Over the course of four years and more than 200 episodes, Gamble On has established itself as the leading gaming industry podcast, delivering news and analysis as well as interviews with the most influential names in gambling every week.
Episode 203, posted Aug. 4, 2022, features an interview with Nick Rudman, the communications director for Underdog Fantasy, which, in its third season hosting best ball tournaments, has seen enough growth to go from a $1 million prize pool in Best Ball Mania I to $3.5 million the following year and $10 million this year.
“Yes, these games are for money,” Rudman said. “But I really think the money is just a tool to bring out the emotions that make fantasy football so great. It is that ‘I called it,’ it’s that pride, it’s that ego, it’s being right.”
Listen to “203: Massachusetts sports betting passes, Mega Millions winner, Underdog Fantasy with Nick Rudman” on Spreaker.
Although best ball certainly attracts its fair share of serious players who have gravitated toward Underdog to keep their fantasy minds focused in the offseason, above all, “the game is for the casual user,” Rudman believes. “The game is absolutely perfect for people that either don’t have the time or have aged out of the very hardcore nature of some fantasy football league. And what it really allows is, what we think the best part of the fantasy football season is, is the draft. And it lets you do it a thousand times, because you don’t have to manage it.”
"It's better for casual users because they don't have to do anything. … Best Ball, I think, will be enormous. We're just not there yet."
– @TheNickRudman on this week's featured "Gamble On" video clip. @EricRaskin @BergenBrennan @UnderdogFantasy pic.twitter.com/iBsXTGHWbn
— US Bets (@US_Bets) August 5, 2022
Rudman on Underdog’s approach to finding an audience in its inaugural year, 2020, ahead of the pandemic-impacted season: “We spent no marketing dollars; we had no sign-up offer; there’s no, ‘Sign up now, get a free thousand dollars,’ like you see on a lot of ads. There’s nothing except for a huge gap in the market to offer this game that people love.”
Rudman on how Best Ball Mania III is shaping up: “Right now we are not on pace to fill, but August is insane and you have to sort of rely on this parabolic growth at the end of August that’s very hard to project. So, we very well may fill.”
Rudman on Underdog’s plans to move into the sportsbook space: “Underdog will offer licensed betting games. I don’t want to use the word ‘sportsbook,’ because we try to do everything different. Even just different for the sake of being different. … I do not think our emphasis will be on something as simple as Patriots -7 or a total of 58 points scored in Falcons-Chiefs. It’ll be a little more creative than that.”
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