We’re coming down the home stretch here in Malta, now that we’ve reached the third and final day of SiGMA 2019. This morning the CalvinAyre.com crew had the pleasure of traveling to the MFCC in the “SiGMACopter”, a true VIP experience with outstanding views of the island.
Despite the plentiful SiGMA-induced hang-overs due to endless official networking events, the expo floor was busy and buzzing, although noticeably less packed than the previous two days.
SiGMA exhibitor Leaseweb hosted the CalvinAyre.com crew this morning and Greg Behr, Leaseweb’s Manager of Business Development, walked us through the company’s range of global hosting services.
Behr and his team are now actively welcoming iGaming operators to join the Leaseweb ecosystem and Behr explained how iGaming operators can save money by signing on with them. In fact, Leaseweb is so confident in their offering, they are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
“We actually want to make a bet with the iGaming industry that we claim that we can improve latency we can reduce cost, improve security and uptime”, Behr revealed.
“If we can’t, we’ll pay at least the cost for migrating to us, we will cover the same costs and you will have better services for sure than in some of the more traditional iGaming jurisdictions. Our connectivity costs are really low and we have a great offer now”, he added.
Today’s “New Frontier: Africa” Workshop featured long time iGaming industry professional, Martin Sack, who has spanned just about every corner of the industry in his previous roles. Sack recently launching his own South Africa-based consultancy, BrainStorm Online, assisting iGaming businesses in flourishing within the African market.
“I’m thinking that the African market is an absolutely superb place to be now”, he told CalvinAyre.com.
“I think in many ways its like online gaming used to be for us in the global market 20 years ago, there’s still opportunity, the rules are still being made, people are still growing up into this and it’s an exciting and beautiful place to be working in right now”, Sack added.
At the core of the dynamic iGaming industry are talented professionals and of course the companies that employ them. Blexr, a Malta-based performance marketing company, takes pride in their relaxed corporate culture and the freedom their employees have to deliver the best results.
“I think one of the best things about Blexr is the company culture”, shared Koen Bongers, Blexr’s Head of Search and PPC, also the recipient of SEO iGaming Idol of the Year.
“I think most of the companies that are on this floor will have some kind of culture document, but usually its more something towards the outside and I feel like at Blexr we’re actually living up to that handbook that we created”, he shared.
“We have a very lenient remote policy, we have very lenient office hours, that sort of thing. So I think we really try to empower people to do their best work and that makes us stand out from a lot of other companies in the industry”, Bongers added.
With so many iGaming events on our calendars, its important for organizers to find their identity and differentiate themselves from the rest. Eman Pulis’s unique vision for SiGMA has resulted in consistent growth year on year and some big plans for the future.
“I think what’s making SiGMA unique is the festival theme. If you look around at the other shows in Europe, they are a little bit more corporate, there’s a few more ties walking around the floorplan. Not in Malta. Here’s more about the festival feel”, he shared with CalvinAyre.com.
“People want to become friends first and do business later. So you see a lot of people walking around maybe having a beer and we don’t want to kill that. We want more of that and I think coming next year you’re going to see even more of that festival theme at SiGMA”, Pulis revealed.
Now that SiGMA 2019 has finished, its clear Pulis and his team have taken the event to new levels, increasing the size and scope exponentially since its inception six years ago. In June 2020, SiGMA will be adding an event in Manila and for both the Manila and Malta installments, delegates can expect blockchain and iGaming to co-exist across the same dates and locations.
