iGaming Daily

00:00
Good morning and welcome to the iGaming Daily brought to you by Optimove live from a bustling exhibition floor on the final day of the first SBC Summit Malta and yeah, what an event it's been so far. have two SBC stalwarts to join us to tell us about their conference so far and what they've made of this evolution as well. Craig Davis, the senior.

00:26
content specialist. Is that your title now? know where that's come from. That's completely made Senior media manager. I don't know if it's a promotion or a demotion. But none quite made my mind up. Well, more importantly, Craig, how has your conference been so far? You had a good one just briefly. It's really good. I always like the atmosphere at this event. Nice, nice. And Dennis Allgreen, Dennis, you're the... The head, the king of marketing. That's a bit much, but okay. I'll take marketing director. I'm using this podcast to crown you the king of marketing.

00:54
Yeah, have you enjoyed the show so far? I have very much. think a lot of things have worked really well for this one. think broadening the scope was a good idea. And we've certainly been able to kind of raise the roof in terms of both attendance and kind of the engagement with this event. I think it feels like, you know, this is home for it, right? 100 percent. 100 percent. It really feels like a home. It feels like the whole of the

01:24
iGaming community, sports betting, payments, lot of crypto here, I've noticed a lot of crypto discussions. A lot of crypto? descend on the conference. But before we do get into that, and I don't want to make this kind of a type of night out debrief, we've got to talk about that party last night because, oh my word, it was spectacular, right? That was cracking. I'm normally not much for this particular music scene, but I also have to recognize a spectacular show.

01:53
That was very good fun. We had a very nice, long night. Yeah, some of those moves that were being bussed by everyone in the industry, they were phenomenal. I've got to say as well, Galantis was fantastic. And then I would love to give a shout out to whoever it was came on after him. It was a hell of a job to follow up there and keep the party going.

02:17
injected a new lease of life into the pie and people stayed late. Absolutely, it adds a bit of pizzazz and I think these are not just DJs, these are entertainers, these are showmen. So when you get them from the top of the tier list, from Tomorrowland or whatever the big festivals are, you get something extra. Aside from just a dude behind a podium looking like he's rummaging around with buttons. You get an actual entertainer and a big show. That was fantastic.

02:45
Yeah, it really did feel like a spectacular show. was brilliant and fitting for what we've had over these two days as well. Craig, I know you've moderated a panel this week. You've been involved in a lot of panels, taken part in a lot of interviews. What have you noticed from the show floor? I think one of the big takeaways for me is how much people are speaking about the black market. I feel like it's... I've never heard it mentioned as much on a show floor. Of course, we've had dedicated panels to it and...

03:12
I mean, let's be honest, it shouldn't be something that's hidden. It's very real thing. It's a massive part of the industry, whether people like it or not. So we shouldn't be afraid of having these conversations, but it's the differing opinions as well. With a lot of things, I can do my job with slots of fires and some of the messaging could be the same. You speak about the markets and the slots that are coming up. With the black market, you get the one end of it needs to be completely wiped out. We need to do what we can to wipe it out.

03:42
So the other end saying, hold on a minute, we should be collaborating with these people. There's actually some genuinely very clever experienced people in this part of the industry. So why are we not trying to utilize that in some kind of collaboration? And transitioning with the overall goal of transitioning that black market to the gray market, to the regulated market, right? And I think that's a consequence of, and credit to what you do, Dennis, of getting so many people here from such different perspectives.

04:09
It creates this conversation, such a wide scope of conversation, and you're not in this echo chamber. You learn from different elements of the industry, right? Yeah, of course. mean, look, as Craig said rightly, the only way forward is collaboration and communication. And we need to make sure that the different aspects of the industry are represented. That's our role in the industry, is to make sure that we provide a platform for that connection. And only then can we move.

04:38
towards what we think the market should be and how they should be set up and regulated, I think that's the only way forward. It shouldn't be taboo. That's the thing I I want to say on that, final part, if you will. It's felt like a taboo subject. You've got to speak about it in hushed tones in a corner. It shouldn't be. Similar to responsible gambling, for example, which I'm sure we'll get on to. I've moderated a panel on it that is of them. Similar with that, you've seen the conversations come up more and more over the years, certainly.

05:07
eight years later this year that I've been in this round, all similar for yourself, Joe. You've seen those conversations develop more and more and it's getting more of a platform, whether it's got the platform it should worldwide at the minute. I'm sure there people who work in it full-time would tell you not, but it shouldn't be something that's shied away from because it is very real. Well, tell us about that panel, Craig. You were a moderator panel yesterday on responsible gambling or a workshop, which I've got to say credit to the conference team, by the way, a side note.

05:36
It's been fantastic to be part of the workshops this time and see how they navigate conversation differently to a panel. The mic moves around the room, everybody's involved. It's a real open discussion. They are just fantastic to be part of and underpin the importance of that conversation that we're talking about so much, that free conversation. But yeah, your workshop yesterday on responsible gambling, what were the key takeaways? How did it go down?

