Defy the Odds and BettingStartups partner to support emerging igaming businesses

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2025/07/08: Sue Schneider: Holding the door open for igaming innovators 2025/07/01: SBC announces two new stages focusing on global and emerging markets 2025/08/27: SBC Summit 2025 adds Asia-dedicated conference to emerging markets stage 2025/02/06: Payflo and MoneyGram partner on new payment options for US bettors

The Backstory

Why this partnership matters now

Early-stage startups in betting and gaming face a familiar bind: they need capital, commercial traction and regulatory answers at the same time, but the networks that unlock those resources are fragmented. The tie-up between Defy the Odds and BettingStartups lands in that gap. It formalizes a pipeline that links founders with investors, operators and advisers while promising real-world touchpoints at major industry gatherings. The timing aligns with a broader reshaping of the conference circuit, rising interest in high-growth regions and renewed investment in the operational plumbing — payments and compliance — that young companies must master to scale.

Industry leaders have telegraphed that 2026 will test which startup stories break through the noise. Investor appetite has shifted toward solutions that expand addressable markets and de-risk operations. This partnership positions itself as connective tissue for those priorities, creating a venue where founders can validate use cases against operator needs, meet capital and compress sales cycles. The first joint activation at a U.S. trade show underscores the near-term focus on exposure and curated meetings rather than long incubation timelines.

Schneider’s playbook for opening doors

Defy the Odds is built around institutional memory and a wide-angle view of where igaming goes next. Co-founder Sue Schneider has argued that innovation thrives when barriers to entry come down and that the sector still cycles through expansion, regulation and stabilization. In an interview this year, she outlined how the group is leveraging decades of relationships to give founders a faster start, including introductions to investors and regulators and short, structured advisory engagements. For a deeper look at that approach, see Complete iGAMING’s profile of Schneider and Defy the Odds’ mission to “hold the door open” for igaming innovators.

That philosophy pairs naturally with BettingStartups’ role as a signal amplifier for founders seeking capital. The combined effort aims to replace ad hoc networking with a repeatable pathway: identify promising ideas, pressure-test them with operators, then match them with funders who understand gaming’s regulatory cadence. Schneider’s emphasis on community-building — including outreach to universities and cross-industry incubators — also suggests a broader goal of widening the industry’s talent funnel, which could help address the scarcity of sector-specific accelerators she has flagged.

A larger stage as conferences go global

The partnership’s debut around major events fits a market where conferences are less about panels and more about deal flow. Organizers are recalibrating agendas to track where growth is moving and where regulatory change will alter risk. SBC’s expansion to add Global Markets and Emerging Markets stages for its 2025 summit is a case in point, reflecting surging attendance from Latin America, Asia, Africa and North America. The programming is designed to translate regional dynamics — from licensing frameworks to distribution partnerships — into actionable playbooks for operators and suppliers.

For startups, that means more granular briefs on how to enter or expand in specific jurisdictions and more concentrated networking around those themes. The focus on market-entry strategy dovetails with the DTO–BettingStartups aim to make early connections count. Stage-adjacent lounges and curated tracks are becoming the default setting for investor-founder collisions, which can speed diligence and compress fundraising timelines.

Asia’s prominence in that recalibration is explicit. SBC is dedicating an Emerging Markets track to Asia’s US$18.3 billion sports betting and igaming landscape, with sessions on the region’s patchwork compliance, India’s prospects and the Philippines’ policy reset. The takeaway for startups is twofold. First, product localization and regulatory fluency are nonnegotiable in markets that move at different speeds. Second, the operator and regulator mix on stage signals an opening for companies that can bridge compliance and customer acquisition in ways that fit ring-fenced regimes. The DTO–BettingStartups collaboration could put founders in the room where those nuances are debated — and where pilots are greenlit.

Plumbing the growth: payments and compliance shift from hurdles to edges

Even the crispest go-to-market story falters if users cannot move money easily or if location controls block compliant play. Recent moves in payments and geolocation show where investors and operators are clearing those chokepoints.

On the cashier side, Payflo’s tie-up with MoneyGram to enable cash deposits and payouts for U.S. gaming and lottery targets two persistent frictions: cost and access. Cash-in and cash-out options can widen the funnel to customers without favored cards or digital wallets and can de-risk chargebacks for operators. MoneyGram’s compliance and KYC infrastructure adds a layer of comfort for regulators and enterprise partners. For startups, especially those in wallets, payouts or loyalty, this creates room to build experiences atop more inclusive rails without owning the most complex compliance pieces themselves.

On the compliance stack, investors are signaling that precision and scale are prerequisites, not add-ons. Xpoint’s fresh funding led by Bettor Capital illustrates the point. The company plans to expand its geolocation and risk tools while rolling out in North America and selected international markets, including Brazil and the United Arab Emirates. For founders, the message is clear: if your product depends on where a user is or what they are allowed to do, partnering with best-in-class verification can reduce abandonment and audit pain while opening doors to operators in newly regulated environments.

The common thread is that payments and compliance are becoming competitive differentiators. In pitches and procurement, startups that arrive with pre-integrated solutions to these problems can convert faster and scale cleaner, making them more attractive to operators and investors that prize speed without compliance surprises.

Stakes for founders and the road ahead

The DTO–BettingStartups partnership enters a market where the United States’ appetite for new igaming states remains uncertain and where alternative models like sweepstakes and prediction markets test boundaries. Schneider has framed these cycles as recurring features of the industry, not anomalies, arguing that new jurisdictions and novel models regularly redraw the map. In that context, community-led programs that connect founders with experienced operators and policy thinkers can shorten learning curves and help avoid costly missteps.

Meanwhile, the industry’s center of gravity is visibly more international. With flagship conferences doubling down on regional tracks, Asia’s regulatory debates intensifying and infrastructure providers raising capital to support cross-border compliance, the bar for credible expansion plans is rising. Founders who treat events as working rooms — to validate regulatory assumptions, secure pilots and shore up payment and geolocation partners — will be better positioned to convert attention into revenue.

The near-term milestones are concrete: curated networking zones at major shows, an expanding bench of infrastructure partners to plug into, and investor interest calibrated toward products that unlock regulated growth. The long-term stakes are larger. If the partnership can prove that a coordinated community model consistently accelerates fundraising and market entry, it could become a template for how igaming onboards its next generation of companies as the map keeps shifting.