Business of Betting Podcast

On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein sits down with Nigel Eccles, CEO and Co-founder of BetHog, to discuss AI-powered casino innovation, prediction markets, crypto payments, and the future of gambling product design.

 

Hear them discuss:

Why Nigel believes AI dealers could make up the majority of live dealer gaming within five years

How BetHog is using AI avatars and conversational interfaces to reimagine blackjack and online casino entertainment

Why product innovation—not marketing spend—is the biggest opportunity 

The case for voice interfaces, AI copilots, and rethinking sportsbook user experiences

How prediction markets compare to the early legal battles of FanDuel and DraftKings

Why Nigel sees major upside and major legal risk for sports event prediction markets

His view that crypto’s biggest gambling use case is payments, not speculation

Why the U.S. online betting market remains brutally difficult for new operators

How AI personalization intersects with responsible gambling and product ethics

 

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On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein sits down with Scott Savin, COO of World Jai Alai League, to discuss the revival of one of the fastest and most dangerous sports in the world through modern betting and media.

 

Hear them discuss:

The strategy behind reviving Jai Alai as a modern betting product, shifting from pari-mutuel wagering to fixed-odds formats on platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel

Reinventing the sport for today’s audience, including format changes, faster gameplay, and structuring matches like tennis for better betting engagement

Building a league from scratch by recruiting and training athletes rather than relying solely on traditional jai alai players

The role of distribution, including streaming on ESPN+ and the importance of landing a major streaming deal to scale a niche sport

Betting performance and early traction, with growing wager volume and increasing engagement across sportsbooks

Overcoming the sport’s past challenges around integrity, scandals, and perception through strict regulation and monitoring

The vision for expansion, including team-based leagues in Miami and Las Vegas and long-term international growth

The intersection of sports, entertainment, and betting and why niche sports need gambling and media to survive and thrive

 

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On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein sits down with Jonathan Gruber, Founder of Loserball, to discuss a unique twist on fantasy sports where success comes from predicting failure. 

 

Hear them discuss:

00:00 – Introduction to Jonathan's background and the concept behind Loserball

01:00 – The “contrarian” fantasy sports model: rooting for everything to go wrong

02:00 – How the game works: categories of futility, weighted questions, and strategy

04:00 – Early product experimentation and why pure chaos didn’t work for most players

06:00 – Finding the right balance between humor, unpredictability, and skill-based play

08:00 – The origins of the idea and how traditional fantasy sports became too complex

11:00 – Why community banter and shared misery can be just as entertaining as winning

14:00 – Lessons learned from building and iterating on a niche sports gaming product

18:00 – Who the ideal Loserball player is and why fantasy players enjoy the twist

23:00 – The future of alternative fantasy formats and opportunities for experimentation in sports gaming

 

Want to play for yourself? Head to Loserball.com to learn more and subscribe so you can play next football season. 

 

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On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein is joined by Adam Rosenberg and CJ Buskey of Handigraphs for a deep dive into building a smarter, AI-driven sports betting analytics platform.

 

Hear them discuss:

How Handigraphs was born from the need to replace juggling multiple tools like FanGraphs and Baseball Savant

Turning complex stats into simple, actionable insights for everyday bettors

The power of matchup-based data and why “recent form” beats traditional averages

How their platform uncovers betting edges especially in props and DFS

Building a product that works for both sharp bettors and beginners

The rise of personalization in betting tools, from custom filters to tailored dashboards

Integrating AI to speed up research and deliver smarter betting insights

Why the future of betting is having your own AI-powered assistant

Standing out in a crowded analytics space by complementing—not competing with—other tools

The long-term vision: evolving from a data platform into a fully AI-driven betting experience

 

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On this episode of the Business of Betting Podcast, Jeff Edelstein is joined by Jordan Bender, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Citizens, for a deep dive into the rapidly evolving sports betting and prediction markets landscape.

Hear them discuss:

How the repeal of PASPA created a fast-moving, unpredictable market where long-term forecasting has become increasingly difficult

Why prediction market users may lose more on average and how sharper bettors are shifting into these platforms

Why analysts and investors are now focused on quarterly performance instead of long-term fundamentals.

How prediction markets are attracting a younger audience compared to traditional sportsbook users

Why legalization has been slower than expected and what needs to happen for major states like New York to move forward

Why companies like DraftKings and Flutter may be undervalued despite current headwinds

How emerging betting formats could face increased scrutiny from regulators

Whether prediction markets will ultimately be treated as gambling or as a legitimate financial asset class

 

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