Delegates returned to Stamford Bridge for the second day of Betting on Football 2019, an event dedicated to uniting professionals focused on the Sports Betting industry and beyond. After a lively evening of Day 1 networking events organized by SBC, the buzz on the expo floor continued while four new conference tracks ran throughout the day.
First time exhibitor Global Bet was proud to demo their life-like virtual sports offerings to delegates via a massive LED screen, a booming vertical around the globe and of particular interest to land based operators, according to CEO Daniel Grabher.
“We have been here the last three or four years as visitors and I’ve actually always liked this event because the organizers SBC they are really, really professional in gathering all these people, high level operators and also regulators,” Grabher shared with CalvinAyre.com.
“I must say it’s the only event globally where you have the time to go a bit more in-depth and speak about the challenges and also the solutions for regulators, for operators and you get the time to sit down, have a coffee, speak 15-20 minutes and go really into depth and this is really what we appreciate,” he added.
Today’s Global Markets track focused on territories of interest such as Africa, America, Sweden and Italy. While the Italian market remains one of the most coveted in Europe, the new Italian government is not making things any easier. Challenges with taxes and advertising bans continue to plague Italian-facing operators and raise the bar even higher for newcomers in the market.
“There is a market there, the market is still responding, it’s a very crowded and competitive market, but, its also a market probably is second to none in Europe in terms of numbers, in terms of passion in terms of potential,” speaker Quirino Mancini of Tonucci & Partners revealed.
“But under the changed circumstances with these new regulations in place, with higher taxes, etc, what I would say and what I’m saying to my new entrant clients is get ready to go in the arena and fight because its going to take brains in terms of thinking outside the box and coming up with a new approach to advertising for sure, then it will require resources. Financial resources to implement whatever you may be apt to,” he said.
“It will require a special approach to the very peculiar Italian establishment. At the moment there is mix of incompetent people, biased people, distracted people, adversely motivated people, etc, so its kind of a jungle and you cannot go into the jungle with a Swiss knife, you need a big ‘machetta.’ So get yourself a big machetta and then go into the jungle,” Mancini added with a smile.
The UK Gambling Commission is one of the most respected regulators in the world, but also one of the most stringent, especially at present. With Brexit looming and compliance on everyone’s mind, David Clifton provided some insight on what UK-facing operators can expect from the regulator in the years to come.
“The messages that have been coming out from the commission for the last three or four years have been consistently about raising standards and warnings that fines are going to be increasing until the standards are reached that they want to be achieved,” Clifton said.
“I really do hope that it will get to the stage that with the industry waking up now to what the regulatory situation is out there, that the corner has been turned, I think people realize that they have to regain the trust of the public and I think that’s the real message that is coming across,” he added.
After two successful days at Stamford Bridge, SBC is ready to shift their focus from Betting on Football to Betting on Sports America, the organizer’s first event dedicated to the regulated U.S. market.
“Betting on Sports America, that’s an incredible event taking place in New Jersey on the 23rd-25th of April, obviously organized by SBC and we have worked very hard on getting the very best speakers in, so this will certainly be the sports betting event of the year in the U.S. and the biggest one,” Rasmus Sojmark of SBC Events shared with CalvinAyre.com.
SBC’s legacy in the UK and European sports betting market will add significant value to their U.S.-facing event, especially seeing as stakeholders in the U.S. regulated market have so many lessons to learn from their more experienced friends across the pond.
“We do a partnership here in Europe with European lotteries so we will bring the European lotteries over to talk about lottery businesses and what we can learn from the European side, we have tribal gaming, members of the AGA here at SBC,” explained Sojmark.
“We are partnering up with companies like G2E, they are an official supporter of Betting on Sports America as well. We are also platinum sponsors of IAGA, International Association of Gaming Advisors, so we have been investing heavily into the U.S. market to make sure that people understand that SBC are very serious about creating the best event in the US that will bring in people from across the world,” he added.
