ALYSE COHEN

Long Shot’s LLC/Cohenterprises, Inc.

Alyse Cohen owns Long Shot’s LLC and Cohenterprises, Inc., holdings that place her in two industries where women rarely hold controlling stakes. She describes herself as the only woman who owns a sportsbook in America, an achievement she frames not simply as breaking into a male-dominated field but as competing directly against multibillion-dollar companies with resources far exceeding her own.

Cohen has expanded those holdings across multiple platforms. Securing a mobile sports wagering license, she went on to enter a partnership with the Orioles. She considers this expansion her most significant professional accomplishment, and she is direct about why it matters: The gaming world she operates in is populated almost exclusively by men and publicly traded companies, and establishing herself as what she calls a real player within it required navigating an industry structured to keep newcomers out.

That momentum has carried into the legislature. Cohen has helped lead the legislative process behind what would be, since 2007, the largest gaming expansion in Maryland: an effort to legalize Historic Horse Racing, a slot machine category new to the state. The work is ongoing.

At Cohenterprises, her commercial real estate development firm, Cohen has built her hiring practice around a conviction that greater diversity produces a better organization. The majority of the firm’s team members are women or minorities, and Cohen looks to promote from within, treating internal advancement as a way to widen opportunity.

Her mentorship follows the same logic. Cohen has worked to set an example for people who do not always believe a glass ceiling is theirs to break. She urged and coached Victoria Laird, chief of staff to the minority leader in the House of Delegates, toward a 30 Under 30 in politics recognition, which Laird won.

Their conversations centered on a distinction Cohen returns to often: setting a goal is one thing, and charting a course through a competitive and frequently exclusive landscape is another.

Cohen earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2010 and a master’s degree from King’s College London in 2012.
She holds a 2010 certificate from Stanford Business School.