The Betting Startups Podcast

By BettingStartups.comBusiness Entrepreneurship

The Betting Startups Podcast episodes

September 29Ep. 229: Inside the raise to build "Expedia for sports betting" w/ Gino Donati from BetOpenly and OpenMarkets
Ep. 229 welcomes back Gino Donati, Founder of BetOpenly, for a bonus episode exploring the evolution of his peer-to-peer betting exchange and his ambitious new venture, Open Markets. Gino discusses building a universal betting marketplace, connecting liquidity across platforms, serving institutional clients, and the lessons he's learned about fundraising and scaling a business.

Hear him discuss:
How BetOpenly differentiates itself as a peer-to-peer exchange focused on fair, devigged lines and odds rather than traditional market-making models.
The growth of BetOpenly over the past year, including changes to its customer acquisition strategy and expansion across social platforms and partner integrations.
The launch of Open Markets and Gino's vision for creating an “Expedia for sports betting,” allowing users to compare prices and access the best available lines across multiple platforms.
How a universal wallet and partnership infrastructure could make it easier for bettors to move money and execute trades without maintaining separate balances across multiple operators.
Why Open Markets is also targeting the institutional side of the industry, offering infrastructure, data, liquidity solutions, and other B2B services to operators and market participants.
Gino's fundraising journey, including raising pre-money valuation and why he chose outside capital after years of bootstrapping BetOpenly.
The licensing, regulatory, and infrastructure challenges involved in building a centralized layer that connects sportsbooks, exchanges, and prediction market platforms.
Why Gino believes Open Markets can act as a neutral “Switzerland” for the industry by bringing liquidity to multiple platforms rather than competing directly with them.
His long-term vision for BetOpenly, including the possibility of eventually giving ownership to its users and creating a community-owned betting exchange.
Gino's plans to invest in early-stage startups, provide founders with access to data and infrastructure, and potentially build an accelerator-style ecosystem around Open

Join the Next Predict conversation on October 22-23rd in New York. Tickets are still available, get yours now and use discount code STARTUP15 for 15% off your pass! Grab tickets here: https://nextpredict.io/summits/the-worlds-prediction-markets-summit/

Learn more 👇
➡️ BetOpenly website
➡️ Gino Donati on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
34 min
September 22Ep. 228: Reinventing free-to-play prediction games "without the bill" w/ Maksim Afanasev from Pixl.Bet
Ep. 228 features Maksim Afanasev, Founder of Pixl.Bet, to discuss his journey from sportsbook product leadership to entrepreneurship, and how he is building a free-to-play sports gaming platform designed to capture the excitement of betting without the financial risk.

Hear them discuss:
Maksim’s 17-year journey in the betting industry, from Coral to sportsbook product leadership and Sportradar.
How experimenting with AI and building a World Cup prediction game led to the creation of Pixl.Bet.
Pixl.Bet’s mission to deliver the excitement of betting through a free-to-play experience without financial risk.
The platform’s use of tickets, points, predictions, multiplayer games, challenges, and social features.
How Bingo and other interactive games are helping Pixl.Bet build a stronger sports-focused community.
Early traction, including around 1,500 users, 25–30% active users, and more than 3,000 user-generated reels.
The challenge of user acquisition and Pixl.Bet’s focus on organic growth, referrals, and micro-influencers.
Potential monetization through affiliate partnerships, sponsorships, advertising, and non-gambling brands.
How AI-powered “vibe coding” is changing the way founders can rapidly prototype, test, and improve new products.
Pixl.Bet’s plans to grow its community, attract sponsors, develop products for gaming operators, and explore new gaming concepts.

If you still don't have a ticket to SBC Summit in Lisbon, use discount code BETTINGSTARTUPSVIP for 30% off your pass. Grab your ticket here: https://sbcevents.com/sbc-summit/ticket-options/

Learn more 👇
➡️ Pixl.Bet website
➡️ Maksim Afanasev on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
35 min
September 17Ep. 227: Meet the First Pitch finalists for SBC Summit in Lisbon
Ep. 227 is the official First Pitch preview episode, where we meet the 5 startups selected to present at the SBC First Pitch Competition during SBC Summit in Lisbon on October 1st, 2026.
In this episode, you will hear from the five finalists:
Teemu Huuhtanen from Betsy
Rishin Kesarla from GMonitor
Cristian Barbosa from InsightPlay.ai
Eduardo Cesar Franceschett from Safefy
Alfonso González García from Whizdom AI
SBC First Pitch brings together some of the most exciting startups within the betting and gaming industry, giving founders the opportunity to showcase their innovations and compete in front of a panel of industry experts and investors.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
29 min
September 08Ep. 226: Empowering prediction market traders w/ Justin & Cam from PredictQ
Ep. 226 features Cameron MacMillan and Justin Herzig, co-founders of PredictQ, to discuss their vision for building the expert layer of prediction markets. The pair share how their backgrounds in DFS, analytics, community building, and technology came together to create a platform designed to help traders discover, analyze, and trade prediction markets more effectively.

