The Betting Startups Podcast

Ep. 233 features Val Makovetskii from Maincard, to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, Maincard’s evolution into a full-stack platform for launching gaming brands, its recently announced $7 million oversubscribed seed round, and its vision to expand into banking solutions and gamified commerce. Hear them discuss: Val’s entrepreneurial journey across logistics, electronics manufacturing, online education, combat sports, and iGaming. The four pivots that led to Maincard, including growing its fantasy sports app to 2.7 million players by the end of 2024. How Maincard enables entrepreneurs to launch casinos, sportsbooks, lotteries, prediction markets, and card-ripping platforms quickly and affordably. Why Val believes traditional white-label providers fall short on speed, flexibility, and responsiveness to operator needs. Maincard’s full-stack approach, combining technology, back-office support, revenue sharing, liquidity assistance, and partner resources. The challenges of launching an iGaming brand, including payment processing fees, customer acquisition costs, and the importance of distribution. Maincard’s expansion into the US through sweepstakes, prediction markets, card ripping, and partnerships with influencers and athletes. How Maincard.com addresses high-risk payment and banking challenges with global transfers, multi-currency support, and planned virtual debit cards. The company’s $7 million oversubscribed seed round, its investor network, and Val’s approach to fundraising through consistent progress updates. Val’s “gamify everything” vision, plans to expand into fashion and collectibles, and advice for founders to test ideas cheaply, stay lean, and prioritize speed of execution.   Listen to Business of Betting, the premier podcast covering the business of the sports betting industry featuring host Jeff Edelstein, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube   Learn more 👇 ➡️ Maincard website ➡️ Val Makovetskii 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/

Ep. 232 features Viktor Atanasovski, Founder of B2Bux, to discuss the rise of pack ripping and mystery boxes as emerging real-money gaming verticals, how B2Bux helps operators launch these experiences, and the company’s plans for growth through B2B partnerships and its own consumer brand, Riply.us. Hear them discuss: Viktor’s 10-year journey in iGaming, from affiliate marketing to launching and selling businesses. How B2Bux was founded to provide the infrastructure behind pack ripping and mystery box brands. How virtual pack ripping works, from revealing collectible cards to shipping them or exchanging them for account credit. How B2Bux helps operators launch in weeks with technology, payment processing, product sourcing, and legal support. The differences between pack ripping and mystery boxes, and why operators are showing growing interest in these products. Why the US is B2Bux’s primary market for pack ripping, with opportunities in other regions for mystery boxes. Why B2Bux launched its own B2C brand, Riply.us, to showcase its platform and learn more about customer acquisition, retention, and unit economics. How the business model combines setup fees with a percentage of gross gaming revenue, alongside plans to offer custom mobile apps. Viktor’s perspective on the growth potential of pack ripping and emerging gaming verticals compared with traditional online casino and sports betting. The lessons entrepreneurship has taught Viktor about creating value, choosing partners, protecting his time, and building toward the goal of onboarding 10+ operators.   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 👇 ➡️ B2Bux website ➡️ Viktor Atanasovski 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/

Ep. 231 features Sandra Wong, Founder of Lucky Lady Games, to discuss Volt, an AI-powered platform designed to help casino operators and game studios create and launch original branded games in minutes. Sandra shares her journey from professional poker player and product designer at VGW to startup founder, how Volt aims to improve player retention through personalized gaming experiences, and how the company is preparing for its next stage of growth.   Hear them discuss: Sandra’s journey from graphic design and professional poker to building gaming products and joining VGW. The origins of Lucky Lady Games, its evolution from consultancy to product development, and Sandra’s decision to build her own startup. How Volt uses AI to help operators create and launch original branded casino games in minutes. The challenge of player retention and casino lobby homogenization, and how custom-branded content can help operators stand out. Volt’s boutique aggregation model, including its focus on distribution, provider relationships, and dedicated lobby exposure. How AI-driven audience intelligence helps operators tailor game themes, content, and lobby mixes to specific markets and player preferences. Volt’s business model, including game powering fees, a planned subscription and token structure, and its growing catalog of original games. Bootstrapping Lucky Lady Games, plans to raise a $3 million seed round, and the potential for AWS Marketplace distribution after winning the AWS Gaming Innovation Award through Zero Labs Cohort Nine. Sandra’s perspective on AI, product development, and why the competitive challenge is humans using AI against other humans and not humans against machines. The next steps for Volt, including launching its platform, expanding game types, entering African markets, pursuing tribal partnerships, and building toward a global platform for custom-branded mobile games   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 👇 ➡️ Lucky Lady Games website ➡️ Sandra Wong 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/

Ep. 230 welcomes Rishin and Hakon, Co-founders of Gmonitor, following a whirlwind 10 days that took them from Zero Labs Cohort 9 in Las Vegas to winning the first First Pitch competition at SBC Summit in Lisbon. The founders discuss their competitive and market intelligence platform for iGaming operators, their AI-native approach, and their ambitious vision to become the intelligence layer for the entire gaming and wagering industry. Hear them discuss: How Gmonitor won the SBC Summit First Pitch competition with a high-risk, high-reward two-founder presentation, extensive rehearsal, and a pitch built around real customer use cases. Rishin and Hakon's different backgrounds in engineering, AI, media, sales, and gaming, and how their complementary skills led them to build Gmonitor. What Gmonitor does as a competitive and market intelligence platform for iGaming operators, replacing manual workflows and disconnected tools with industry-specific data and insights. How operators can use Gmonitor to track promotions, games, advertising, social media, and other competitive signals and turn them into actionable decisions. How Gmonitor differentiates itself by combining signals across the competitive landscape and using software to deliver faster, more actionable intelligence than traditional tools and consultants. Gmonitor's roadmap to expand into more markets, connect with operators' internal data and systems, automate workflows, and eventually provide regulatory intelligence across the wider gaming and wagering industry. Why Gmonitor serves both smaller operators looking to close the gap with larger competitors and multinational operators struggling to monitor the growing volume of competitive activity. The company's business model, including its web application, workflow-specific dashboards, recurring reports, customized intelligence, monthly subscriptions, and separately quoted intelligence services. Why the founders believe being a lean, AI-native startup gives Gmonitor an advantage over legacy incumbents, with AI acting as an “equalizing opportunity” for startups with limited resources. How Zero Labs transformed Gmonitor's thinking around product, pricing, pitching, and go-to-market strategy, while helping clarify the path toward its long-term vision of becoming core intelligence and automation infrastructure for the gaming industry.   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 👇 ➡️ Gmonitor website ➡️ Rishin Kesarla on Linkedin ➡️ Hakon Magnusson 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/

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/