About Chris Grove
Chris Grove has spent more than twenty years inside the global gaming industry, working at the intersection of operating businesses, capital markets, and public policy. The work published under his byline draws on direct involvement: companies he has founded, boards he has sat on, regulatory hearings he has testified at, and commercial models he has helped operators and investors pressure-test before they were deployed. He writes about iGaming and sports betting from inside the industry, not from a distance.
Grove began his career in gaming as a professional poker player before transitioning to a focus on industry-centric roles. Those early years at the tables shaped his approach to coverage today, particularly his attention to product mechanics, customer behaviour, and the asymmetric information that defines profitable operators. He moved into industry-facing work in the late 2000s and has since become one of the most quoted analysts of the regulated online gambling sector in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
Professional Background
Acies Investments
Grove is Co-Founding Partner at Acies Investments, a specialist venture capital fund focused on operators, suppliers, affiliates, and infrastructure businesses across sports betting, iGaming, sweepstakes gaming, esports, and sports technology. In this role he leads commercial diligence on early-stage and growth-stage gaming companies, supports portfolio founders on regulatory positioning and go-to-market strategy, and works alongside limited partners drawn from the listed gaming and professional sports ownership communities.
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming
He continues to serve as Partner Emeritus at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, one of the longest-established independent research and advisory firms covering the global gambling industry. Prior to founding American Affiliate, where he served as Chief Executive, Grove was a partner at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming and founded the firm’s Sports & Emerging Verticals market research and consulting practice. The practice produces commercial intelligence used by operators, suppliers, investment banks, and regulators across multiple jurisdictions.
Earlier roles and exits
Before joining EKG, Grove co-founded Play USA Media and LegalSportsReport.com, which were acquired by Catena Media in 2017. Both properties became reference titles for the regulated US online gambling market and remain widely cited today. He previously worked at the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation as a Distinguished Fellow, and has held strategic advisory engagements with several of the world’s leading betting brands, the largest private equity firms invested in gaming, and numerous Fortune 500 companies evaluating exposure to the sector.
Areas of Specialisation
Grove’s coverage is concentrated on the commercial, regulatory, and competitive structure of the regulated gambling industry. His specialist topics include:
iGaming and online casino
State-by-state regulation in the United States, European market structure post-2014, product economics, supplier consolidation, payments, and the strategic relationship between online casino and land-based operators. He has been one of the most consistent voices arguing that US iGaming legislation has stalled and explaining why.
Sports betting
US market evolution following the 2018 repeal of PASPA, operator unit economics, state tax regimes, marketing and acquisition costs, and the competitive positioning of FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, ESPN Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook, Hard Rock Bet, and challenger brands.
Sweepstakes and social casino
Legal status, business models, the wave of state-level regulatory action in 2024 and 2025, and investor perspectives on a vertical he has covered closely since well before it entered mainstream attention.
Prediction markets
The rise of Kalshi, Polymarket, and exchange-style sports contracts, including the regulatory and federalism questions these products raise at the CFTC and at state level.
Capital markets and M&A
Operator consolidation, SPAC activity, valuation trends in listed gaming names, and the diligence considerations specific to gambling assets.
Education
Grove studied at Illinois State University, where he completed his postgraduate work before moving full time into the gaming industry. Chris Grove attended Illinois State University. His subsequent appointment as Distinguished Fellow at the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation, part of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, reflects continued engagement with the academic study of gambling regulation alongside his commercial work.
Selected Publications and Media Appearances
His work has been cited by outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC, the Economist, ESPN, Forbes, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Additional outlets that have sourced his analysis include Reuters, the Associated Press, The Athletic, Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sportico, and the Guardian. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming
Within the trade press, his commentary has appeared in EGR Global, iGaming Business, Gambling Insider, SBC News, iGamingNext, Casino Reports, Earnings+More, NEXT.io, Compliance+More, Global Gaming Business Magazine, and Sports Handle, among others. He has appeared as a featured guest on PBS NewsHour Weekend and on CNBC’s Last Call, and is a regular speaker at industry events including the EGR US Power Summit, the NEXT Summit, the Sports Business Journal Thought Leaders programme, ICE, and SBC Summits.
Editorial Principles and Independence
Articles published under Chris Grove’s byline are written by him, edited by a human editor, and held to an explicit standard.
Sources and methodology
Quantitative claims are drawn from primary materials wherever they exist: regulator filings, operator annual and interim reports, licensing data published by gambling commissions, and direct conversations with executives, regulators, and investors. Where secondary sources are used, they are named so the reader can weigh them independently. Estimates are flagged as such.
Disclosure of interests
Grove is an active investor in, and adviser to, businesses across the gambling industry. Where a current commercial relationship exists between him, Acies Investments, or a portfolio company and a business that is the subject of analysis, that relationship is disclosed in or alongside the article concerned. Coverage is not commissioned, sponsored, or pre-approved by operators, suppliers, leagues, or other commercial parties. Opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent those of any fund, portfolio company, employer, or client.
Independence from advertising
Articles authored by Grove are not influenced by advertising or affiliate arrangements on the publishing site. He does not accept payment in exchange for editorial coverage and does not publish promotional content under an editorial byline.
Corrections policy
Errors of fact are corrected promptly and visibly. A note describing the change and the date of correction is appended to any article that is materially amended after publication. Readers who believe an article contains an inaccuracy are invited to use the contact details below; substantive feedback is read and answered.
No tipping content
Grove does not publish picks, predictions for individual sporting fixtures, bonus reviews, or affiliate-driven promotional material. Author pages of this kind are sometimes used to dress marketing copy in the language of analysis. This one is not.
Responsible Gambling
Reporting on the gambling industry carries an obligation to take consumer harm seriously. Grove writes about, and invests in, regulated products operated under licence. Articles that examine product design, marketing, or customer acquisition give weight to harm-minimisation considerations alongside commercial ones, and they treat findings from public health researchers with the same seriousness as findings from operators.
Readers in the United Kingdom who are concerned about their own gambling, or someone else’s, can contact the National Gambling Helpline operated by GamCare on 0808 8020 133, or visit gamcare.org.uk. Readers elsewhere can find local support through their national problem gambling helpline.
Contact the Author
For media enquiries, speaking invitations, source material, corrections, or substantive feedback on published work, Chris Grove can be reached through the following channels:
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/csgrove
- X (formerly Twitter): @opreport
- Press and speaking enquiries: via Acies Investments and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming press contacts
Tipping requests, individual betting selections, paid placements within editorial content, and unsolicited promotional pitches will not receive a reply.