Hear them discuss:
Justin and Cameron's entrepreneurial backgrounds, including their experiences with blockchain, DFS, RotoGrinders, and sports analytics, and how they ultimately came together to launch PredictQ.
Why they believe prediction markets need an expert layer similar to what RotoGrinders built for DFS and what platforms like Seeking Alpha and TradingView built for financial markets.
How PredictQ is building tools across the full trading lifecycle, including market discovery, research and analysis, price comparison, liquidity, and cross-platform portfolio management.
Why the founders see prediction markets as a fundamentally different consumer experience from traditional sportsbooks, with open order books, market making, the ability to exit positions, and no risk of being limited for winning.
How Cameron is applying lessons from building the RotoGrinders community, including the importance of education, transparency, trusted experts, and creating a place where users can learn from one another.
PredictQ's go-to-market strategy, including partnerships, community activations, NFL-focused tools, and using a rapid product-shipping cadence as a form of organic marketing.
The company's approach to fundraising, including an oversubscribed pre-seed round from people like Jeremy Levine, Paris Smith, Cal Spears, Adam Small, Jonathan Bales, Peter Jennings, Jesse Learmonth, and others.
Why transparent prediction market data could help create verifiable trader reputation scores, improve trust in the industry, and reduce the influence of unverified touts and fake betting records.
PredictQ's long-term vision of becoming the go-to destination for prediction market traders across sports, politics, weather, crypto, and other emerging market categories.
Justin and Cameron's final NFL season picks, including contrarian DFS strategy, their survivor pool outlook, and a few early Week One positions.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

Learn more 👇
➡️ PredictQ website
➡️ Justin Herzig on Linkedin
➡️ Cameron MacMillan on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
36 min
September 01Ep. 225: Unifying the messy sports data ecosystem w/ Amar Rao from SportsStack
Ep. 225 features Amar Rao, Co-Founder of SportsStack, to discuss the challenges of sports data infrastructure and how SportsStack is building a unified data layer for the industry. Amar shares insights from his experience at NumberFire, FanDuel, and Fanatics, along with SportsStack's approach to data normalization, settlement, and scaling sports technology.

Hear them discuss:
Amar's journey from Amazon to NumberFire, FanDuel, and Fanatics, and how years of dealing with fragmented sports data led to the creation of SportsStack.
How SportsStack's Unified API helps operators, fantasy platforms, prediction markets, media companies, teams, and leagues normalize data and switch providers without rebuilding their infrastructure.
Why settlement and misgraded markets remain a costly challenge for sportsbooks and prediction markets, and how cross-validating multiple data sources can improve accuracy and reduce operational risk.
SportsStack's early traction, including work with Underdog and Novig, its approach to fundraising, and why strategic capital matters more than raising money for the sake of it.
Why industry conferences are critical for early-stage B2B startups, with Amar emphasizing the importance of consistently showing up, building awareness, and playing the long game.
Amar's view of the evolving sports data ecosystem, including the rise of specialized providers, AI-driven data products, and new demands created by prediction markets.
SportsStack's roadmap for the next year, with a focus on expanding provider coverage, improving data quality and speed, and becoming a leading settlement infrastructure solution.
Amar's long-term vision for SportsStack as the default infrastructure layer connecting sports data providers with the products and experiences built on top of them.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

Learn more 👇
➡️ SportsStack website
➡️ Amar Rao on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
31 min
August 25Ep. 224: Redefining sports prediction markets through rechargeable trading cards w/ Andrew Wood from RallyTabs
Ep. 224 features Andrew Wood, Co-Founder of RallyTabs, to discuss his transition from investment banking into entrepreneurship, the evolution of RallyTabs from a physical pull-tab concept into a digital product, and how the company is creating a new sports engagement experience that combines predictions, collectibles, and pack-ripping mechanics.

