Gambling Insider - Sports Betting Focus H1 2022

INSIDE

SPORTS BETTING FOCUS Altenar: LatAm sports betting data Sporting Solutions: The future of esports betting Roundtable: Industry experts discuss virtual sports

EYES ON THE PRIZE Gambling Insider brings you our World Cup Special, featuring: • Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson • Pronet Gaming CEO Alex Leese • Digitain Founder Vardges Vardanyan

EDITOR’S LETTER

COO, EDITOR IN CHIEF Julian Perry EDITOR Tim Poole Tim.Poole@gamblinginsider.com STAFF WRITER Peter Lynch Peter.Lynch@gamblinginsider.com LEAD DESIGNER Brendan Morrell DESIGNERS Olesya Adamska, Christian Quiling DESIGN ASSISTANTS Radostina Mihaylova, Svetlana Stoyanova

Julian Perry, COO, Editor in Chief

Tim Poole, Editor

As we head to press for this issue of Gambling Insider’s Sports Betting Focus, the roars of the Cheltenham Festival are so raucous they can be heard all the way over in New York.

At the same time, sportsbooks in the Empire State are so busy taking bets on March Madness, the American Gaming Association has projected over $3bn in legal wagers during the NCAA college basketball tournament in the US. Certainly, at this time of year, sports betting is the talk of the industry.

And it’s fascinating to see how horseracing bettors and bookmakers alike have fared at Cheltenham. Likewise, operators in key US states like New York, where just under $4bn in sports wagers have been placed within two months of mobile sports betting being legalised. During both Cheltenham and New York’s launch, free bets galore were handed out and seemingly no expense spared by operators’ marketing departments.

Yet long-term questions can be asked across both sides of the Atlantic Ocean here. Will next year’s Cheltenham Festival offer the same experience if the UK’s upcoming Gambling Act review offers new restrictions to British bettors?

And can US sports betting operators sustain splashing out on such lavish advertising and new customer offers? Caesars Entertainment’s curtailing of its advertising in New York – and the immediate loss of market share that followed – suggests otherwise.

Amid all these discussions, however, one salient fact will always remain constant in sports betting: that the football World Cup guarantees huge betting volumes around the globe. It won’t just be in the UK or US that sports bettors flock in their droves to a retail outlet (but far more likely their sportsbook app of choice) this November, including in what the industry terms emerging markets, such as Brazil, Argentina and Nigeria.

And that’s why we’ve dedicated this issue’s cover story to previewing the biggest event in world football, featuring interviews with Pronet Gaming CEO Alex Leese, Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson and Digitain Founder Vardges Vardanyan.

In most years, of course, a November World Cup would be dismissed by our readers as a typo. But it is not most years – and this winter’s showpiece event in Qatar has created distinct talking points among our interviewees.

How will the new timing affect betting volumes?

Which regions will be most lucrative? And will results favour the bookie or the punter? Read this and more in our in-depth interviews, as the Sports Betting Focus zones in on some of sports betting’s foremost executives.

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MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER Mariya Savova IT MANAGER Tom Powling COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Deepak Malkani Deepak.Malkani@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 6279 SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERS Michael Juqula Michael.Juqula@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 3487 0498 Martin Dilleigh Martin.Dilleigh@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0) 203 435 5628 SENIOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER - U.S. Aaron Harvey Aaron.Harvey@playerspublishing.com Tel: +1 702 425 7818 ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE - U.S. Ariel Greenberg ariel.greenberg@playerspublishing.com Tel: +1.702 833 9581 ACCOUNT MANAGERS William Aderele William.Aderele@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 2062 Clive Waite Clive.Waite@gamblinginsider.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 0643 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Michelle Pugh Michelle@GlobalGamingAwards.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5768 CREDIT MANAGER Rachel Voit WITH THANKS TO: Jesper Svensson, Alex Leese, Vardges Vardanyan, Julien Boinet, Altenar, Sporting Solutions, Digitain, Enteractive, IQ Soft, Pronet Gaming, Sportradar, BtoBet, DS Virtual Gaming, Inspired Entertainment, Abelson, Sportingtech, BetConstruct, Amelco Gambling Insider magazine ISSN 2043-9466 Produced and published

by Players Publishing Ltd All material is strictly copyrighted and all rights reserved.

