What is Great.com?

This is the origin story of Great.com. I’m honestly a little ashamed to share it with you, but it’s important because without it​​ — we may never have set out on our mission to turn online casinos into charities.

In 2016, I met with a friend for dinner. He had recently returned from India and spent a good portion of the evening talking with me about a charity project he got involved in while away. The charity was working to prevent child trafficking as well as rescuing those who were being held captive and sold into slavery.

The stories he shared that night shook me to my core. They were experiences that nobody should ever have to go through, let alone five-year-old innocent children. I didn’t want to hear anymore, but at the same time — I couldn’t stop listening. Just hearing these stories made my eyes water up.

After he left that evening, I remember feeling that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I kept thinking about these children without doing anything to help them.

So, I had two choices.

1. I could dedicate my life to helping these children and others like them.
2. I could ignore the problem, pretend like I’d never heard it, and move on with my life.

I’m ashamed to say that I chose the second option. I went on with my life as if we never had the conversation and did nothing to help those children.

A few months later, the company I co-founded, Catena Media, was listed on the Stockholm Nasdaq Stock Exchange with a valuation of €150 million. It was actually my 28th birthday when we rang the bell, and I made more than €15 million that day— more money than I could ever have imagined, and more than I’ll ever need.

This was the moment I had worked my whole life for, and I was filled with pure joy unlike anything I had ever felt before  — but, this feeling lasted for about a week.

I remember waking up a couple of weeks after that day feeling that all of that joy was gone. I wasn’t feeling well. My stomach was a mess. I had been in an argument with my girlfriend the night before. I didn’t even want to get out of bed. 

How could I have been so happy a few weeks before and have more money than I could ever spend, but still feel alone and broken?

Yes, money solved some problems, many problems even. But, I wasn’t happy — and I didn’t understand why. I had reached all of my goals.

A little while later, another friend asked me to go with him to a small town in Africa and help build a school. He was working with a charity, and they needed some additional funding to finish the project — so I donated what was needed and bought a flight for the opening ceremony a few months after.

When I arrived in the town, I remember it so vividly. In the midst of this dark and gloomy square surrounded by crumbling buildings and rubble stood this beautiful, bright, and colorful school — a splash of color (red, yellow, and green).

This was the school I had helped build, and I was filled with a sense of joy and pride. I had contributed to turning this idea into a reality. I had built websites before, but this time it was an actual building in front of me. It was something completely different.

But it wasn’t until later that night, I really understood what this school meant to this village.

Torsten, the project leader, looked me in the eye and told me with the utmost sincerity that “In this new school, the children are not beaten up.” 

I didn’t fully understand what that meant. Of course, the children wouldn’t be beaten up.

Then, it clicked — in this village, in this country, children get beaten up. In this area of the world and other countries like it, it’s often the children that suffer the worst. However, not in the new school. In the new school that we built, the splash of colors, the kids are protected, they feel safe, and they have hope.

I often say that this was the trip when I actually understood the meaning of my life. Until then, my life was centered around myself, status, and material things. However, after that trip, I realized the true purpose of money. Money can create safety. Money can help innocent children. Money can make a real difference. The meaning of my life is to help others. 

I now had a purpose, helping others. I spent a lot of time working with several different charities looking for the best way for me to contribute. I knew I could do a lot of good, but I just didn’t know how to maximize my value and expertise. Should I build more schools? Should I help prevent child trafficking?

I soon realized that the answer was neither.

Why Online Casinos?

The question we get more than any other is “if your goal is to do good in the world, why are you working with casinos?”

Casinos — gambling in general — have a public stigma surrounding them and for good reason. Many people associate gambling with addiction, loss, or harm. While there is certainly merit to the risks of problem gambling and its effects on mental health and society, there are also several reasons why this industry makes a lot of sense for Great.com and its mission.