Hear them discuss:
How Andrew's experience covering the gaming industry as an investment banker led him to identify opportunities within the sports gaming ecosystem.
The origins of RallyTabs, including its evolution from a slot route concept to a live sports pull-tab product before ultimately becoming a digital platform.
How RallyTabs combines sports predictions, digital cards, collectibles, and pack-ripping mechanics into a single fan engagement experience.
The user experience behind RallyTabs, including digital packs, live sports predictions, collectible cards, and the ability to reactivate cards for future games.
Why RallyTabs sits at the intersection of sports predictions, fantasy, collectibles, and pack ripping rather than fitting neatly into a single existing category.
The company's go-to-market strategy, combining digital marketing with in-person activations at sports bars, stadiums, and tailgates.
Why simplicity and a low barrier to entry are central to RallyTabs' strategy for attracting a broader audience of sports fans.
How the company has funded its growth through founders and a friends-and-family round while testing customer acquisition channels before pursuing a larger capital raise.
Andrew's perspective on the rapid evolution of the gaming industry, from the post-PASPA boom to the emergence of sweepstakes and prediction markets.
RallyTabs' roadmap for the next 12 months, including expanding into football and additional sports, growing its customer base, exploring retail-focused products, and becoming a bigger part of the live game-day experience.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

Learn more 👇
➡️ RallyTabs website
➡️ Andrew Wood on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
30 min
August 18Ep. 223: Launching the "Plaid for prediction markets" w/ Andrew Gonzalez from Parlay X
Ep. 223 features Andrew Gonzalez, CEO & Co-Founder of ParlayX, for a wide-ranging discussion on entrepreneurship, prediction markets, institutional trading infrastructure, fundraising, product-market fit, and the rapidly evolving relationship between sports betting and prediction markets.

Hear them discuss:
Andrew's journey from Southern California and UCLA to crypto investing, venture capital, Flowdesk, and ultimately launching ParlayX after deciding to bet on himself as a founder.
Why leaving a well-funded startup to build ParlayX full-time was one of the biggest risks of his life and how support from family and friends helped shape that decision.
How ParlayX evolved from a retail-focused product into an infrastructure platform designed specifically for institutional participants in prediction markets.
Why market makers need better tools for permissions, account management, security, custody, and collaboration across prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
How ParlayX is building a unified operating layer that allows firms to organize traders, allocate capital, manage credentials, and monitor activity across multiple exchanges.
Why the retail prediction market aggregator model has struggled and how conversations with potential customers led the team to identify an underserved institutional market.
How ParlayX plans to monetize its platform through a SaaS model while developing new products that improve capital efficiency through portfolio netting and lending solutions.
Why Andrew believes prediction markets and sports event contracts are here to stay, despite ongoing regulatory uncertainty and debates surrounding the industry's future.
How growing institutional participation could reshape prediction markets by creating new opportunities for hedging, insurance, block trading, and market-making.
ParlayX's vision to become the "Plaid for prediction markets" by serving as the central infrastructure and orchestration layer connecting exchanges, market makers, capital, and data across the ecosystem.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

Learn more 👇
➡️ ParlayX website
➡️ Andrew Gonzalez on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
36 min
August 11Ep. 222: Bringing poker tournament mechanics to sports predictions w/ Robert McCall from The Sharps
Ep. 222 features Robert McCall, Founder of The Sharps, to discuss his journey from the cannabis industry into sports betting, building a skill-based peer-to-peer sports prediction tournament platform, and using AI to build the product from scratch.

Hear them discuss:
How Rob went from the cannabis industry and competitive gambling into sports betting, with poker and blackjack tournaments inspiring the creation of The Sharps.
The concept behind The Sharps, a skill-based peer-to-peer sports prediction tournament platform where players compete using props, parlays, and same-game parlays.
How the tournament structure works, including weekly, head-to-head, team, and custom leagues, buy-ins, rebuys, live leaderboards, and prize pools.
Why The Sharps is designed for both experienced bettors and novices, giving players opportunities to compete, learn, and improve their skills.
The Sharps Score, which evaluates players using metrics including CLV and ROI while providing greater transparency into betting performance.
How The Sharps is navigating regulation through geolocation technology that automatically adjusts the platform based on the rules of different jurisdictions.
Rob's go-to-market strategy ahead of the NFL season, including partnerships with VSiN, FantasyPros, BettingPros, Props.Cash, FootballContest.com, and others.
Early player feedback, why the social features and live leaderboard are proving popular, and the debate surrounding the Sharps Score.
How Rob self-funded the company and used AI to build a robust platform from scratch despite having no programming background.
The immediate focus on security and functionality ahead of the NFL season, along with Rob's long-term vision of making The Sharps a recognized global platform with a major industry partner.

