PokerLab co-founder: “Poker ​​deserves its own innovation cycle”

When Scott Wilson talks about poker, it’s through the lens of someone who has seen the industry from every possible angle. “Twenty-five years ago, gulp, I was living in Costa Rica,” he recalled on The BettingStartups Podcast. “We were working with Paradise Poker back in the day… I lived down there, what I intended to be, you know, I’ll get this thing off the ground and we’ll see how it goes. But at that time, poker was unbelievably niche… and so we were in the water, we caught the wave.”

Wilson went on to help Caesars launch its WSOP.com platform in New Jersey and Nevada—an experience that helped shape what would eventually become PokerLab, the Vancouver-based company he co-founded to modernize poker technology. “Looking around the world for software that we can license—what I learned is it doesn’t exist,” he said. “I still think there’s an opportunity for a group to come in there, build a really great B2B product that’s on the level of these sportsbook operators and take them up to the same level that those poker-only guys are offering.”

That vision resonated with Warren Dombowsky, PokerLab’s VP of Product, who has spent two decades building sportsbooks and casinos but never had the chance to build poker from scratch. “I’ve had the fortune to work with some really talented poker teams, but I’ve never actually had an opportunity to build poker from the ground up,” he said. “So when I met these guys and Scott explained his vision… I was like, of course I’m in.”

For Dombowsky, the appeal was both technical and creative. He stressed the importance of building the product “from the ground up,” and avoiding old code at any cost. “Nothing borrowed, nothing purchased,” he said. “Building it from the ground up is another dream for a product person because it removes so many barriers and hurdles if you can just do it right.”

Wilson added that starting over comes with freedom: “Having the knowledge, endemically, having done this a couple times in the past… you can really take the joy of starting from scratch here, we can make sure we don’t hit this roadblock, that roadblock, or that roadblock if we’re careful enough to foresee where this might go.”

PokerLab reached its first major milestone in July, when it assumed operations of the Canadian Poker Network, which includes BCLC’s PlayNow, Loto-Québec, and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries. The network continues to run on its legacy software while PokerLab finalizes development of its own platform, which is expected to go live within the next 12 months.

Beyond that, Wilson and Dombowsky both see a market ready for reinvention. “We’re getting oversaturated with marketing and sports advertising and the cost of acquisition has gotta be through the roof,” Dombowsky said. “Pretty soon, the government is going to regulate that… Poker is another great vertical for that to actually attract and acquire users.”

Wilson sees the longer-term play: “Poker’s a living, breathing thing that goes on forever,” he said. “It deserves its own innovation cycle, and that’s what we’re here to build.”