RALEIGH–Six years ago, Tony Pease played in a golf tournament he went to every year with friends. It was expensive to go, but he and his friends were still excited about a $100 side bet they had made. “It made me think there is more to a bet than just an economic transaction,” Pease tells WRAL TechWire.
Then he thought about how “We would make one dollar bets to stop arguments. Those dollars ended up being trophies. Gambling isn’t always about economic benefit.” That led him to consider starting a company where, “Rather than exchanging money, I can have you donate to something you care about.”
That was the genesis of Raleigh-based GoodBookey – a Raleigh startup that simulates gambling games and events for charity and brands. It creates games that users can invite friends to play for a stake that goes to charity. “It isn’t real gambling,” Pease said.
GoodBookey logo.
Even the company logo is unique, based on the explosion of stadium lights at the climax of the Robert Redford baseball film, “The Natural.”
Founded in 2015 by a self-described group of tech nerds, GoodBookey and Pease and his partner’s other firm, GoodBookey’s parent firm, Carimus Consulting (short for: Care I must), have about 30 employees, seven or eight working on GoodBookey.
Initially, “We were just working out of a bar,” says Pease. “We all had different jobs. Then, Randomly, I saw the French Viva Tech Conference on Facebook. We applied and were accepted for the 2016 event. The conference invites more than 75,000 startups, corporations, students and investors globally to the event.
Goodbookey then took away one of the largest prizes, the Publicis 90, a $100,000 Euros or about $112,000 grant awarded to the most innovative startups. It was the company’s only outside funding to date.
“It was very random, but we were glad to have it,” Pease says.
An intentional irony
“Here,” notes Pease, “gambling is illegal but in Europe they have a different attitude. It’s much more accepted there.”
GoodBookey makes providing donations to nonprofits a fun and social experience by allowing users to wager donation amounts on national and collegiate sporting events. The loser of the wager, donates the full pre-determined amount to the winner’s charity. Users select an event, pick a charity, set an amount and challenge a friend. Winners do get prizes.
Sin and salvation, we suggested. “It’s an intentional irony,” Pease says.
Left to right, the Bookey founding team: Bryan Martin – Creative and User Experience (Chief Creative Officer)
Tony Pease – Business and Partnership (CEO)
Sarah Deasy – Operations (COO)
Dan Shugan – Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Bookery photo.
Pease notes he is not in the effort alone, citing his founding partners, Bryan Martin, chief creative officer, Sarah Deasy, COO, and Dan Shugan, chief technical officer.
The app is free to users an the platform free to charities, although the company does take a small transaction fee.
Its plans to make money from helping brands do social impact marketing.
The company has designed custom challenges over the last year, one for drone racing, and most recently, a deal with Sports 1 Marketing (S1M).
S1M and its affiliates are sponsoring a custom game series called the 2018 Charity College Football Pick’em Challenge. It will raise funds for its charitable partners, The Unstoppable Foundation, The Crescent Moon Foundation, Chive Charities, the American Cancer Society, and the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation. The challenge will run as a 16-week event where participants select five teams from the top 25 rankings.
“GoodBookey’s ability to combine fun with fundraising is exactly what we look for in a partner,” said David Meltzer, CEO of Sports 1 Marketing said in a statement,“we are looking forward to raising money for charity, helping people, and having a lot of fun this college football season.”
Pease points out that last year, Americans spend between $100 billion and $300 billion on illegal sports gambling. Goodbookey, Pease says, “Wants to redirect some that into a safe, fund and impactful application.”
