23, 2025•32 min•Ep. 185
Ep. 161 features Aishik Lala from Rotobot AI, an AI-driven platform tackling fantasy football’s information overload with personalized insights. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025. Hear him discuss: How ChatGPT’s rise inspired a chatbot to answer fantasy football questions The launch of a simple web app in 2023 and discovering chat alone wasn’t enough for their vision the evolution into a full app with player profiles and stat discovery Hitting 10,000 dow...
Apr 15, 2025•26 min•Ep. 183
Ep. 160 features Sebastian from Plucky, which is pioneering "gambling as a service," enabling brands with an audience to offer real money gaming without getting involved in regulation. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025. Hear him discuss: Winning the Starties award for Best Collaboration after partnering with Genius Sports to monetize free-to-play games The deal with The Sun, monetizing half a million UK fantasy players through Plucky’s platform His journ...
Apr 08, 2025•28 min•Ep. 187
Ep. 159 features Aman Agarwal and Jatin Narang from Toast, building live multiplayer skill games with built-in player liquidity for real money iGaming. This episode was recorded at the World Trade Center during the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025. Hear them discuss: Toast’s origins: uniting Aman’s gambling roots and Jatin’s free-to-play expertise Blending gambling psychology with free-to-play innovation to shape their vision Their thesis for how skill games can fill the U.S. iCasino regulator...
Apr 01, 2025•29 min•Ep. 181
Ep. 158 features Shivam Shorewala from Rimble, a next-generation esports odds and analytics platform powering player props and beyond. This episode was recorded in person at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025. Hear him discuss: How his early days at SimpleBet sparked the idea for Esports micro markets Why messy esports data forced a pivot to pre-game player props Building a niche product filling the esports betting gap for operators The surprising demand for Counter Strike and expanding to L...
Mar 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 180
Ep. 157 features Will Martin from LiveDuel, a decentralized blockchain-based betting exchange aiming to simplify sports betting with crypto innovations. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2024. Hear him discuss: How a $300 TikTok filter campaign for the 2022 World Cup won Marketing Genius at The Starties The origin of LiveDuel from Will’s background in arbitrage, prop trading, and meme stocks Why they’re creating a hybrid model between sportsbooks and betting ...
Mar 19, 2025•32 min•Ep. 179
Ep. 156 features KB from Pick The Odds, which is a cutting-edge sports betting data platform providing real-time odds, arbitrage opportunities, and historical betting insights. Hear him discuss: How his background in eSports data and machine learning led to launching Pick The Odds The conversation at an Eagles game that sparked the idea for his platform How Pick The Odds collects and updates lines from over 100 sportsbooks in under 1.6 seconds Why he focuses on building advanced betting tools ra...
Mar 11, 2025•39 min•Ep. 178
Ep. 155 features Co-Founders Ty D'Amore and Justin Järvinen from Bankroll U, which is a platform designed to educate bettors while providing a gamified environment that mimics real-money betting. Hear them discuss: How a barrage of sportsbook ads sparked the idea for BankrollU Why simulated betting is the best way to learn without going broke The unique progression system that lets users prove they can win before earning real cash bonuses Justin’s journey from venture studios and fintech to jump...
Mar 05, 2025•43 min•Ep. 177