• I’m afraid to fail: This is a vulnerable reality, but I simply do not want to fail — for both my ego and for the good I want to do in the world. You see, my experience and past successes have all been within the gambling industry. It’s a market where I believe I can earn the most revenue which means it’s the best way for more to donate the most amount of money. While I’d love to build Great.com in any number of other, less-controversial industries, I care more about succeeding and donating the most money that I can — which means working with online casinos.
• I’m passionate about gambling: I’ve worked in the online gambling industry my entire adult life. Partly because I’m really good at it, but also because I enjoy it. My first real experience with gambling was playing online poker as a teenager. I even became a professional poker player before eventually starting an online casino marketing company, Catena Media. I want to continue working in this space because I genuinely enjoy it.
• No one else will do it: I’ve worked in the online gambling industry for over a decade and no one that I know of has ever tried building an online casino brand that donates 100% of its profits to charity — and I doubt anyone else would ever try it. The time, money, and other resources required to make this project a success is a huge risk and not something many other gambling entrepreneurs would have the patience or drive to try. Of course, I could start a business in any other industry, but would it be unique? A completely charitable online casino brand is unlike anything else out there, and I believe it gives us a unique differentiator from other brands.
• I want to redefine the gambling industry: Casinos are inherently greedy — their models are literally built around something called “the house edge,” which refers to how much percentage of a bet the casino is expected to retain on average. “Giving” willingly is not what this industry is known for, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change. We want to lead by example and show other gambling brands that there is value in philanthropy. Maybe 20 years from now, casino brands will be known as some of the biggest and most influential drivers of positive change in the world. I’ve met many amazing and intelligent people in this space, and I know that if we all were working together to make the world better, the world would be better.
• Charity opens up a lot of opportunities: Building a casino brand centered around charity is unlike anything else in the space, which means that we are already starting off with more value than our competitors. As an online casino brand, a big focus of ours is driving organic attention via Google and other search engines. One of the best ways to do that is through partnerships and other PR-oriented strategies. By working with charities, we can gain more attention, develop better content, and provide our visitors with a unique, unmatched experience. This means we have an opportunity to grow quickly and use our charitable arm to reach larger audiences and gain more revenue which we can then donate.

I could keep going on with many more reasons why starting a charity in the online gambling industry makes sense for us. But, in short, I believe the best way to make the largest impact in the world is to focus on charity and online casinos.

Why Online Casinos in Sweden?

Just like New Jersey, the Swedish online casino market is another legal and regulated online gambling market. It’s also the market we know the best because it’s my birth country and where I first began working in the gambling industry.

Unlike the U.S. online gambling industry, the Swedish online casino market is much more mature. This presents new challenges given the competitive landscape and size of other casino affiliates — but our rapport with other operators and our unique approach gives us value unlike any of our competitors.

In Sweden, we’re already working with amazing brands like Maria Casino, Lucky Casino, Spin Casino, Unibet Casino, and Paf, and we are looking to extend and grow these relationships over many years to come.

As a result of our deep understanding and connection to the Swedish online casino market, we are able to offer our users valuable and comprehensive insights into the Swedish gambling scene. We stay up-to-date on the latest trends, regulations, and industry developments to ensure that our reviews and recommendations are accurate, trustworthy, and relevant. Our Swedish audience can rely on us for expert advice and guidance, helping them navigate the vast array of online casinos available and find the perfect fit for their gaming preferences and needs.

What Value Do We Provide the Online Casino Industry?

The main value we provide to the online casino industry is rooted in our recently launched initiative  — iGaming for Future. This project aims to unite the gambling industry to do more good. As we discussed earlier, the gambling industry brings in $300 billion dollars annually, and if we can redirect some of that money to positive causes either through our own contributions or by influencing other affiliates or casinos themselves, we can make the world a better place.

We want to be the driving force that helps change the perception of the gambling industry from greed and negativity to philanthropy and generosity. Casinos, sportsbooks, lotteries, etc. are a real part of our society and will be a big part of our culture in the future.

With iGaming for Future, we want to inspire others to do good, provide educational resources to guide others on the best and most effective philanthropic decisions, and support others within the gambling industry on collaborative and charitable projects.

We’ve already started the iGaming for Future initiative. We have worked with several casino brands to support the Against Malaria Foundation, and we are constantly looking for more impactful ways to make the world better.

If you are in the gambling industry and you want to make a change in this world, don’t hesitate to reach out!