Three gaming executives this week set out their contrasting strategies for navigating a US market in which the regulatory ground beneath prediction markets, sweepstakes gaming and sports betting continues to shift.
In the CEO Talks: Unfiltered panel at the NEXT Summit New York, moderated by CNBC correspondent Contessa Brewer, Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky confirmed that the company had closed its $75m funding round valuing the business at $500m.
He said Novig intends to migrate its entire operation to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated Designated Contract Market framework later this year, abandoning the sweepstakes model it had used as an interim vehicle while pursuing federal licensing.
Fortinsky framed the move as a regulatory pivot rather than a product one, arguing that sports trading represents the primary commercial opportunity in prediction markets.
It’s also one that larger, more established operators are too encumbered to pursue aggressively, he argued.
Justin Park, co-founder and group CEO of Betty, offered the panel’s most candid assessment of sweepstakes, describing the company’s earlier entry into the category as a failure driven by poor execution, misaligned team culture, and an absence of market research.
Betty has since exited sweepstakes entirely. Park outlined a different growth trajectory, focused on expanding its retail and online casino operations in Canada, entering Alberta as its next domestic market, and testing the model in the UK.
He also raised the possibility of reversing the traditional land-based to online sequence by building an established digital product first and then translating it into physical retail venues.
Park pointed to the US commercial and tribal casino market as a land-based opportunity he estimates exceeds the combined scale of the global video games and film industries.
Super apps could be the next big thing
Elsewhere Joey Levy, CEO of Betr, confirmed a partnership with Polymarket that will add prediction markets as a fifth product vertical within what the company describes as a gaming ‘super app’.
Betr already operates fantasy pick’em in 34 states, a social sportsbook in 32 states, a social casino soft-launched in 30 states, and a skill games product in 38 states.
Levy highlighted super apps as one of the bigger transformational tools of the iGaming space. He argued these are more likely to transcend the regulatory evolution that will occur over the next several years.
“[We’ve] built this strategy where whether it’s Fantasy Pick’em, whether it’s Social Sportsbook, whether it’s Social Casino, whether it’s prediction markets, whether it’s skill games, we’ll have really strong user experiences under all of those regulatory frameworks and have a lot of optionality to offer our super app in the majority of the country, regardless of what the regulatory environment ends up looking like three to five years from now,” he said.
Levy cited DraftKings’ recent move toward a similar super app model as validation of Betr’s multi-year strategic direction.
All three executives acknowledged that predicting the regulatory environment for prediction markets over a three-to-five-year horizon is not possible, though Fortinsky expressed confidence that federal oversight of sports trading is inevitable.
He stated: “[My] view is that a federal regulatory framework around prediction markets is inevitable and is necessary. We’re big believers that proper regulation actually facilitates innovation. I’m very encouraged with Chairman Selig’s attitude towards putting in the guardrails and the framework to allow builders to build.”