06:04
It was a really interesting discussion. I I don't think there's any shame in saying this as two of my panelists announced this while we was mid conversation that we didn't actually do any prep because we couldn't get the time. So we had a little chat beforehand and very experienced people from L &L Europe and Betson and there was possible gambling council and Epic Global Solutions and some really experienced people from panels. Seen all but one on panels before so I knew I'll get in but it's...

06:33
We're kind of like, well, should we just see how we go? So it made for a bit more of a free flowing discussion to your point. I've done the first panel of the show with the keynote speaker on the main stage last year to a big packed room. So now in one of the workshop rooms is something more, feels more personable. So it's like you're actually having a discussion with the people in the room rather than talking at them. That's quite nice. And people.

07:00
even though they actually have to their hand up and ask questions, people weren't afraid to. And it was quite nice. But takeaways, again, the black market came up and again, not in a kind of argumentative way, but maybe slight differing opinions. But the black market came up. One thing we have to highlight though is, I mean, with Epic, I'm sure everyone knows what you do and you know what you're getting with Epic, but it always hits home.

07:28
when you sat either in the room or alongside them on a panel or wherever it may be, to hear them talk about their story. Yeah, the importance of lived experience, right? It's always, and you hear them, and the first question just on the current state responsible gambling to kind of get that foundation, it was Craig Cornford for Epic who was on the panel, and he took it first, straight off the bat into it about his journey and said about his past, and how he'd kind of embezzled all this money and nearly committed suicide, and just straight off the bat, that was where we was at.

07:58
from the get-go. But it was a really good discussion about how do you heighten it and how do you work alongside the players, what's next. And again, to cite Epic, a lot of the times I ask the news questions about the safer gambling tools and stuff and how effective, what do we do? And he's like, well, I can't, the handset has never used them. To hear him say things like that is...

08:27
is a bit mad, but it's just... I've done a lot of panels and I've never... This one was an hour as well, we have a standard port of... This one was an hour. I've never experienced a quicker hour moderating a panel in my whole life. Just because the conversation was so flowing and so... I think it helped not having a big clock ticking down right in front of you. But it just flowed, was nice, it was good to have the experience and straight off the bat there was so many different discussions we could go down. And one...

08:57
comment we got at the end, which was quite pleasing, was it didn't follow the path that they expected. It went down a few different avenues that weren't expected and it made for a bit of infix. We didn't jump into tech and AI, for example. Well, that's one of the positive connotations of being in a workshop room with an engaged audience. You can't really plan what's coming next because it's coming from the crowd and they're going to dictate where it goes, which I think speaks to...

09:24
the idea that the panel is designed by the audience and is what they want. that's, yeah, a great thing, I think. yeah, the importance of lived experience, as you say, vital, think, when it comes to responsible gambling. But we're to take a quick break and we'll be back, talk a little bit more about panels and maybe even look ahead to what's coming in the future for SPC events. Welcome back. Yeah, I just want to talk a little bit about one of the other panels that I was on yesterday.

09:54
around a couple of, there's so many good panels, it's hard to pick one, but I was part of a live Beyond the Reels that was, it was fantastic. We got to see behind, know, really look under the bonnet, lift the bonnet on the process of designing a slot, building characters, how you remain creative when you're designing a game and a feature for a small mobile screen. So.

10:21
Yeah, that was brilliant. Thanks to those that were part of that. And also something on Tuesday too around the UAE. have been so many good discussions, but it was interesting to hear the UAE mentioned a market that I'm sure is going to be discussed in the future. We had the digital day, the SBC digital day about the Middle East. A real focused market. And Dennis, this event is fantastic.

10:51
but it serves as the perfect appetizer. It's fair to say, serves as the perfect, and I love an appetizer. One of my favorite parts of the meal. much as the next guy. Yeah, of course. It serves as a perfect appetizer for what looms in the distance. The big one. The big one, the big one indeed. SPC Summit in Lisbon in September. I mean, this is obviously, and it's important for us that the event has...

11:19
value and utility on its own, but obviously there are so many things that we could do here and then they're done differently for a larger event like Lisbon, right? how we do, like, because it does feel like I come here and I don't get a small version of Lisbon, I get this unique event that is very different, so I want to make that clear when I say it the Appetizer. I think the way the content is structured, the way the event works and flows overall is different. I mean, obviously coming into Lisbon, this was our experience last year as well, is...

11:48
you've all of a sudden got such a big thing that just trying to navigate it and there's no way that anybody can even experience everything they want to experience during that week. Here, there's a slight change in direction or a different direction in terms of especially how the content for instance is mapped out. What is it that's here? Give it its own unique kind of identity and make sure that, okay, what is it that this particular community wants most?

12:16
we're to serve the industry, right? So we want to make sure that this has a lovely combination, I think now of these very, very tangible kind of skill set, skill ups in workshops and kind of really focused nitty gritty content is really good and discussions into what some people would call nerdy stuff, but we love that, right? Everybody wants to nerd in their area. I think that's really fantastic. And still have some room for the...

