Ep. 80: 20 years of launching businesses in the US online gambling industry w/ Cal Spears from RotoGrinders

Ep. 80: 20 years of launching businesses in the US online gambling industry w/ Cal Spears from RotoGrinders

Ep. 80 features Cal Spears, serial industry entrepreneur who joins to take us through his history in the US online gambling industry before PASPA’s repeal in 2018.

Hear him discuss:

  • The online poker boom in the early 2000’s, which led him to co-found PocketFives.com in 2005
  • The passage of UIGEA in 2007, which prompted him to sell PocketFives and relocate to Costa Rica with his co-founders
  • Launching RotoGrinders 2010 after observing the emergence of daily fantasy sports tournaments from startup companies such as DraftKings and Fanduel
  • The pivotal moment known as Black Friday in 2011, which led to him re-acquiring PocketFives, and pivoting it from an affiliate to a subscription-based business
  • Negotiating a revenue share deal with Jason Robins during DraftKings’ first year in business, which “was the best financial decision [he’s] ever made”
  • The 2015 DFS scandal that involved a former RotoGrinders employee, which led to the US government trying to regulate the DFS industry
  • The repeal of PASPA in 2018, which paved the way for RotoGrinders’ sale to Better Collective in 2019
  • Cal’s advice for younger entrepreneurs entering the space today

This episode was guest hosted by Cooper Lycan, founder of Sobet, which you can learn more about in Ep. 35 from last August.

Learn more 👇

➡️ Cal Spears on Twitter

Episode host:

➡️ Cooper Lycan on Linkedin

This episode is brought to you by GeoComply, a leading provider of cutting-edge anti-fraud and geolocation solutions that detect location fraud and help verify a user’s true digital identity.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(250)

Ep. 227: Meet the First Pitch finalists for SBC Summit in Lisbon

Ep. 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 episo...

17 Sep 28min

Ep. 226: Empowering prediction market traders w/ Justin & Cam from PredictQ

Ep. 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,...

8 Sep 35min

Ep. 225: Unifying the messy sports data ecosystem w/ Amar Rao from SportsStack

Ep. 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 insight...

1 Sep 30min

Ep. 224: Redefining sports prediction markets through rechargeable trading cards w/ Andrew Wood from RallyTabs

Ep. 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 digit...

25 Aug 29min

Ep. 223: Launching the "Plaid for prediction markets" w/ Andrew Gonzalez from Parlay X

Ep. 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 ...

18 Aug 35min

Ep. 222: Bringing poker tournament mechanics to sports predictions w/ Robert McCall from The Sharps

Ep. 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,...

11 Aug 26min

Ep. 221: At the intersection of sports betting and financial trading w/ Frank Li

Ep. 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 p...

28 Jul 30min

Ep. 220: Solving the pain of manual marketing compliance w/ Neil Dillon from Solas Compliance

Ep. 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 launchin...

21 Jul 32min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-pa-konto
rss-skravla-gar
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
finansredaksjonen
utbytte
pengepodden-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
rss-orjasater
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
lederpodden
pengesnakk
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
rss-markedspuls-2