The Gamble & The Glory: Ep. 05 - Charles Gillespie & Kevin McCrystle, Gambling.com

The Betting Startups Podcast

Feb 16 2024 • 52 mins

We're back with Ep. 5 of The Gamble & The Glory, where we meet founders that have built their companies to become stalwarts of the sports betting, fantasy, and iGaming industry.

In this one, we speak with Charles Gillespie & Kevin McCrystle, CEO & COO of Gambling.com Group.

Hear them discuss:

  • The go-to-market plan for launching the business in 2006, which involved moving to Shanghai to launch a sports betting information site focusing on the Chinese market
  • Abandoning the China strategy after 4 years to "make two really key pivots" that better leveraged their SEO expertise
  • The story of acquiring the Gambling.com domain name for $2.5m in 2011, and why that helped them achieve product-market fit
  • How the repeal of PASPA derailed their plans to list the company in Sweden, and instead led them to list on the NASDAQ in 2021
  • Whether the perception of affiliates as "a necessary evil" by operators aligns to their experience as one of the industry's largest performance marketing companies
  • Gambling.com's role as a founding member of the Responsible Gambling Affiliate Association, and what the trade association serves to achieve
  • How they've maintained their strong co-founder relationship over the almost 20 years since starting the company
  • Advice to other entrepreneurs based on their main lessons learned from building Gambling.com to a nine-figure market cap
  • Their perspective on ambition, and what continues to drive them as entrepreneurs despite all the success they've achieved to date

Learn more:

➡️ Gambling.com Group website

➡️ Charles Gillespie on Linkedin

➡️ Kevin McCrystle on Linkedin

The Gamble & The Glory is made possible by Segev LLP, a full solutions law firm purpose built for the gaming and betting industry. To learn more, visit: www.segev.ca