Reproduction without permission is forbidden. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of Gambling Insider but we assume no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.

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CONTENTS 4 SPORTS BETTING DATA

Supplier Altenar walks us through exclusive data for the LatAm market

6 SPORTING SOLUTIONS

Business Developemnt Director Julien Boinet discusses esports betting

12 WORLD CUP SPECIAL - BETSSON GROUP CEO Jesper Svensson joins Editor Tim Poole for an exclusive interview

20 WORLD CUP SPECIAL - PRONET GAMING CEO Alex Leese speaks to Staff Writer Peter Lynch

28 WORLD CUP SPECIAL - DIGITAIN

Founder Vardges Vardanyan discusses the supplier’s World Cup prospects

36 ROUNDTABLE: VIRTUAL SPORTS

We present exclusive contributions from high-profile executives at Playtech, Inspired Entertainment and Leap Gaming

48 THE US VIEW: AMELCO We speak to Brandon Walker

16 DIGITAIN 18 ENTERACTIVE 24 IQ SOFT 26 PRONET GAMING 32 SPORTRADAR 34 ALTENAR

COMPANY PROFILES 7 BETCONSTRUCT 8 SPORTING SOLUTIONS

40 BTOBET 42 DS VIRTUAL SOLUTIONS 44 INSPIRED ENTERTAINMENT 46 ABELSON INFO 50 SPORTINGTECH GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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ALTENAR

Sport in numbers From the past to the future: Altenar’s statistics from the online sportsbook market In Latin America Latin America market size 2016-2027 12

Altenar has provided Gambling Insider a look into the world of sportsbook statistics as part of this Sports Betting Focus issue.

Across these pages, the suppliers looks at how Online gambling increase in numbers have changed over time, how they are predicted to shift and adapt to a growing Online gambling increase in Lati 12 online market and a look at the exponential growth 12of monetary value within the sports betting 10 arena.

Besides the ues metaphors and the odd sports10betting pun, Altenar has mainly 8 showcased the potential for the Latin American 8 market. The statistics below span 12 years, some already lived and ones yet 6 However, it’s apparent that the LatAm to pass. market6isn’t slowing down anytime soon and that sports betting may become one of the most 4favoured aspects of online gambling in 4 five years within the region. the next

Latin America market size 2016-2027 12

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2016 2017 2021 2021 2022 2022 2023 2023 20242024 202520252026 2016 2018 2017 2019 2018 2020 2019 2020 20262027 2027

Sports betting gambling market - Latin America Sports betting gambling market - Latin America

2023 9.1%

2022 8.2%

2023 9.1%

2022

13.8%

13.8%

8.2%

2021

2021

2027

2027

7.4%

7.4%

2026 12.4% 2026

12.4%

2020

2020 6.7%

2019 6.1%

2018 5.5%

6.7%

2025 11.1%

2019

2025

6.1%

11.1%

2018 5.5%

2024

2017

10.1%

5.0%

2017

2024 2016

10.1% 4.6%

2016

5.0%

4.6% CAGR% (Compound annual growth rate) market increase comparison

CAGR%12(Compound annual growth rate) market increase comparison 4

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2 Size matters 2 It’s only prudent to begin with the increase of size0that the Latin American market has 0 experienced from 2016 to the present, 2022.

2016 2017 2018 of2019 2019 20202021 202120222022 2016 2018 2020 202 From 2016, with 2017 an amount $4.9bn, a six-year period has increased the market total to $7.9bn, with an estimated $4bn increase in the five years ending Betting market sizesiz Betting market in 2027.

Desktop, and other devices in Desktop,mobile mobile and other devices The figures would suggest that the LatAm market is not only growing in size Other Mobile D Other Mobile and territory but in monetary value as well.

12 12 It’s in the game 10 Not only 10 has the LatAm market seen a drastic increase in online gambling in general,8 but the sportsbook aspect of the 8 has also increased exponentially market from $1.94bn (2016) to $3.bn (present), 6 with an 6 estimated increase of $2.4bn in five 4years (2027).

