Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
Backgammon Galaxy, launched in full in 2022, now employs a team of 25 people split between developers and operations including customer support, YouTube, and live tournaments.
Where this was said
At 32:10 · chapter starts 29:35
Mark Olsson co-founded Backgammon Galaxy in 2018 with Sandro Lilov and Mochi, initially imagining it as a money-gaming site built on their sports-betting background. That business model ran into regulatory walls, but their YouTube channel took off, becoming the biggest backgammon channel on the platform. They pivoted to social gaming, raised funding, and officially launched in 2022 — the platform now has 220,000 users, 25 employees, and ownership of the World Championship in Monte Carlo. Beyond the business narrative, Olsson makes a compelling intellectual case for backgammon as an economics simulator: unlike economic models that begin 'all else being equal,' backgammon never holds anything constant. Change one variable — split a back checker, say — and every other variable in the position shifts. This entanglement of trade-offs, Olsson argues, makes the game a genuine training ground for opportunity cost awareness, sunk-cost discipline, and probabilistic decision-making under complete-information-but-uncertain-future conditions.
In 2018, Mark Olsson, Sandro Lilov, and Mochi set out to build a unified backgammon site. They pivoted away from money gaming, grew a massive YouTube channel, launched in 2022, and now own the World Championship. Backgammon Galaxy has 220,000 users and a 25-person team.
Backgammon Galaxy, the online platform co-founded by Mark Olsson, Sandro Lilov, and Mochi, has approximately 220,000 registered users.
There's a crucial difference between roulette — where you have no control — and backgammon or sports betting, where hard work and analysis can generate a real edge. Mark Olsson argues that skill-based gambling hardens your character, punishes recklessness instantly, and rewards preparation.
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