iGaming Daily

Joe (00:03.823)
Good afternoon and welcome to the iGaming Daily and as the SBC Summit Lisbon fast approaches we had some incredibly exciting news about the event this week. To discuss this further for today's episode brought to you by OptiMove, the number one CRM marketing solution for the iGaming market. 56 % of the EGR Power 50 currently personalise player experiences with OptiMove and as a special offer OptiMove are providing new clients with a free first month

when they buy OptiMove. For more information and to claim this free month, go to optimove .com slash SBC. Links will be of course available in the episode description. As discussed, we are gonna be taking a closer look at the fast approaching SBC Summit Lisbon on this episode of the iGaming Daily. We are gonna be taking a closer look at the SBC Summit Lisbon, which is fast approaching on today's episode of the iGaming Daily.

And there are a few minds more equipped to give us details on the SBC Summit Lisbon than the VP of Conference Production at SBC, Aidan Brain. Aidan, thanks for joining

Aidan Brain (01:15.724)
Hiya Joe, thanks for having me.

Joe (01:18.368)
And yeah, as mentioned, the SBC Summit is, it's creeping up on us, right? It's fast approaching. It must be a busy time for

Aidan Brain (01:25.785)
Joe, I've just heard you say the SPC Summit is fast approaching, five times in the last minute, the anxiety you are giving me is unreal. Can we pretend it's about a year away so we've still got time to prepare for everything?

Joe (01:31.977)
Hehehehehe

Joe (01:38.415)
Yeah, I mean such is the size of the event it's almost impossible to be fully prepared it is an absolute monster and We did have some really exciting news this week that I'm not sure if you've been if people have been living under a rock if they've not Seen it, but yeah massive news this week. Yeah, can you share us a little bit more on

Aidan Brain (01:59.96)
Yes, very exciting news. we have managed to secure Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend. don't think I really need to say much more about him. feel like almost everybody born before a certain year knows exactly who Tony Hawk is. Yes, Tony will be our day two keynote at Lisbon. We're extremely excited about it. mean, he's an icon, he's a legend.

and it feels quite surreal that we're going to happen there. So big news and not the last big announcement about Lisbon, but definitely one of the first.

Joe (02:42.442)
Awesome and yeah, he certainly transcends generations as well. He's cool to people of all ages and I just hope as I get into my 50s, I can remain that cool because I don't know how he's kept it

Aidan Brain (02:57.2)
I believe you've got about 40 years to go until that point, right Joe? So you'll be fine. For me, that's fast approaching. yeah. Yeah, no, he has, yeah, like you say, he really is one of those celebrities that is not just a flash in a pan. know, he's, like you said, he's transcended the generations because he's really transcended so many industries in so many different spheres of fame.

Joe (02:59.552)
That's how you

Aidan Brain (03:24.547)
you know, not just sports, but I mean, he's obviously gone into the video gaming world and you know, he's become, he's something of a meme as well, right? You know, he had all his, he had his tweets going on for a while that went really viral about, you know, people not recognizing him and saying, you look a bit like Tony Hawk. So he's just, yeah, he's transcended a lot of different realms, as it were.

Joe (03:50.479)
Yeah, 100 % is a real legend and there's something to be said for that longevity as well, being able to stay relevant and stay iconic through generations is a really good thing to have and something he's done really well. Obviously, he's kept on the front of media. He stayed doing a lot of things. He had a really good documentary out recently. It was on Sky in the UK, I'm not sure what platform it was on across the globe.

well worth a watch if you've not seen it. When you're kind of, I guess, dealing with somebody like that, how challenging is it to get them on board for the

Aidan Brain (04:21.85)
Yeah.

Aidan Brain (04:30.706)
Um, so actually, and you know, I had my first face -to -face call with Tony a couple of weeks ago. Uh, I, I wasn't actually expecting him to be on the call. I thought it would just be his team and he was on the call and you know, it was like Friday, 5 PM my time and I was like,

I'm on a call with Tony Hawk, this is so surreal and weird. But he was extremely relaxed. He's excited about the event anyway. mean, you know, when you tell him the numbers for, when you tell anybody the numbers for SPC Summit Lisbon, the size of it, I mean, showing them images of the stage that they're going to be on. You know, I don't know if everybody listening has seen the stage, but the super stage in Lisbon is, you know, is a thing of

It's really amazing. telling, talking to Tony about those things, wasn't hard to get him excited. He was also surprisingly a very,

relaxed chilled guy. I suppose that's not surprising, know, he's a California skater, bro. But I mean, there was no sort of airs and graces, you know, and, and he very much his approach was what do you guys want me to talk about? There are so many things that I can talk about to this audience, but you guys give me the direction, you know, he wasn't

Joe (05:32.61)
Yeah.

