SBC News Betting community pays tribute to Punters Lounge founder Paul Ross

Betting community pays tribute to Punters Lounge founder Paul Ross

Industry tributes have been paid to Paul Ross, founder and managing director of sports betting player community Punters Lounge (PuntersLounge.com), who passed away last weekend after losing his battle against cancer.

Ross took over the Punters Lounge website in 2005, developing one of the first UK online sports portals to review online bookmakers and refer players to trusted websites.

Having founded his website during the nascent days of affiliate marketing, Ross transformed Punters Lounge into a vibrant player community, establishing the UK’s first betting-related forum.

Ross’ endeavours saw Punters Lounge become a leading destination for betting insights and opinions, with its community built on the ethos of accepting all levels of players (‘from novice-to-pro’).

Punters Lounge colleague Steve Day summed up how ‘Ross the Boss’ had grown Punters Lounge. “Paul’s enthusiasm for Punters Lounge was infectious,” he said. “I’d struggled to buy into any roles I’d previously had when it came to working.

“Paul made it easy to fully invest in this place. He not only believed in what Punters Lounge was and should become, but he also believed in those that wanted to make it happen.”

Further to building Punters Lounge, Ross was recognised as a leading figurehead in improving affiliate and bookmaker relations by intervening and moderating various player disputes.

In his 15 years leading Punters Lounge, Ross dealt with all shifting paradigms of the online betting and affiliate sectors – birth, enterprise, consolidation and M&A phases.

Navigating his enterprise through various betting challenges, Ross emphasised that Punters Lounge could not operate as a faceless domain, instead growing its community through race days and infamous pub crawls.

Friend and business associate Tom Galanis, Managing Director of Tag Media, commented on Ross’ passing: “In his final months when he knew that his time was running short, Paul was generous enough to give some of it to me, providing some of the greatest and – in a way that only Paul could do without offending – frankest advice I’ve ever been given.

“He went out of his way to address problems I was facing when his outlook was evidently bleaker. I can’t thank him enough for that.”

Punters Lounge will continue to serve its betting community with a team determined to continue the work Ross had accomplished.

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