Speaker
Savvas Fellas
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Savvas Fellas launched MrQ in August 2018, funded entirely by revenue from his affiliate and white-label operations — no external investment.
MrQ has approximately 202 employees, as counted by Savvas from his Slack channel.
Savvas says assembling the right leadership team was the hardest thing he has done in 8 years of running MrQ, taking roughly 2 years to complete.
The UK government raised the gambling revenue tax from 21% to 40% — a 90% increase on revenue — shocking operators who had expected 25%.
MrQ was forced to reduce return-to-player rates, meaning players now receive roughly 94p back per £1 wagered instead of 96p, to cover the tax increase.
Savvas argues the government knowingly accounted for £500,000 flowing to the black market as an acceptable consequence of the tax rise.
Savvas accidentally acquired 20,000 square feet in Queen's House, St Albans, needing only 5,000 for MrQ — and converted the rest into a co-working space.
MrQ's value framework comprises 6 principles: We Own It, We Challenge Everything, We Win As One, We Care By Design, We Play Smart Long Games, and We Get Shit Done.
MrQ's CMO was only 25 years old and came from outside the iGaming industry, yet successfully reorganised the entire marketing function.
Savvas believes that building the C-suite faster would have insulated MrQ more against the 40% tax change, and that slower progress would have made them collateral damage.
MrQ's internal scenario planning for the tax rise only modelled up to approximately 32%, leaving the company unprepared for the 40% outcome.
Savvas cites the behavioural finance concept of loss aversion: losing £10 requires winning £20 back to feel psychological equilibrium, not just £10.
Savvas makes a pointed argument: the UK government explicitly accounted for £500,000 flowing to the black market as a result of the tax, and accepted it. That means vulnerable players will land in front of unregulated sites with no AML, no safer gambling tools, and nobody watching.
Savvas grew up on a council estate in Birmingham and stumbled into iGaming through an affiliate bingo site. When white-label software providers refused to build features he needed, he stopped asking and started building — funding MrQ's development entirely from affiliate revenues until launch in August 2018.
Savvas rejects the idea of a tangible competitive secret sauce. The real edge is having a crystal-clear mission, a defined vision, and values that function as the first-principles framework for every daily decision. Without that, you're a brand stuck in the middle.
Savvas draws a hard line between first-principle thinkers who deconstruct problems from the ground up, and people who say 'this worked there, it'll work here.' MrQ's interview process tests for this directly — if you can't name the last time you found an unconventional route to solve a problem, you're not a fit.
Savvas admits he's wired for distraction and dopamine-chasing. The thing that has kept MrQ focused on the UK market and its core product is a CFO who can calmly ask 'why are we doing this?' even when Savvas is already half-convinced by a shiny new opportunity. Focus is a team sport.
Savvas is building toward synchronous, shared entertainment — inspired by pandemic-era poker nights, Kalshi, and Polymarket. The insight is that players feel more engaged when they sense control and social connection. Can MrQ replicate that across real-money gaming beyond slots and live dealer?
Savvas cites Jim Collins' research showing companies built around a single genius founder tend to fail when that founder leaves. Great companies — like Nike despite Phil Knight's departure — are built to transcend their founders. MrQ's goal is to be in that category.
Savvas promoted someone prematurely, reversed the decision, then called the entire heads-of layer into a room and admitted his mistake openly. No spin, no explanation — just cards on the table. The result: most of those people are still at MrQ today.
Losing £10 in gambling requires winning back £20 to feel whole — that's textbook loss aversion. Savvas is exploring whether shared, synchronous gaming experiences reduce that multiplier. If it drops from 2x to 1.2x, it changes what gambling feels like entirely.
Savvas says the timing of MrQ's C-suite build was the single factor that determined whether the business survived the 40% tax shock. Even a few months slower would have left them without the leadership depth to absorb it. Building leadership is not operational prep — it's existential insurance.
MrQ had scenario-planned the gambling tax rise up to 32%. When 40% landed, the first reaction was pure shock, then mourning. But within days Savvas was on an all-hands call framing the tax as a common enemy that would separate winners from losers — and positioning MrQ as a winner.
Instead of promoting his heads-of layer to C-suite roles based on loyalty, Savvas ran everyone — including himself — through an executive competency benchmarking programme. The result: almost nobody passed. What followed was one of the most painful but defining moments in MrQ's history.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Business 75%
- Government 17%
- Health & Fitness 8%