12:45
the larger leadership pieces. I heard a lot of good about our opening a panel with some of the brightest minds in the industry. I've truly felt that, by the way, that nitty gritty, that nerdy stuff, as you say. Lots of talk about MECA, European crypto regulations, Bill 55, these types of things that are deeply entangled, entrenched in this region and in an intimate setting.

13:13
And then guess you expand on that little bit for Lisbon, right? Yeah, of course. mean, Lisbon, because it also has the size and scale, it kind of allows for both, right? It allows for obviously a much bigger exhibition than we do here on the island. You know, we have a venue that's set up and geared for that and interest is high. But then that's again what part of gives these events their own unique identity. Even though we've now assembled them under the SPC Summit brand.

13:43
to give people a sense of expectation of quality that they can feel between both events. But I think Lisbon has room for everything. That's kind of the joy of that, right? It means that there's room for both the nitty gritty stuff and there's a lot of room for even stuff that we can't really do here, right? In Lisbon, we can do massive headliners on a super stage. We had Tony Hawk last year. We've already confirmed and announced Gary Vaynerchuk for this year, something that...

14:12
I'm seeing a lot of buzz about in parts of their both kind of their crypto blockchain as well as marketing. He's quite prolific. So I think that somebody that people will want to want to just straight up go just to see in some aspects. And then hopefully they get a chance to experience everything else that that massive event now has to offer. Even just a regional focus like here, you know, it's quite European centric. When you expand out, you get to have full.

14:41
conferences essentially in Lisbon on various regions. So yeah, even just a regional focus is something that's and I think important to mention in that aspect that there is also why, because if you then go to Lisbon and you have a certain region that you're interested in, normally you would have potentially found that content that you're interested in and the networking scattered kind of a little bit over a large area, either in time-wise or even geography, because let's face it, it's a big space.

15:09
And I think what we're introducing now with this global markets and emerging market stages really provides a framework for people that say, okay, do you know what? I'm currently working with a massive focus in Asia. Okay, well, here is a whole day on one stage dedicated to those regions and at the same time combined with very convenient networking sessions for each of the interested markets right next door.

15:36
This is really where I can take in the whole event and then I've got my own little focus that I want to take in and that can be done right then and there. Yeah, it's really interesting as well because pre-Americas I did a podcast with Aidan and he said one of the things is it's not going to be exclusively insightful to that audience. obviously we had the two regions at the Americas event.

16:04
there weren't many people that would go there and only learn from the one half. If you were a North America focused delegate, there were still so many things to learn from the other side of the conference. And I think that's very much the case in Lisbon. You can go there with a focus on Africa.

16:21
but you're still going to pick up so much knowledge from around the rest of the conference. and I think also really, really important that the audience, even when sessions aren't necessarily mapped out like workshops where they're kind of engaged in pieces, but then if you, at the same time, you walk out of the conference room and you can now have a conversation with the speakers and the other listeners following that up, you'll probably learn as much from that as you will from the session itself, right? Because through conversation is how we acquire the specific knowledge we're after.

16:51
Yeah, for sure. And I could do with that big clock in front of me because I'm not 100 % sure on the time. just one more thing about the two conferences that sets them apart that's fairly obvious is the two locations. Both unique, both bring their own flair. It's so good to be back in Malta. I love Malta. Such a beautiful country, such great people and such a hub for iGaming too. And then Lisbon, obviously. Yeah, I'm not sure there are many cooler cities in Europe than Lisbon. So, yeah.

17:20
Maybe Manchester, that's about it. Yeah, did look throughout our research. We obviously found out this one has won, I don't know, five awards for the world's city destination in a row. It's a massive popular city. And I think it's congested. It's not nearly as big as I thought. The actual population is only 550,000, which means that it's quite accessible to see the sites.

17:48
excellent food culture, know, very hospitable and affordable, right? It does matter for everybody. We need to go and take it in. it will come with costs. So don't mind that it's not the premium price that some other cities might have. I do think city, I think more so than anything else, we moved that event to Lisbon and mainly also because we thought that the both the accessibility of the destination and the venue

18:17
It has such a good setup for how we want to do an event. What sort of experience do we want to provide for people walking through the door? It's really, really difficult to find these locations where we can do that combination. I would say quite unique combination of networking, big outside the industry, headliners on massive stages in the arena, and then we still have space to put the conference stages on there as well.

18:44
without the noise pollution and the other things that you want to make sure of are there to deliver quality content. Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. Excited to enjoy a final night in Malta and then look ahead to Lisbon. And on Lisbon headliners, last year's headliner, Marab de Walisvili, I hope I've said the name right, Marab de Walisvili defended his bantamweight crown last Saturday, so shout out to obviously a good omen.

19:11
good form off the back of a headline in the SBC Summit in Lisbon. So congratulations to Marab and enjoy the rest of your conference, lads. Thanks, Craig. Thanks, Dennis. Appreciate everyone for listening. Thank you very much.