Aidan Brain (05:50.967)
he wasn't super prescriptive in planning this keynote, he was quite go with the flow, which is really great because there's so many different things that he can talk about on a stage.

Joe (06:00.909)
Yeah, it's really interesting and it's pretty cool. I'm pretty jealous that you've already had the one to one call with him and you've got to chat to him and I'm trying to secure the interview. maybe I'll use this as a podcast, a hybrid podcast. I'll also pitch myself as the interviewer on stage. We'll see how it goes. But one of the things he does really well is everything he puts his name on, he puts his heart into and he kind

Aidan Brain (06:06.649)
Yeah.

Joe (06:27.939)
does well and I think that's why he stayed so relevant throughout the years. Are you expecting that from his keynote? What are you expecting? Are you expecting something really from the

Aidan Brain (06:41.011)
Yeah, mean, know, Tony's keynote is going to be very much about his journey and his life, which I think holds a lot of lessons for our audience, for the industry that we host at SPC Summit. So naturally, it does very much come from the heart, you know, because he's telling his life story. But there are so many stages to that life story. age 14.

I think, you know, he, that's when he became a skateboarding champion and then he kind of transcended the, this role of just being an athlete when he moved into building a brand

obviously the video game series he was really instrumental in and that became such a big part of his fame. And then he just spun out so many things from that initial athletic success, which you know, not all athletes do. And I think that's a big lesson for anybody in the audience, no matter what industry they're in, you can have one bit of success and that's great, but

you know, can capitalize on that success and turn it into something much bigger. And that's who succeeds really in the world that we're in. They don't just have one bit of success and stay there. They take that and they use it as a springboard to something else. So that's what he is going to... Those are the life lessons he's going to be imparting. And think that's easy for him because he's had so much of that in his life.

Joe (08:14.755)
Yes, certainly a lot that can be learned on a business level and also on a human level, I think. It's going to be a great speech. There's going to be so much to absorb from it. Like there is at the whole event, actually. And I kind of want to take the conversation a little bit more general because I think the Tony Hawk announcement caught nearly everyone that wasn't in the know off guard.

It's kind of a very different choice. It's a very flamboyant choice for SBC to go with Tony Hawk for the keynote for this event. When you're looking at the pool of keynotes, why are you looking at? how, it must be such a wide pool of fascinating people, know, legends from all different sectors. Yeah, what are you looking at? And are there any kind of left field candidates you could share with us that were in the mix for this one?

Aidan Brain (09:11.454)
Yeah, I mean there was a long, long list of candidates and some of them were extremely left field. But I mean, I will say, you you said Tony Hawk's a very flamboyant choice for a keynote. This is a...

I don't think this is going to be on any of the official marketing, but this is a flamboyant event. This is a huge, huge event. It's the biggest one that we've done so far. The tagline is, it's the greatest show in gaming. So we really did have to go big and flamboyant, as you say. And we had a huge pull. The sky was the limit really when it came to choosing a keynote. And Tony

a choice, you know, for some of the reasons I've said he he's an example, just a distillation of entrepreneurship. Right. And turning a brand into success and turning sports into commercial success, which in a way is, you know, what sports betting industry is about. And it still has that sports athletic connection. We could have gone really left field. You know, I'm not sure if she listens to iGaming daily.

So I

sport but Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the options that came up in a list. You can always draw a line between everything at SPC Summit is about innovation and entrepreneurship and building businesses and somebody like Gwyneth Paltrow has done that but it is a little bit too left field. So that's how we kind of narrowed it down. Who is the audience going to recognise? Who has a connection to the world of sports or

Joe (10:28.)
Interesting,

Aidan Brain (10:53.367)
to the world of the internet and technology, which is a major focus of SPC Summit and everything, but we do SPC events. That's how we narrowed it down. So we started with a huge pool, and then we slowly, slowly whittled it down to who is gonna have the most impact and who is gonna have the most relevance for the audience.

Joe (11:17.497)
Yeah, there's definitely that connection. Even if not related directly to the Bettenworld, there's definitely that connection that he's going to make and his speech and what he says, his story is going to really resonate with people from our industry. So yeah, think a good choice there. Definitely really excited. I think the room is going to be packed. And we kind of mentioned, to tick off the over under on how many times we can say the word flamboyant in this episode.

You mentioned how flamboyant the event is going to be, how many surprises there's going to be. Is that something we can expect? More kind of things that are just going to take your breath away like this, that are going to keep you guessing and keep you just on your toes and just really, yeah, be spectacular.

Aidan Brain (12:04.89)
Yeah, in a word, yes. I mean, there were things I found out about even last week that blew my mind that we're gonna have a SPC Summit and I don't want to spoil them. I don't know if it's worth my job spoiling it all for everybody on the podcast, but there are some things that I think will just...

