Tom Waterhouse
March 2025 Fund Update

January 1, 2025, marked a watershed moment for Brazil’s betting industry. After years of operating in a grey market dominated by offshore operators and loosely regulated local outfits, the country now has a clear regulatory framework which has a zero-tolerance approach to unlicensed betting. Far from a routine policy update, Brazil is poised to become one of the largest regulated betting economies, with revenues forecast to reach $6.3 billion by 2038.

March 2025 Fund Update
Tom Waterhouse
February 2025 Fund Update

Kalshi's groundbreaking regulatory approval has positioned it as the first legal event contract exchange in the U.S., allowing nationwide betting while bypassing state restrictions. With backing from Charles Schwab and Susquehanna, it's poised to reshape the wagering landscape across elections, sports, and beyond.

February 2025 Fund Update
Tom Waterhouse
January 2025 Fund Update

Over the 12 months to 31 December 2024, the Waterhouse VC Fund delivered a gross return of 28%, reaffirming the strength of our multi-strategy approach. As our portfolio companies succeed and our investor base expands, the volume and quality of opportunities continue to rise. With stronger deal flow and deeper industry insights, we are increasingly the partner of choice for founders in the wagering sector.

January 2025 Fund Update
Tom Waterhouse
December 2024 Fund Update

Nigel Eccles has long been at the forefront of innovation in the wagering sector. His betting journey began in 2000 and exchanges would be the early focus of his career. After a period away from the industry, Eccles would setup FanDuel in 2009, revolutionising fantasy sports before its $4.2B acquisition by Flutter. Eccles stepped away from FanDuel in 2017 to return to early-stage startups, and has since co-founded five businesses. Today, he is driving the convergence of wagering and crypto through ventures like BetDEX and BetHog.

December 2024 Fund Update
Tom Waterhouse
November 2024 Fund Update

As the dust settles on the U.S. election, prediction markets have captured attention far beyond traditional wagering circles. Polymarket handled over $3.6 billion on wagers on the election outcome, accurately predicting not only the President but also the results in every swing state. Historically, many exchanges have struggled to sustain activity beyond major headline events, limiting their capacity to provide consistently actionable insights. Today, a new wave of platforms are looking to overcome these challenges.

November 2024 Fund Update

August 2021 Fund Update

August 2021 Fund Update

We believe that gamblers and gamers in Asia, and other jurisdictions with strict controls on these activities, will increasingly seek freedom in the metaverse, transacting through a private, decentralised currency.

July 2021 Fund Update

July 2021 Fund Update

With the completion of a second financial year of performance under our belts, this newsletter will review the Fund’s performance, contributors and detractors, our approach to portfolio construction, and the opportunities ahead.

What Tom bet on next

What Tom bet on next

Tom Waterhouse, Chief investment Officer at Waterhouse VC, says PlayUp's strong mangement, tech and talent make it a wagering business worth betting on.

June 2021 Fund Update

June 2021 Fund Update

During the month, the fund exited its position in Ubisoft, initially covered in our January 2020 newsletter. We are exploring multiple exciting opportunities, which we believe provide a greater return profile for our investors.

May 2021 Fund Update

May 2021 Fund Update

XLMedia is an online gambling affiliate marketing company, acting as an outsourced customer acquisition channel. Similar to Tripadvisor’s offering to travel operators, XLMedia’s primary purpose is to attract and engage a fragmented customer base of punters and connect them to the products and services of gambling operators.

April 2021 Fund Update

April 2021 Fund Update

There is a multi-billion dollar opportunity to rebuild the real-world gambling ecosystem in decentralised virtual worlds.

March 2021 Fund Update

March 2021 Fund Update

PointsBet isn’t the only Aussie bookmaker looking to grab their slice of the US market. Following a recent $12.5 million capital raise, PlayUp is looking to take their brand into the US through five market access agreements secured in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa and Tennessee.

February 2021 Fund Update

February 2021 Fund Update

The Gambling Fund has added what it believes is a mispriced bet to the portfolio by exploiting a reliable yet continually overlooked factor in great investments: insider ownership.

Huge opportunities in U.S. online gambling

Huge opportunities in U.S. online gambling

A snippet from Tom’s appearance on The Rani Arsanios Show discussing the huge business opportunities we're seeing from the legalisation of online gambling in the U.S.

January 2021 Fund Update

January 2021 Fund Update

The U.S. market is maturing and the availability of legal online sports betting is increasing state-by-state. It will be some time before we see the level of consolidation of mature betting markets like the U.K. and Australia. We envision a U.S. online betting market with a handful of firms earning the lion’s share of revenues and profits, and are confident that Flutter will be one of the handful.