President & Primary Consultant:
Kevin Vonasek combines over 20-years of leadership experience in the B2B-enterprise-software sector focused on the digital entertainment & gaming industries. As one of the few Americans having experience with US and international operators & suppliers, Kevin has a strong understanding of the unique product, regulatory and commercial challenges associated with conducting the business of digital wagering in US markets.
Whether co-founding technology ventures, developing e-commerce and online gaming platforms, supporting due-diligence initiatives or recently driving an industry leader’s business development initiative amidst the largest US gaming expansion since the late 1980s, Kevin’s entrepreneurial spirit, critical thinking and steadfast commitment to delivery have proven time-and-time-again to be an integral contribution toward any project, team or company set on accomplishing challenging goals.
Kevin has frequently been selected to speak and present at iGaming & Sports Betting industry conferences including G2E, NIGA, GLI Regulator’s Round Table, EGR US Power Summit, Betting on Sports America, ICE North America, iGNA, Southern Gaming and GIGSE. Kevin has been interviewed for articles by EGR, GGB & Indian Gaming regarding insights & strategies for US iGaming & Sports Betting.
GOLDEN NUGGET ONLINE GAMING (GNOG)
Jun 2020 to Jun 2022
VP Corporate Development
Led US market access initiative, commercial contracts & strategic partnerships, GNOG product strategy and outbound M&A initiatives. GNOG was acquired by Draft Kings in May 2022.
SCIENTIFIC GAMES | NYX-OPENBET
Mar 2015- Mar 2020
VP Business Development Americas (SG) Commercial Director Americas (NYX)
Led business development, commercial negotiations & account management for PAM, sports betting & iCasino (e.g. Caesars, Turning Stone NY, Fire Keepers MI, Golden Nugget, Unibet, PNG, Parx, Bet365, 888, BetFair NJ (now FanDuel), etc.
NYX GAMING GROUP
2013-2015
Chief Product Officer Americas
Led teams in development and launch of NYX real money gaming initiative within the US. Acted as primary liaison and negotiator with NJ regulators (NJDGE) and casino operators. Between 2014-2016 NYX launched online gaming & PAM platforms for Resorts Casino, Mohegan Casino, Golden Nugget Casino & Caesars Casino.
ZEN ENTERTAINMENT | NLOP
2004-2013
Co-Founder
Chief Product Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Secured funding & developed advertising & subscription based B2C poker network NLOP.com (acquired by CAFRINO.com) & B2B white-label poker for UFC, WWE, NBC Sports, Miller Brewing Co, Pepsi Co, Future Brands, Hard Rock & six NASCAR drivers (e.g. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, etc.).
AMERICAN FANTASY SPORTS
2003-2004
Co-Founder
VP Technology
Secured funding & developed pay-to-play B2B fantasy sports contests upon the STATS Inc. data engine. Sold to 150 online & traditional publishers including Lycos, News Corp, Tribune Corp, Knight Ridder, Boston Herald & NJ.com. Pivoted to an online poker venture in end of 2004 (see ZEN/NLOP above).
SUREFIRE COMMERCE
(NOW PAYSAFE)
1999-2003
Director of Project Management Office
Director of Development
Managed international teams of PMs & development to deliver white-label e-commerce platforms to AOL Canada, CIBC Bank/VISA, Stone & Webster, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Phish & EMI Capital Records. In addition, released the company’s market leading proprietary consumer e-store building tool (Online Merchant) and its online e-commerce publishing destination BuyItOnline.com
Through years of product development, commercial negotiations & genuine relationships Vonasek Gaming has assembled a broad reach of industry colleagues across the digital gaming and sports betting industries. This allows the company to expand and employ critical & appropriate expertise towards your projects on an as-needed-basis. This combination of flexible assets ensures that your initiatives will have the best and brightest minds from the industry working in the most cost-effective manner.
B2C Digital Casino, Poker & Lottery Operations
Retail Sports Book Roll-out & Operations
Sports Book Trading & Risk Management
Payments, Fraud & AML Optimization
Geo-location Optimization
KYC & On-boarding Optimization
Acquisition Marketing & Affiliate Traffic Generation
CRM, Retention & Online VIP Development
Compliance & Oversight
US Gaming Law
Government Relations
BI, Predictive Analytics, Player Behavior & AI
Game Content Design & Development
Product Training
Technical, User Guides & SOP Documentation
Outsourced Development & Quality Assurance
Editorial Content Creation
Digital Graphics Design & Production
Resource Recruiting & Interim Management
Trade Show & Event Management
Trade Show & Event Management
Looking to join our team of recognized & respected industry professionals available to consult with operators, suppliers, regulators, affiliates, media publishers & sports brands? If you have the relevant expertise, ethical reputation and communication & presentation skills, combined with a humble, yet tenacious, work ethic and accompanying gravitas, we are interested in learning more about you.