This4 would indicate that sportsbook capabilities are not only desired in 2 the LatAm market but are extremely 2 for the companies that offer profitable 0 a sports betting 2016 section.2018 2020 2022 0 2016vs the world 2018 2020 2022 Sportsbook Though the title of this section is hyperbolic, the essence is true. The below graph details how sports betting performs in the LatAm gambling market in comparison to casino, poker, bingo CAGR% (Compound annual growth rate) online gamb and others.

15 (Compound annual growth rate) online ga CAGR%

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12.4% 12.4%

7.4%7.4%

20202020 6.7%6.7%

20252025 11.1% 11.1%

20192019

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4

2

2

0

0 20162016

6.1%6.1%

20182018

20182018

10.1% 10.1%

20172017

20222022

20242024

ALTENAR

20242024

5.5%5.5%

20202020

20262026

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20162016

5.0%5.0%

4.6%4.6%

CAGR% (Compound annual growth market increase comparison CAGR% (Compound annual growth rate)rate) market increase comparison

CAGR% (Compound annual growth online gambling increase by region CAGR% (Compound annual growth rate)rate) online gambling increase by region 15 15

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Sportsbook Sportsbook

CasinoCasino

PokerPoker

BingoBingo

OtherOther

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0 AmericaNorthNorth America Europe Europe Latin Latin America America

Sports betting ranks first in the LatAm $3.3bn increase over a six-year period market with a CAGR (compound annual from 2016 ($4.9bn) to 2022 (7.9bn), with a growth rate) of 10.8%, with casino coming predicted of $7bn from 2016 to Online gambling increase in increase Latin America a close second, having a 0.2% lower CAGR 2027, accumulating an $11.59bn market 12 at 10.6%. percentage capitalisation in LatAm. Bingo comes in third place (10.2%), Poker in fourth (8.3%) and others coming in last10at (7.8%).

Facing the facts of the beneath statistics, it’s clear 8 that sportsbook is the market leader in LatAm as the preferred form of gambling. This can stem from the region's love of6 sport and sporting content, something Altenar has adopted and adhered 4 to over its time in LatAm.

“The figures would suggest that the LatAm market is not only growing in size and territory but in monetary value as well”

2026 2027

A technological sign of the times Online2 gambling grew exponentially during the pandemic, as the need for Not only are these statistics impressive, online0access to games reached a new they’re also a sign of the times, as online and unavoidable high. gambling vastly outweighs the desire for 2017 market 2018 saw 2019a 2020 2021 2022 betting 2023 2024 2025 because 2026 2027 The online2016 gambling in-person … purely it’s Betting market size Desktop, mobile and other devices in Latin America Other

2027 13.8%

Mobile

Desktop

12 10 8

2026 12.4%

6 4

2025 11.1%

2 0

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

2026

Asia Pacific Asia Pacific

MEA MEA

becoming more accessible.

Our data demonstrates that the desire for online gambling is growing considerably.

Betting on the go As online gambling has increased, the devices being used to access sportsbooks have been changing, with the times as well.

Desktop betting increased from $2.1bn (2016) to $3.42bn (2022), with an estimated $5.5bn (2027) over a five-year period.

Mobile betting increased from $1.5bn (2016) to $2.6bn (2022), with an estimated $4.47bn (2027) in the same five-year period.

Other forms of betting saw $0.57bn (2016) to $0.99bn (2022) and an estimated $1.63bn in 2027.

However, some interesting statistics come from the CAGR percentage for devices: • Desktop – 9.8% • Mobile – 10.7% • Other – 10. 2 % The CAGR percentages demonstrate that an increase in mobile betting has taken place and that the potential for growth in this device-usage is exponential.

LatAm: A tier-one contender Latin America has proven it can rival other online gambling regions in terms of revenue, access and success.

With the statistics from the above-mentioned data LatAm (10.2%) is quickly catching up to CAGR market leaders North America (12%), Europe (11.6%) and Asia Pacific (12.4%).

This level of growth is provably impressive and Altenar’s data predicts that sportsbook and LatAm will increase revenue further over the next five years (2027).

The data referenced in the graphs and charts demonstrates that LatAm is a market to watch and be involved with.

