Reel Lives: Sharp Alpha Advisors’ Jordan Pascasio On Venture Capital, Innovation, And The Nova Knicks
The newly hired principal at the venture capital firm talks innovation in the gaming space, rooting for the Knicks as a Nova alum, and more.
4 min
Every gambler has a story to tell. And so does every person who chooses to make a living in this unique industry.
In our “Reel Lives” series, Casino Reports shines a spotlight on people working in the gaming business, from executives, to analysts, to media members and communications pros, and all points in between.
The subject in this interview: Jordan Pascasio, a newly hired (as of June) principal at venture capital firm Sharp Alpha Advisors who previously co-founded sports gaming companies Fansure and TRNDS Sports.
Casino Reports (CR): At Sharp Alpha Advisors, you invest in up-and-coming businesses in the space. How important is your experience co-founding TRNDS Sports and Fansure in helping you know what to look for and do this job effectively?
Jordan Pascasio (JP): Incredibly important — both from an operating perspective and an empathy perspective. When I was operating, it took a while to find any sort of traction. I started out B2C, pivoted to B2B, and eventually was lucky enough to arrange a JV with Sportradar, which was an arduous and elongated process. Not to mention that this all occurred during COVID, which placed an additional level of uncertainty on everything.
Navigating that journey was not an easy feat, and I made so many mistakes along the way — something that was frustrating in the moment, but incredibly valuable long-term. I’m a big believer that any sort of growth, personal or professional, cannot be reached without missteps and/or failure. My operating experience certainly helps me know what to look out for — from a GTM (go-to-market) or product roadmap perspective for example — in my seat now, but more importantly, it deepens my appreciation for the daily efforts of each founding team.
CR: What convinced you to make the leap from your previous job as VP at Next Ventures to joining the Sharp Alpha team?
JP: Leaving Next Ventures was certainly bittersweet. We built an awesome healthcare investing platform during my time there, and I’m proud of the founders that we backed. However, teaming up with [Sharp Alpha Advisors Managing Partner] Lloyd [Danzig] was an incredibly compelling long-term opportunity. He’s done an amazing job building a leading endemic fund over such a short time period, which is a testament to his determination, grit, and expansive network. He’s one of the most cerebral people I’ve ever met, and I love jamming with him on a variety of topics.
CR: We’re now six years post-PASPA. Do you still expect a lot of innovation ahead in the sports gambling space, or is the great majority of the innovation that awaits coming in the iCasino space?
JP: There’s certainly a lot of exciting application layer innovation across both verticals given secular tailwinds from AI, which we believe is driving a seminal moment in history. Novel approaches to personalized content generation, game formats — for example, mixing human and AI-powered players — and regulatory compliance highlight a few that we’ve seen recently.
However, if we zoom out by one click, there’s a lot of innovation happening at the strategic level, with operators augmenting their competitive entertainment offerings. Major operators are searching for assets that can afford them large user bases with clear cross-sell into OSB or iCasino to drive sustained growth and to mitigate the effects of a slower than anticipated path to legalization and/or state tax hikes. This can include opportunities across digital lottery, social casino, skill-based games, and fantasy sports.
CR: What was your greatest-ever fantasy sports triumph — whether in a home league, a DFS tournament, etc.?
JP: Nothing too exciting, unfortunately. Back when I was operating in the space and very close to all the data and market sentiment, I won my season-long fantasy football league two years in a row. The league is made up of a bunch of my college friends, some of whom are quite sharp, so that felt good.
CR: What do you believe is the biggest challenge currently facing the U.S. online gaming industry?
JP: It’s difficult to distill out one challenge. I would highlight three key downside risks we see facing operators in the space: a slower than anticipated path to legalization of new states across OSB & iGaming; headwinds to consumer discretionary spend and the percent consumers allocate to legal online gaming; and greater regulatory scrutiny around taxes, responsible gambling, and how gaming operators can market to consumers.
CR: As a Villanova graduate, what odds would you need to bet on the “Nova Knicks” to win the title this year? (Relatedly, are you a Knicks fan, and were you before they collected all the Nova players?)
JP: I am price insensitive for that one. It’s just fun to have skin in the game for something as cool as what’s happening with the Knicks. Being from Detroit, I grew up a Pistons fan, which has been painful. Though, I had all my glory as a kid and I don’t think I’d trade that for anything. However, I am definitely a bandwagon Knicks fan for the time being. Josh Hart in particular. I appreciate how gritty his game is. Bummer with the injuries and what not last year, but I’m excited to see how things pan out this upcoming year.
Reel fast
Which is the better adjective to describe Lloyd Danzig: “sharp” or “alpha”?
Alpha. Not to say that he’s not sharp, because that would be categorically false. But because we are in the business of generating alpha.
My first job was …
I pushed the gift/snack cart at the local hospital.
Favorite podcast, whether related to your work or totally unrelated?
ARK Invest’s For Your Innovation podcast.
City or country you’ve never been to that’s currently No. 1 on your must visit list?
Italy.
How many hours a night do you usually sleep?
Six.
What’s your favorite sport to watch, and what sport are you best at playing?
Formula 1 to watch, best at baseball.
You can find Jordan on LinkedIn or on X, and this fall you may also be able to find him taking in a Knicks-Pistons game at the Garden, struggling to decide which team to pull for.
Previous installments of Reel Lives:
Sporttrade’s Arpita McGrath On AML, Exchange Wagering, And The Luxury Of Power Windows
