The last two years have been a whirlwind for Tom Light. Following success with SBTech, he launched FIRST.bet. Since then, he has rarely looked back.
The sportsbook provider has quickly cemented itself as one of the leading providers of sportsbook solutions across Latin America and Brazil, and now has its sights set on Europe and Africa.
SBC News paid a visit to FIRST.bet’s stand at SBC Summit 2026 to chat with Light about the development of the company in its first two years, how the product portfolio has positioned it as a go-to partner for many, and what the coming years look like for FIRST.bet.
Looking at Tier One operators and gaining Ian Bradley’s experience
Most B2B companies begin by analysing the competition, finding a niche and aggressively filling the gap. While FIRST.bet has certainly gone down that path since launching, Light explained that it differentiated itself from others early on.
He noted that he doesn’t look up to other B2B providers, but instead draws inspiration from some of the biggest B2C operators in the world like DraftKings, Betano and bet365.
That’s why, Light said, it was crucial that former DraftKings SVP and former SBTech colleague Ian Bradley joined FIRST.bet as co-CEO.
“He is probably the best product guy in the world,” Light noted. “So more than just bringing someone who is good at B2B business and conferences and handshakes, we wanted to bring someone who really knows their product left, right and centre, better than anyone in the world.”
That description befits a company with lofty ambitions to be a globally renowned provider of sportsbook solutions. To compete in such a saturated market, the product must be world-class and bring something genuinely different to the table.
As SBC News came to FIRST.bet’s stand in Hall Four of SBC Summit 2026, the interest was clear to see as delegates descended upon the stand in large numbers.
Most visited to see the company’s newest product in action. SportOS claims to offer operators and suppliers genuine control over their sportsbook. It states it can give full control over how they launch, run and differentiate their sportsbook offering.
Light explained that SportOS runs from artificial intelligence, which opened up completely new possibilities for the industry. It allows users to type in a prompt and create a sportsbook and their own user experience.
“How can you differentiate yourself as an operator? We all have the same casinos. We all have the same live dealer games and slots.
“The only point of differentiation is the sportsbook, but if the sportsbook is all the same iFrame, then where is your differentiation? This really allows operators’ marketing teams to express their feelings, to express their brand vision, in the only place where they can differentiate. Today, with SportOS, they can do it.”
What makes FIRST.bet stand out?
It isn’t just SportOS that is driving Light’s sportsbook thinking. He is continually thinking of how to improve the product from all facets, including features and trading.
One thing he wants to improve is FIRST.bet’s bet builder so it can connect all the correlated and non-correlated items as much as possible.
“Of course there are dangers to this, but there’s always dangers,” he said. “It’s a dangerous game. We want to be able to make sure that the uptime of the markets is as high as possible, no more locks, and you can combine anything you need.
“There’s only so much that mathematical models can give you because you have to really create every model for every single location,” he added.
In response, FIRST.bet introduced ‘Monte Carlo simulations’ that simulate sports games tens of thousands of times with a random number generator.
“We would understand, based on the probability of each event to happen, the exact simulation of the whole game. When I say the whole game, I mean the passes, the corners, the free kick, the whole 90 minutes, tens of thousands of times.
“Then you just see how many times these events that I want to combine in a bet builder are correlating, and I can have the exact price for that correlation, not only the exact price, but so you can combine everything.”
How to drive sportsbook innovation
FIRST.bet encourages innovation throughout the company in its quest to be one of the top providers in the world. But how does the company know exactly which features or products will work best for operators and, ultimately, bettors?
Well, in the CEO’s words, the product team are all huge gamblers themselves.
That is an important factor for Light.
“That’s how they come up with amazing ideas. They’re creating a product and think ‘oh, what if we’re gonna add this?’ We’re all really excited about what we do, and we’re betting ourselves.
“Imagine you were a vegan and you were a chef at a steakhouse. Not very good. But if you love steaks, if you really understand how to make them, and you work at a steakhouse, you really can understand how you’re creating the right product.”
That industry and product experience also means that FIRST.bet is aware of its responsible gambling duties.
Given it operates in multiple jurisdictions with varying compliance demands, FIRST.bet tends to operate on a policy that it will roll out the most strict measures across all of its markets.
“Sports betting, unlike other verticals, is not by design an addictive product,” Light outlined. “The game is not happening on the phone, the game is happening there on the TV. I’m placing the bet, I’m watching the game, I’m not getting addicted to the action. But sometimes you have to do reality checks or a cool off period.
He added: “It can be tricky because, for example at Euro 2024, Lamine Yamal was 16. In some markets, it was fine because it was the Euros, in other markets it was fine, but you cannot bet on games where Lamine Yamal is playing. In other markets it was fine, you can bet on the games Lamine Yamal is playing, but not player props on Lamine Yamal cause he’s under 18.
“You have to have a really configurable solution, like our technology that’s very easily adaptable to each market to be able to cater different operators and different regulatory needs.”
In Part Two of SBC News’ conversation with Tom Light, he will reflect on the latest developments in Brazil, as well as FIRST.bet’s ambitions to replicate its Latin American success in both Europe and Africa.