2024 10.1%

2016

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4.6%

comparison

CAGR% (Compound annual growth rate) online gambling increase by region 15

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SPORTING SOLUTIONS

Shining the spotlight on esports Sporting Solutions’ Business Development Director Julien Boinet shines the spotlight on esports in the wider sports betting industry

Julien Boinet THE ROLE OF ESPORTS IN THE FUTURE OF SPORTS BETTING It might not be the revolution some announced, and it is going to take time, but I’m convinced in the future growth of esports.

We probably need to admit that the first attempt of the industry might have been too early and clumsy. Sportradar already had an esports product when I was working there six years ago. The problem is that coverage was limited and, in retrospect, too expensive for what it was.

Operators were frustrated with the performance as they failed to generate revenues and/or attract new players. The message became: “We have tried, it doesn’t work, esports is a fad”. And it didn’t get traction for years.

In the meantime, the audience of esports grew exponentially and the Covid pandemic brought the topic back in the industry because there were basically no traditional sports. There was a strong need for alternatives and esports became a no-brainer. With improvement from vendors and better coverage, the industry is on the right track to satisfying the appetite of esports customers.

So that is the first thing: it has evolved positively and we’ve come a long way.

But there are still a lot of sceptical people!

And certainly, there is more educating to do about esports.

Understandably, many people have a hard

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time considering it as a sport in the traditional sense. But when you see the work that goes into becoming a professional player, the recent influx of sponsorship and endorsements for esports athletes, the packed arenas to watch finals of big competitions, it’s no different to any other ‘classical’ sport.

I personally had a hard time understanding why someone would connect to Twitch streams to watch others playing video games when I thought the fun part was to actually play the game itself… Yet I am a rugby fan overly engaged watching France on TV playing the Six Nations… When you think about it, it is the same thrill but a content we - as an older generation - might have a hard time grasping.

When you break this psychological barrier and start seeing esports as a legitimate form of entertainment, you see the importance for sportsbook operators to position themselves as soon as possible because the foundation and the growth is there, it’s just a matter of time.

Is there an increasing demand for esports?

Absolutely! Is there a wide market for it?

Definitely! It’s not just for younger demographics, it is developing as a mass product.

How can operators address the challenges of cross-selling esports to their existing player base?

Have you tried to explain TikTok to someone who is 60+ years old?

Joke aside, I am not convinced that the average sportsbook customer has much comprehension

of League of Legends or DOTA2. It would take a lot of convincing to attract these players towards esports. As it is becoming a more global phenomenon, there will mechanically be more traction and a residual growth, but the truth is that if you have not been growing with it, it will be hard to embrace it.

You can always put efforts into gamification or education of course. And you already see some cross-sell with competitions like FIFA or NBA2K due to their closeness to traditional sports, but the truth is that the biggest esports are not sport based.

You are eventually dealing with a crowd that is exponentially growing and wants to get a share of their attention and purchasing power, and I think the focus should be on acquiring these customers and keeping them growing, even if it is not going to be through every vertical.

The key to me is creating a unique space for it to thrive, and not just offer it as yet another sport somewhere in your left navigation menu. I’ve always believed in the need to create a completely different universe, separated from the classic sport offer, with a different display, integration of Twitch, chat functionalities, dedicated stats etc.

I think esports fans are much more responsive to operators that have created that special feel around esports.

For operators who do it right, esports is already representing around 5% of their turnover. There is business in esports on its own!

BETCONSTRUCT

COMPANY PROFILE

In focus: BetConstruct BetConstruct is a global iGaming and betting software provider. The company provides transparent access to innovative tools and unique all-inclusive services, offering its partners an unparalleled opportunity to succeed.

As a leading sports betting supplier with 70,000+ In-Play and 140,000+ Pre-Game events per month, BetConstruct covers 120 sport types, including virtual sports, esports and many more.

BetConstruct’s Sportsbook is an entirely customisable all-in-one sports betting software with a comprehensive back office. The platform’s flexible nature allows operators to be as involved as they want with a wide range of reporting functions, including a customisable KPI dashboard, extensive real-time player and betting statistics.

Due to the Open platform and external APIs, it is easily integrated with third-party systems, which gives a chance for operators and partners to integrate BetConstruct Sportsbook into their Player Account Management system and create customised reports which can be re-run or set for automated delivery.