I've been working in conferences and events for over a decade and I've never seen an event like this and I'm not just being paid to say that. That's not hyperbole. This is going to be a massive, massive, spectacular event. The greatest show in gaming as the headline is.

Joe (12:43.545)
Yeah, likewise, was, you know, actually, our producer, Innea, keeps reminding me it was my seven year anniversary at SBC this week. And I've never seen quite, thank you, thank you. But I've never seen anything quite like this event. It really is just spectacular. There's so many different elements that are just gonna take your breath away in a different type of way as well. You know, so much insight, so much to learn. So many really once in a lifetime experiences like this Tony Hawk keynote.

Aidan Brain (12:51.955)
Hey, congrats.

Joe (13:13.507)
I think one of the reasons why he kind of does resonate with our audience so much is the iconic video games. We heard from John Romero at the Casino Beach Summit in Malta. He had that connection to our audience because of the video games. Do you think that's something we can expect to hear from Tony about at the event, know, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater and how, why that game did so

Aidan Brain (13:38.507)
Definitely, that is definitely going to be something that Tony touches on because it's you can't really tell his life story or you know provide the

Share the lessons from his life story without touching on the video game franchise I mean that's for many people that's where they know him from is from the video games if they weren't into You know, they didn't watch skating on TV or whatever. I don't even know if in the 90s it was on TV, you know They heard of him through video games So that that's a huge part of it And I think yes, he will definitely be talking about why those video games in particular captured so many

imaginations.

Joe (14:21.507)
Yeah, like, you know, for myself, it was my first introduction to Tony Hawk. And from there, you just get to know and have so much admiration for the persona and the sporting legend that he is. And yeah, really excited to hear about that. To be more general, Aidan, you we've obviously, you've listened to a lot of keynotes in the past. you have any standout memories from any keynotes, any particular ones that stand out to you?

Aidan Brain (14:51.906)
Well, I'm getting on in age a bit, Joe, so can only, my memory only stretches back about three months, but there was a really good one about three months ago at our North America Summit in New Jersey. So we had Dan Marino keynoting and that was just fantastic. He was a great guy. He's such an icon. I'm not.

a huge NFL expert myself. I knew who he was from Ace Ventura Pet Detective. And that, yeah, that was first of all, somebody in the audience asking him what his favorite line was from Ace Ventura Pet Detective. And it was some line about gonorrhea or something. It was a very random, bizarre moment. Then him, you know, throwing a signed ball into the audience. was cool. it just, was so much audience interaction and it was light and it was funny. And I think the

Joe (15:18.584)
Yeah.

Joe (15:32.383)
Hehehehe... Hehehehe...

Aidan Brain (15:44.071)
thing with these big celebrity keynotes is we don't actually want to bog them down talking about our industry. We have days of really educational content about our industry. think having the likes of Dan Marino and Tony Hawk there, it brings levity in a way and it kind of just makes everything really fun. And the Dan Marino keynote was just so much fun. Everybody was laughing and it was great. So that's the

that memory for sure even though it's a bit of a cop -out because it was only three months ago but yeah.

Joe (16:15.502)
That's

No, no, it's a really good point actually. And I think that's what you dream of with a keynote, right? You learn and you learn these life lessons and you learn these business lessons, but you kind of do it subliminally because you're having so much fun in that room while you're watching somebody that just oozes character. I've no doubt Tony Hawk is going to be the same. And I remember with the Damarino one, the audience interaction really took it up a notch. You know, the throwing footballs into the crowd. That was fantastic. That, yeah, really.

Aidan Brain (16:22.551)
Yeah.

Aidan Brain (16:37.25)
Definitely.

Joe (16:47.404)
really did elevate the energy, really got the room going as well and started the day in the best possible way.

Another thing at our events as we've kind of mentioned is there are, there do tend to be a few celebs hanging about. Yeah, is that something you're expecting from this one? Could we see a few famous faces? Obviously we're in Portugal, it's a hotspot. Yeah, what are you expecting there? Should we roll out the red carpet?

Aidan Brain (17:02.604)
Yep.

Aidan Brain (17:13.763)
Definitely, definitely. We're gonna have a lot.

I don't know all of them that are going to be there, but just as an example, going back to our Rio event this year in February, we had Zé Roberto keynoted, but we also had Ronaldinho at one of the stands. A lot of our partners, a lot of the operators and suppliers that we work with have partnerships and ambassadors who are famous faces. And we're going to have, obviously all those people are going to be at SPC Summit Lisbon. So a lot of the ambassadors are going to be there as

I don't think I'm spoiling too much to say that I am 99 % certain Figo will be there, obviously as we're in Portugal and he is a partner to many of our clients and partners so that's just one example. But definitely and beyond Tony Hawk there will definitely be some other famous faces walking around, yeah.

