The Betting Startups Podcast

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 ...

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 u...

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 acquis...

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 Entertai...

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 f...

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 sp...

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 earli...

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 reve...

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 ...

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 Australia...

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...

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 spo...

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:

• O...

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

• H...

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 ti...

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...

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 2...

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, monetiz...

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
• Read more