By integrating BetConstruct Sportsbook, the operator is provided with region-specific services, along with accurate custom odds from in-house traders, and complete control over suspicious matches and data analysis.

Managed by a team of experienced professionals, in-house risk management and back office tools, operators can choose markets, influence odds and pricing, fix limits and have player data and real-time reporting functions.

BetConstruct’s Sportsbook Platform is designed to be used by every type of operator, regardless of their business model, operational practices or jurisdictional requirements.

Along with the Sportsbook software, BetConstruct also offers Odds Feed, which is a data delivery product that supplies third-party sportsbooks with betting content.

The full portfolio of events and odds are delivered through an easy-to-integrate feed, and include full lifecycle management of the markets, including selection-specific results.

Odds Feed gives partners full access to more than 840,000 live matches and 1,68 million prematch events annually. With 700+ in-house traders, BetConstruct offers the latest and most accurate sports data from around the globe. Even during the quieter times of no live sports, BetConstruct offers more in-play betting and live streaming of basketball, table tennis and snooker tournaments; and keeps active betting content.

In addition to traditional sports content, the BetConstruct portfolio includes ssports matches. With a specialised esports department, the company offers live bets on 24,000+ matches, covering 600+ tournaments and 20+ different game types in 80+ markets.

Teaming up with an esports company that is running global tournaments for e-basketball, e-soccer, e-hockey and e-tnnis, BetConstruct provides its operators with an additional 48,000 events, all in-house live video streaming with odds feeds included by request. The platform also offers the staple Full/Partial Cashout, BetBoosts, Bonuses, Edit Bet and BetBuilder etc. The company’s advanced risk management tool provides automated player risk control.

BetConstruct also offers virtual sports software with a 24/7 realistic player experience, diverse portfolio, 3D visualisation and rich sound effects, and nine virtual sport types.

These include Virtual Football Pro,

Virtual Football League, Virtual Football Penalty Kicks, Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing, Virtual Bicycle, Marble Racing, Virtual Drag Racing and Virtual Tennis.

With 6400+ daily matches, BetConstruct delivers a multi-device solution with Full HD and HD graphics.

An integral part of the BetConstruct services is the Classic CRM, which is a web-based software that facilitates the process of managing the iGaming business.

BetConstruct’s Customer Relationship Management is a powerful automated marketing and analytics tool. It is a service with high-quality support and a help desk that indicates real-time customer journey from the registration to deposit and player activity.

The user-friendly software offers simple, flexible and cost-efficient solutions.

This helps to run all components, including casino games, providers, categories, payment systems, static text, banners and skin configuration from a single dashboard. It allows them to implement a range of marketing campaigns and sustain relationships with the players. This unique Content Management System offers over 2,500 features to manage web desktop and web mobile content.

BetConstruct’s RMT technology offers a deep analysis and risk management platform that will help the operators in auto-detection of risky player behaviour. This gives the chance to identify any fraud, reduce losses, as well as identify late/arbitrage bettors and bonus hunters. The service provides a profound analysis of multiple accounts to help carry on further anti-fraud actions.

Its statistics offers a unique personalised approach with bonuses and campaigns.

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COMPANY PROFILE

SPORTING SOLUTIONS

In focus: Sporting Solutions Andy Wright, CEO of Sporting Group, the market leading supplier to the global sports betting industry, discusses what makes Sporting Solutions, the Group’s B2B division, a pioneering provider of software services Sporting Solutions has been very active in North America. After launches with Alberta Gaming Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC) and Ontario Lottery & Gaming Commission (OLG), what are your longer-term ambitions for this market?

Those two very successful integrations were launched within a week of each other and create a great platform for us to promote our products and services further in the North American and Canadian market. We see the North American market as a key priority for us in the future, as we continue to focus on our managed services platform and our market leading trading services.

As a sports betting technology supplier, what’s the question you are frequently asked by operator partners and how do you answer it?

There are always questions about the time to market and requests for a tailored offering. Our recent launch in Alberta is an excellent example to demonstrate how Sporting Solutions meets such demands.