Joe (18:09.847)
Nice, exciting times and I'll forgive you as well because we are on semi -final day England play Holland tonight in the Euro semi -final and you've mentioned Figo and Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho especially, two guys that broke English hearts in major tournaments previously. Getting a bit of PTSD there before the game tonight. Not what I needed but the stars will definitely be out for our event in Lisbon. Incredibly exciting.

Aidan Brain (18:24.788)
Yeah, sorry. Yeah.

Aidan Brain (18:36.003)
Definitely.

Joe (18:38.242)
Have you ever had any sort of famous encounters, any celebrity spottings that you've picked out that you remember stick in your

Aidan Brain (18:41.623)
Ha ha

Aidan Brain (18:46.572)
at our event.

Joe (18:48.17)
Either or I guess, I'll give you the free birth

Aidan Brain (18:51.258)
Wow, wow, well, I will say when I was 20, I sold Noel Gallagher a pair of trainers. I worked at Lacoste in London. That's my biggest claim to fame and nothing has talked it in the 20 odd years since. I mean, our events, like I said, Dan Marino, that was so cool. Zé Roberto.

Joe (18:58.178)
Wow.

Aidan Brain (19:16.603)
We have so many cool people at our event. So that's always really sticks in my head because I actually work with these people and speak to them to plan out their session and so on. it's not just I've seen them in the queue for, you know, whatever at Tesco and kind of yelled their name. I've actually been talking to them. So that's, that's always been really cool. But yeah, otherwise, it's got to be that one Nol Galgas sighting 16 years ago.

Joe (19:44.396)
Nice, nice, is, that is, yeah, it's hard to top that. You peaked too soon there, really. I don't know if you get any better than that.

Aidan Brain (19:50.595)
I know, same year I was actually, I was still behind Peter Stringfellow at the queue for cash at petrol station. So it's, yeah, there's two, there's more coming back to me now, but that's probably it. I know, I know, it's all downhill since. Exactly.

Joe (20:02.489)
What a year for you. What a year for you. That was it didn't it? Yeah. It's going to get better anyway in Lisbon. We're going to the they're going to flood in and it is such a massive event. That is something we've we've spoken about quite a lot. The scale is quite astronomical. There's so much to see, so much to do, so much knowledge to take in, so many discussions to be had. I wondered if before we sign out, if you had any tips

our listeners to kind of prepare, best prepare for the event to ensure they get the most out of it from, you know, whatever sector they're going into and to also explore new sectors.

Aidan Brain (20:43.064)
Yeah, yeah. mean, I, you've hit the nail on the head there. They, they have to prepare some events. You don't necessarily have to prepare. just need to know, okay, here's the time that starts. I'll be there. I'll be in these sessions. SPC summit is so big that I would recommend signing into the app a couple of weeks before, at least, you know, we, we do have the app SPC connects plus kind of making yourself a schedule because there's no way you're going to get to see everything you want to see. Make yourself a schedule.

Leave yourself a bit of time to rest and relax and enjoy the event itself as well or walk around the expo hall But if you're going to conference sessions definitely plan those out in advance and then you're gonna miss some you just are So make sure your team members are coming to the event as well, and maybe they can cover Some a conference session when you'll be in a different one on the other side of the expo hall For this one, I definitely say bring some comfy

shoes because it is massive, absolutely massive. you might have a meeting at booth, you know, 300 and you're at booth two, that might take 15 minutes to get to. So I have some nice shoes. But really just come expecting a lot of fun networking as well. The stuff that we've got planned for the every night, the Tuesday night, the Wednesday night, the Thursday night is really, really incredible. So make sure you've got some energy for the networking parties because you're going to need

but it's gonna be worth it. that's, yeah.

Joe (22:14.061)
Yeah, echo echo both of them things about the comfy shoes and the app. The app is an absolute godsend. It's fantastic. Really helps you through the event. And also it's a marathon, not a sprint, right? Pace yourself, get through it. Don't don't burn out too early for the the maybe newer heads to events. But yeah, a really exciting one and some some stellar advice there to help people maximize it. And Aidan, we look forward to more announcements in the near future.

Aidan Brain (22:21.763)
Yes.

Aidan Brain (22:26.871)
Exactly.

Aidan Brain (22:43.452)
yes.

Joe (22:44.088)
flooding in about the event. Hopefully there is excitingness this one because this one really is fantastic and thanks ever so much for joining us. We'll catch up nearer the time I hope and discuss the event again and yeah have a good evening and thanks again.

Aidan Brain (22:58.458)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Joe. Thank you.