Sept 16 (Reuters) - Sports gaming company Underdog said

on Tuesday it has hired new finance and marketing chiefs,

bolstering its leadership days after it rolled out event

contracts for wagering on sporting leagues.

The company, which offers fantasy sports games and licensed

sports betting, has appointed Rishi Garg as its chief financial

officer. A former executive at X, earlier called Twitter, Garg

was most recently a venture partner at investment firm Mayfield,

focusing on consumer deals.

Kimberly Pointer Corbett - previously a senior executive at

Warner Bros Games, a part of Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) - has

been appointed as Underdog's new chief marketing officer.

The hires could help support the company as it attempts to

expand beyond its roots and carve out a spot in event contracts,

a market dominated by high-profile firms such as Kalshi,

Polymarket and Robinhood.

Underdog had partnered with Crypto.com's U.S. derivatives

arm earlier this month to roll out event contracts that would

allow users to profit from predictions across all major sports

leagues, including the NFL, college football, the NBA and the

MLB.

While such contracts have drawn attention for cultural

wagers such as elections and award show outcomes, executives at

Underdog say sports will fuel the bulk of future growth.

"This is kind of a gold mine hiding in plain sight," Garg

said in an interview.

Some regulators and critics, however, have flagged the

potential for event contracts to serve as a backdoor to

gambling. But Underdog's Pointer Corbett said they address a

meaningful gap in how fans engage with sports.

"We're here to make sports more fun. And when fans want

sports news and content, we want them to think of Underdog," she

said in an interview.

Founded in 2020, Underdog projects $500 million in revenue

this year.