In this instance, not only did we deliver the solution in record time, but if you compare Ontario and Alberta’s offering, it’s clear how vastly different they are. So, we’re confident that with our highly configurable front-end widgets, we can satisfy the most differentiated offer on any operator’s whiteboard. Our nautral trading capabilities enable partners to determine their own pricing strategy and attitude to risk management.

In what ways has the rapid growth in sports betting across the US changed the way Sporting Solutions does business?

We have expanded our sales force to get in front of our potential partners and are now looking at additional offices in North America to house our growing presence there. There’s no doubt about it, our development pipeline has a more stateside feel to it. However, the main point for me, seeing how the market is maturing and the requirements from local operators, is that each state essentially represents a new territory, a

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new country, with separate localisation, personalisation and regulatory needs. We’re also hearing a certain level of dissatisfaction from operators regarding third party platforms and services. In addition, we are uniquely placed for larger lottery providers with sport licences and can leverage the reputation of Française des Jeux (FDJ) as a trusted omnipresent operator to capture that new business.

What does partnering with a nationally recognised operator like FDJ bring to the table?

First and foremost, trust and reliability. As a top 10 gambling company globally, partnering with FDJ provides immediate credibility, through reputation alone. Also, the pre-existing relationships it has opens many doors for us.

Additionally, the sheer scale of FDJ as a company has provided Sporting Group with a lot of support for our staff through a very difficult time over the last couple of years, particularly with the pandemic. We are very fortunate to be associated with them.

What do you consider to be the most under-exploited areas in sports betting technology and how are you working to take advantage of this?

Certainly risk and compliance tools and services are under indexed in the supply space. You only need to look at the gold rush of acquisition in the US. As that matures, the regulators, on a state-by-state basis, may start looking in the rear-view mirror in

“We have expanded our

sales force to get in front of our potential partners and are now looking at additional offices in North America”

Andy Wright terms of how these customers are acquired.

Any operator should be able to stand up to scrutiny in the future and be able to say it is operated responsibly, to avoid huge penalties or anything worse. We’re working on tools where operators will be able to demonstrate this with confidence and continue to compete in acquiring customers. We aim to get closer to existing and new partners by building true collaboration and a better understanding of their needs in this space in the future.

What for you is Sporting Solutions’ key differentiator from its rivals?

Obviously, there are a lot of suppliers very established in this space, but I believe Sporting Solutions has a different blend of what operators require across the full value chain. We’re not interested in competing in the data rights space, but instead are fully focused on our market-leading reputation in pricing and risk management to win business. Plus, we’re able to demonstrate the reliability of a platform demonstrated by FDJ in France and its stability to progress our platform and our managed services strategy.

EYES ON THE PRIZE THIS ISSUE'S FIXTURES

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BETSSON GROUP

JESPER SVENSSON

PRONET GAMING

ALEX LEESE

DIGITAIN

VARDGES VARDANYAN

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BETSSON - JESPER SVENSSON

World Cup 2022: A betting boost for the long term Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson speaks with Tim Poole about the prospects of sportsbook success at the 2022 World Cup

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BETSSON - JESPER SVENSSON

Great to speak to you again, Jesper! The World Cup 2022 will be slightly different this time, coming at the end of the year.

What are your expectations for betting volumes, and will it match previous major tournaments?

I think a World Cup is still a World Cup regardless of when it is. There is currently a lot of talk surrounding this tournament; similar to the talk circulating before the World Cup in Russia. In the end, it’s still the biggest sporting event and everyone will watch their national teams, as well as other national teams in big games. So, I expect a lot of betting volume, all-time highs, and I believe that is what we’ll see; definitely.

Jesper Svensson Betsson Group CEO Jesper Svensson has been around the block, seeing major tournaments come and go with the operator. Each time, however, there has been one key trend: tournament-on-tournament growth from the last event. And in the first of our World Cup feature interviews, the CEO speaks openly about the operator side of things.

What is Betsson expecting during this unique November tournament? How will the change in time and place affect betting? How will different markets the world across respond?

Svensson offers insight into cross-continental differences between bettor behaviour, and speaks of the necessary nuances put in place when marketing to South American and European players. As we get into the day-to-day operations of trading a World Cup, meanwhile, there's a clear focus for Svensson on customer acquistion.

