Entrepreneurial Journey

Jonathan Aiwazian chose Cornell University as the best route to his dream job. A degree earned there, he figured, would bolster chances to run his own business and combine two of his favorite pastimes: math and odds.

“It was the combination of a desire to have my independence, venture out on my own, and find a place where I could focus on my favorite subjects, math and science,” Aiwazian says. “I also fell in love with the campus, which lives up to the local slogan, ‘Ithaca is gorges,’ a reference to both the beauty and the landscape, where cliff diving into the lake is a common activity when the weather allows.”

Let’s not forget that a business that encompasses all this, gorge notwithstanding, is well established: gaming.

In 2010, Aiwazian, a native of Moorpark, California, created Cafrino Gaming, the name a mixture of free and casino.

“Cafrino was a free place to play poker with some prizes from sponsored tournaments and advertisements,” he says. “We did not allow players to spend any money in any way.”

The site gained modest popularity, but not enough to sustain it. The venture cost more to operate than the advertisements brought in, so Aiwazian moved on in 2014. It has since changed hands and merged with other poker sites, but it’s still around. “As my first entrepreneurial experience, I learned a great deal about running a business with all the complexities and pitfalls encountered along the way,” Aiwazian says. “There is no better way to learn about starting a business than by actually starting one.”

Aiwazian held various positions in California and New York, including with the Kindred Group in 2019 and the Daily Racing Form (DRF) in 2021. In 2023, he became CEO for idPair in Mendham, New Jersey. Each role expanded his resources and knowledge.

“Starting out as a supplier of an iGaming platform, I got to see the nuts and bolts of how online gaming functions, and it introduced me to many operators that used that platform. They seemed like they were having all the fun interacting with players and setting up fun promotions, so when I got the chance to join Kindred Group immediately prior to New Jersey sports betting, I jumped at the chance and moved my whole family from California to New Jersey,” says Aiwazian, an Indiana Pacers supporter and a fan of road trips. “There is nothing more relaxing … than the open road and a good play list.”

He got the chance to build his own sportsbook team with DRF. Seeing the system from both the operator and supplier side unveiled the massive gaps in player protection that existed.

“As operators, we did the best we could, even going above and beyond what regulations required, but the shortcomings in technology and data sharing meant that players would often fall through the cracks or just take their risky behavior to another operator,” says Aiwazian.

As a result, he launched his own company to include the technology that would connect data across jurisdictions and operators so that he could identify and assist players. Through the National Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program (NVSEP) and cross-operator player IDs, he is doing just that.

“My dad started his own health tech business when I was a kid, so he paved the way for me and is still a source of knowledge from time to time,” Aiwazian says. “As part of my work with NVSEP, I have leaned on many people, including our advisory board, to provide their decades of experience in safer gaming, regulation, research or other areas.”