The Startup Zone at SBC Summit in Lisbon is the best way for startups to establish their presence at "The Greatest Show in Gaming". Discounted packages are available exclusively through BettingStartups, but spaces are very limited so register your interest ASAP: https://www.bettingstartups.com/sbc-summit-2026

Learn more 👇
➡️ The Sharps website
➡️ Robert McCall on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
27 min
July 28Ep. 221: At the intersection of sports betting and financial trading w/ Frank Li
Ep. 221 features Frank Li, Co-founder of ESX, to discuss building a next-generation sports prediction market for technical bettors. Frank shares how his background in quantitative trading led him to prediction markets, why ESX is focused on live sports trading, and how content, community, and customer feedback have fueled the company's early growth.

Hear them discuss:
Frank's journey from quantitative sports betting and prediction markets to co-founding ESX, and the inspiration behind creating a trading-first sports betting platform.
How ESX differentiates itself by targeting technical and semi-professional bettors with live sports trading tools, social features, and an exchange-style experience.
Why Reddit, customer interviews, and more than 10,000 user conversations have been central to shaping the product and identifying real customer pain points.
ESX's content-first growth strategy, generating millions of social media views and building an engaged community that converts into active users.
The company's early traction, including rapid month-over-month volume growth, bootstrapping with $100,000, and plans to raise $2 million to accelerate expansion.
Why Frank believes sports betting and financial trading are converging, and how prediction markets could reshape the future of sports wagering.
Lessons learned as first-time founders, the value of mentorship, and how programs like Zero Labs have helped the ESX team navigate the startup journey.
ESX's long-term vision to become one of the most recognized brands in prediction markets alongside industry leaders like Kalshi and Polymarket

Applications for the 2026 Affiliate Draft are now open until August 16th. Eligible startups are encouraged to apply here: https://www.alphahub.tech/programmes/affiliate-draft-2026/

Learn more 👇
➡️ ESX website
➡️ Frank Li on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
31 min
July 21Ep. 220: Solving the pain of manual marketing compliance w/ Neil Dillon from Solas Compliance
Ep. 220 features Neil Dillon, Founder of Solas Compliance, to discuss how AI is transforming marketing compliance for regulated industries. Neil shares his journey from Betfair and Flutter to launching Solas, explains why compliance remains one of the biggest bottlenecks for operators, and offers practical insights into building enterprise-grade AI products for the betting industry.

Hear them discuss:
Neil's career journey from Betfair and Flutter to founding Solas Compliance after identifying a long-standing pain point in marketing and legal workflows.
How Solas Compliance uses AI to review marketing assets before they go live, helping operators reduce risk while dramatically speeding up compliance reviews.
Why enterprise AI requires far more than a simple ChatGPT wrapper, including the importance of consistency, audit trails, security, and regulatory readiness.
Early traction with tier-one operators, solving real-world compliance challenges during major events like the FIFA World Cup, and expanding across multiple regulated markets.
The realities of enterprise software sales, aligning legal, compliance, and marketing teams, and driving adoption across large organizations.
Neil's fundraising journey, securing early venture backing, raising £670,000, and preparing for the company's next investment round.
Common misconceptions about AI, why bigger models aren't always better, and the value of specialized models built for specific enterprise tasks.
Balancing life as a first-time founder and new father, and how both experiences have shaped his perspective on building a business.
Solas Compliance's vision to become the global standard for AI-powered marketing compliance across betting, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and other regulated industries.
Neil's advice for founders embracing AI, building customer trust, and creating products that solve real operational problems in highly regulated markets

Applications for the 2026 Affiliate Draft are now open until August 1. Eligible startups are encouraged to apply here: https://www.alphahub.tech/programmes/affiliate-draft-2026/

Learn more 👇
➡️ Solas Compliance website
➡️ Neil Dillon on Linkedin

📩 Get the top headlines from the industry's most promising growth-stage companies every week—totally free! Subscribe to the Betting Startups newsletter here: https://news.bettingstartups.com/
33 min

About The Betting Startups Podcast

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Meet the people building the most promising startups competing for a piece of the multi-billion dollar real-money gaming industry. Presented by Optimove.