Red Knot Communications Review
6.9/10A retained press office for sports, sports betting, and gaming companies, with Spotlight Sports Group, Odds On Compliance, MLS, and PlayStar among about 50 clients. The founders helped build FOX Bet, ran business development at FSB, co-founded Popbitch, and led betting content at IG Group, and ex-FOX Bet CEO Robin Chhabra is chairman. North America was built out from Austin in 2021 to New Jersey in 2022 to Toronto in 2023. Paid media, SEO, and CRM sit outside the stack, US accounts contract through the UK company, and pricing is on request.
Our read
- Spotlight Sports Group and Odds On Compliance both route their corporate announcements through Red Knot, from partnership and monetization news to an investment round and a merger.
- Gaming only: the firm launched in May 2020 for sports, sports betting, and gaming PR, and every account sits inside that vertical.
- An operator-grade founder bench: Andy Clerkson is the Grand Parade founder who helped establish FOX Bet, Rich Thorp ran business development at FSB, Camilla Wright co-founded Popbitch, Romilly Evans ran betting content at IG Group, and chairman Robin Chhabra is the ex-FOX Bet CEO.
- A North American build-out in three cities: Austin in June 2021, New Jersey with LA and Portland satellites in October 2022, and Toronto under broadcaster Andy McNamara in January 2023.
- The service stack is PR-shaped: brand, content, and social sit alongside the press office, but there is no paid media, no SEO, and no CRM, so a full-funnel launch still needs a second agency.
- There is no US legal entity behind the American offices, so the work contracts through Red Knot Communications Ltd in the UK.
- The Head of US Operations seat has had three holders since 2021, Tom Webb, then Ashley Dabb, then Ryan Bailey.
A B2B gaming supplier or a US-entering operator that wants a retained, gaming-only press office, plus rebrand and crisis projects handled by people who ran operators themselves.
A buyer that needs one agency to run the full funnel, or one that wants rate cards to benchmark against.
Markets & licensing
Red Knot is a London company founded in November 2019, working across the USA, the UK, Latin America, and Asia. The North American offices came in between 2021 and 2023.
The US is where Red Knot has invested since 2021: Tom Webb hired as Head of US Operations with an Austin base in June 2021, a New Jersey office with LA and Portland satellites in October 2022, and a Toronto office under broadcaster Andy McNamara in January 2023, with Ryan Bailey now running US operations. Legally the work sits with the UK company, so a US buyer contracts cross-border paper.
The UK is the legal home, with the same three founding directors in place since 2019 and the trading HQ at 18 Cavendish Square in London. The UK client book is B2B-heavy, suppliers and services rather than consumer betting brands.
Licensing tier: no license applies to PR work.
Clients are licensed US operators and suppliers, plus UK B2B names.
Clients, partners & engagement
Agencies are judged on the accounts they already run and the platforms and registries they work through. The delivery model shows how the team is staffed day to day.
Red Knot works as a retained press office first, with project communications layered on top. Client announcements go out on the wires with a Red Knot name as the media contact, and the four-region footprint, USA, UK, Latin America, and Asia, maps to where the client book operates. Engagements start from a brief rather than a rate card, and the roster runs B2B-heavy with B2C capability.
An engagement starts with a brief and a proposal.
Services & practice areas
The core product is a retained press office with B2B and B2C media plans, reputation management, and crisis communications, and around it sit brand strategy and rebranding, marketing strategy, content creation and design, and social media management. The firm sells earned coverage and the relationships behind it.
Press Office
The retained press office is what Red Knot actually sells: press-office operations, communications advice, B2B and B2C media plans, reputation management, and crisis communications, delivered by a team of ex-operator and ex-newsroom people.
- Retained press-office operations with Red Knot staff as the named media contact
- B2B and B2C media plans across the gaming trade press and consumer sport media
- Reputation management and crisis communications as part of the retainer or as projects
- Trade-press reach across EGR North America, iGaming Business, Gaming America, G3, SiGMA News, and Yogonet
Brand Strategy
Brand strategy, rebranding, and marketing strategy sold as project engagements alongside the press-office retainer, aimed at suppliers repositioning for new markets and operators refreshing a brand around a launch.
- Brand strategy and full rebranding projects
- Marketing strategy for market entries and launches
- Run by the founder bench rather than a separate studio
- Pairs with the press office so a rebrand lands with a media plan behind it
The history
Longevity in this industry usually comes with a change of owner somewhere in it.
Andy Clerkson, Rich Thorp, and Camilla Wright founded Red Knot in November 2019 and launched it publicly in May 2020, with Romilly Evans a fourth founder. The founding CVs are operator-grade: Clerkson ran Maxim, founded Grand Parade, and helped establish FOX Bet in 2019, Thorp was business development director at FSB, Wright co-founded Popbitch and runs Asia from Hong Kong, and Evans led sports and betting content at IG Group after Telegraph, ITV Sport, talkSPORT, and Bloomberg. Ex-FOX Bet CEO Robin Chhabra joined as chairman in September 2021, and from 2021 to 2023 the firm built its North American footprint, Austin first, then New Jersey with satellites in LA and Portland, then Toronto. All three founding directors are still in place.
Brands & clients on the platform
Corporate
Leadership
Milestones
- 2019
Andy Clerkson, Rich Thorp, and Camilla Wright form Red Knot Communications Ltd on November 15.
- 2020
Public launch in May.
- 2021
Tom Webb joins as Head of US Operations with an Austin, TX base (June), and ex-FOX Bet CEO Robin Chhabra is named chairman (September).
- 2022
Ashley Dabb takes over US operations (June), and the New Jersey office expands with LA and Portland satellites (October).
- 2023
A Toronto office opens under broadcaster Andy McNamara (January), and a strategic alliance with The Unit is announced (July).
- 2026
Ryan Bailey runs US operations, and the client roster is about 50 names.
Where they're pushing next
- The US, the growth market the firm has built toward since 2021
- Canada, opened with the Toronto office in January 2023
- Latin America and Asia, the newer regions in the footprint
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
Red Knot Communications vs alternatives
Most buyers in this market shortlist three or four vendors long before they take a single sales call.
| Attribute | Red Knot Communications | Square in the Air | Press Box PR | GameOn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 | 2006 | 2018 | 2007 |
| Team | — | 50+ | 47+ | 20+ |
| Pricing | On request | On request | On request | On request |
| Market posture | Licensed only | Licensed only | Mixed | Licensed only |
| Minimum engagement | On request | — | On request | — |
Pricing & terms
Red Knot Communications quotes pricing per project. Here's how the model and the terms are structured.
The engagement
The commercial unit is a retainer for the press office, with crisis communications, reputation management, and rebrand or market-entry work sold as projects around it. Everything is quoted from a brief.
Path to launch
- 1Start with an intro call and a brief
- 2The proposal comes back as a retained press office, with project add-ons for a rebrand, a market entry, or crisis coverage
- 3Kick off the retainer with messaging and media-plan work across the gaming trade press and consumer sport media
- 4Route announcements through the wires with Red Knot as the named media contact
- 5Set the reporting cadence and coverage targets in the contract