The iGaming Leader Podcast

Nigel Eccles: Why most entrepreneurs are not risk seekers, only bad at assessing risk.

Leo Judkins sits down with Nigel Eccles, the co-founder and former CEO of FanDuel. Moving from a small dairy farm in Northern Ireland to scaling one of the most iconic brands in sports betting history, Nigel pulls back the curtain on the psychological distortions required to build a massive tech ent

Nigel Eccles

Co-founder & former CEO, FanDuel

Watch the episode Apply to the Mastermind 23 May 2026 · Sponsored by Sumsub

01 · Watch the episode

The full conversation

YouTube embed goes here — add the video ID via Tweaks (Video · YouTube ID)

Or listen on:Spotify Apple Podcasts

02 · The guest

Nigel Eccles

Co-founder & former CEO, FanDuel

Nigel is a 25 year veteran of the online gaming space. He was an early employee at Flutter Entertainment and co-founded FanDuel Inc. He is an active advisor to a global network of entrepreneurs.

Follow Nigel on LinkedIn →

03 · Inside this episode

Moments worth queuing up

00:00 The Risk Illusion: Why data shows entrepreneurs are just bad at calculating probabilities.

03:00 From an Irish farm to New York.

04:45 The Flutter Origin Story.

06:30 Burning Your Boats.

11:45 Why startups are not "big companies in miniature".

13:30 Product-Market Fit.

16:00 Being Right vs. Right Now.

20:15 Knowing When a Venture is Dead.

25:15 The Pivot to B2B.

29:15 Scaling multiple companies with the same core team.

35:00 Vibe Coding: no more technical barrier to entry for new founders.

38:00 The Solo Founder Trap.

In his own words

01 / 05

“Entrepreneurs aren't more risk-seeking... they are just very bad at assessing risk.”

02 / 05

“Startups aren't like big companies in miniature. Startups are really like a science experiment.”

03 / 05

“It's very, very hard at that first point to know, am I a visionary or am I just deluded?”

04 / 05

“By this point you're like, anything that's below like a federal agency suing me is not worth getting out of bed for.”

05 / 05

“If you have a co-founder, your chance of being successful increases dramatically... You own 100% of zero without one.”

This episode is sponsored by

Sumsub

The leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators.

Learn more →

Important links

Follow Nigel Eccles on LinkedIn→ Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn→ Subscribe to the iGaming Leader newsletter→ Join the iGaming Leader Mastermind→

Leadership is lonely. It doesn't have to be.

Join the private network for senior iGaming leaders.

Apply for Membership