Alex Monahan: From Stanford to Sports Betting Innovator at OddsJam
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Alex Monahan first got involved in sports betting through his love of poker and his work as a securities trader after graduating from Stanford.
His passion and profession were indistinguishable—and eventually collided. Monahan began betting on sports when it became legal in Pennsylvania in 2018, spending time chasing down the best sign-up bonuses and “no-brainer promos.”
“I got the gambling bug. I enjoy learning the strategy of poker, trying to learn how to get an edge. Ultimately, I took a job in financial stock trading, derivatives trading, and quantitative trading, which, I mean, in so many ways, is just sports betting. It seems super different, but in many ways it's very similar, right? You're betting on a team, you're betting on a company, you're betting on a derivative. What prices, where would you buy and sell certain teams? It's very similar,” Monahan told bookies.com.
Monahan, 29, and Ankit Goyal—his classmate from Thomas Jefferson High School in Virginia and later Stanford—co-founded OddsJam in 2021. The site provides data and analysis for sports betting and is a partner of Bookies.com.
Lack Of 'Quality Data' Led To Company
They launched the company in part because Monahan saw a lack of quality data and tools available to U.S. bettors, especially for comparing player props. He also used the COVID-19 pandemic as a chance to “reimagine” his life.
“I wasn’t going into the office. I had a lot of time to think about ‘Do I really want to start going back?’ Do I actually want to be a trader my whole career?”
Monahan was originally expected to follow in his parents’ footsteps—both work in healthcare—but pivoted when he realized he wasn’t interested in subjects like biology.
Math and statistics soon took over, eventually guiding him toward sports betting and the creation of OddsJam.
“My parents are still not super big fans of gambling,” he said. “There's hesitance there for sure. And especially with any amount of money being bet, it's always like you could lose it. And it's like, yeah, but you could also win it, right? They’re more traditional in that way.”
OddsJam offers a subscription-based service and compiles odds and moneylines from top sportsbooks. Monahan’s role with the company and his rising profile on social media have given him a clear view of larger trends in the betting industry.
Trends: Sweepstakes, Peer-To-Peer Betting, Player Props
Among those trends: the growth of sweepstakes-style betting apps legal in most states, the emergence of peer-to-peer betting exchanges, and a constant wave of new apps and platforms.
“Books that are technically following the sweepstakes model are legal basically everywhere. It's crazy. Even in Texas, a state that doesn't have sports betting, there are probably eight different sweepstakes books you can use,” Monahan said.
He believes player props and parlays are now more popular than traditional straight bets, driven by the rise of daily fantasy apps that focus on prop wagers. He also sees strong potential in betting exchanges.
“It makes this industry and this content that we do accessible to everyone,” he said. “That's been crazy to watch, and just those companies grow. I think exchanges are interesting—the peer-to-peer stuff. I think it's a fact that, depending on your betting strategy and how profitable you are, it's very well known that books cut off winners. So I think these exchanges, where you can kind of bet forever, it's all peer-to-peer, so they don't really care. They take a small fee regardless, like the rake in poker.”
Monahan has watched PrizePicks succeed at reaching its target audience—young men—through aggressive, culture-driven marketing, something he’s still trying to replicate with OddsJam.
Monahan Sees PrizePicks Setting Industry Standard
“They're constantly innovating. Constantly pushing the boundary, working with new people, celebrities—you see them everywhere. You see them on singers and hip-hop artists promoting PrizePicks. They find culture and they mold it with their app, which is very interesting. You think about most sportsbooks, it's SEO, it's running ads, right? It's very generic stuff. ESPN Bet, for example, for how big of a company ESPN is, the amount of interaction their social media gets is almost shockingly low compared to PrizePicks. I think they just kind of mastered how to hire, who to partner with, and they're everywhere. I see them everywhere.”
“They've just nailed marketing and getting in front of young men, who are obviously their target demographic in general.”
Monahan continues to grow his presence on social media, with more than 195,000 Twitter followers. But even with a strong following, he finds it tough to crack the next level.
“I enjoy making content, a hundred percent. I think what I don't enjoy is sometimes feeling like you don't know what to do,” he said. “How do you go from 195,000 Twitter followers—where I am—how would I double that? That's a very challenging question. And I think the same thing with YouTube. It's always like, ‘What is the next video?’ There are always things to think about, and there's no clear answer.”
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