Venture capital fund The Sports Gambling Investment Fund, focused primarily on legal sports betting opportunities in the US, has established venture fund dedicated to discovering, funding and guiding the development of casino start-ups.
The market for sports betting in the US is expanding following a 2018 Supreme Court decision that allowed all states to legalise sportsbooks. A wave of start-ups is emerging with products, services and solutions designed to tap into the estimated US$17bn dollar opportunity that legal US sports betting represents.
The management team for this fund features a host of gambling industry, investment, and venture expertise. Chris Grove, managing partner, is a partner at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming where he heads the firm’s sports betting practice; David Sargeant, managing partner, is the founder and CEO of iGaming Ideas and a sports betting consultant; Blaine Graboyes, advisory partner, is the co-founder and CEO of video game gambling machine inventor GameCo; and Seth Schorr, advisory partner, is the chairman of Fifth Street Gaming and co-founder of the streaming media start-up Konek TV.
Advisory partner SeventySix Capital will assist with deal structure, vetting and back office.
Jeremy Levine, an investor in SGIF and founder of multiple companies, including Draft, which was acquired by PaddyPower Betfair in 2017, said: “My decision to invest in SGIF was driven by my belief in the team’s superior deal flow, their proven ability to evaluate that flow and the resources they can deploy to support portfolio companies.
“There’s no doubt that the keys to fully unlocking the potential of the US sports betting market are in the hands of startups. We’re just now starting to see the ideas that will ultimately define sports betting in the United States.”