When it comes to club football, as a Liverpool fan, the CEO is currently on cloud nine. But how will the sports betting sector respond to a sudden shift to international football in the middle of the domestic season?

What do you make of the fact the tournament starts in November? I’ve spoken to people who believe betting volume will be significantly higher than usual because November is typically an active month. Is that what you and the rest of Betsson are expecting?

I think you’re right in that November is always good. This is usually because it is during the peak of the football season and other sports. All the football leagues are running, all the various tournaments – like domestic cups, European football – they are all underway. So I think November is usually busier due to the frequency of events and tournaments that are running concurrently.

However, I don’t think it matters where you put a World Cup, the month is irrelevant; the tournament will still be massive from a betting point of view.

When we spoke before the Euros, you hoped the final would end 0-0 and go to penalties. It wasn’t quite 0-0 but it was a draw – and it did go to penalties!

So I’m assuming that was a win for sportsbooks. How do you think the upcoming World Cup will compare to the Euros we’ve just had more directly?

Yes, the Euros was a win for sportsbooks.

However, the World Cup is still a much bigger event than the Euros is in terms of betting.

Don’t get me wrong, the Euros is big in terms of betting volumes, but the World Cup is

FEATURES

just massive.

From a bookmaker’s point of view, we love low-scoring draws. That’s what we celebrate more than anything else. And when it comes to the final, I suppose to some degree it doesn’t matter too much which teams are in the final, as long as we get a low-scoring draw!

What’s it like trading at Betsson? When we last spoke, our GI Huddle roundtable centred on both the Euros and the Copa America. How does trading work when you’re dealing with multiple time zones?

Well, for the trading team, moments like this are like Christmas; it’s the best time to be a trader in these moments. It’s a hugely exciting time in which everyone is following every step of their teams’ progression in the tournament. These moments provide the biggest betting volumes, the biggest liabilities as well. And, given that a major tournament doesn’t cover too many games compared to club football, because it is such a one-off, what happens is sportsbooks price up so many events on fewer matches. This means that, from the point of view of a betting company, you’re so dependent on the result of the game.

A major tournament represents an incredible journey of ups and downs. It is a special time, an emotional time.

In Betsson we are roughly 60 different nationalities, and we operate in more than 20 countries; so you can imagine how excited we are when bets for major tournament come in from across all of these different countries.. It’s incredibly exciting, and I’m already looking forward to the next World Cup and the opportunities for profit that brings.

So, to just follow up on that, you said there will be ups and downs. When I worked at Ladbrokes previously, I remember sitting at my desk one day and this scream erupted behind me. I soon realised it was a trader during a tennis match. Do you think there will be moments like that at Betsson during the next World Cup? Oh, for sure, for sure! I mean, things like that happen at Betsson all the time in some shape or form. But, to go to the trading floor during a World Cup, that’s intense. And of course, when it goes the way of the sportsbook, there are a lot of celebrations as a result.

So it’s intense, but also super exciting.

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BETSSON - JESPER SVENSSON

On a similar note, you mention that you’re very dependent on results because there are so few large sporting events.

So, with that in mind, do you think there is a genuine possibility that the World Cup could be, depending on results, a bad tournament for the bookies?

Yes, there is a possibility. But it depends on how you define bad, really. One of the best things from a betting company’s point of view is that World Cups and other major

"All companies have certain expectations when it comes to thresholds for profit margins in a given quarter" tournaments are times when you usually get loads of new customers. So, aside from results, there is a lot of focus on customer acquisition during these times. Regardless of short-term success, the boost to customer numbers is really, really positive in the long term.

However, given that sportsbooks are dependent on the outcome of the game, the volatility of the workplace can go up and down like crazy. So yes, you can have a bad tournament so to speak. There have been times in the past where the bigger sporting tournaments have been really tough for the industry; companies have had to try and recoup revenue at the end of financial years.

What would hurt the industry is if all the favourites, the big teams, go very far having scored many goals, with the likely top scorers scoring. That would be a wound for the industry for sure. But when it comes down to it, as a sportsbook, you have to have a long-term look at things; you have to think of long-term positives and potential. Because a lot of new customers will be coming in; if they win it’s a great experience for the customer and they are likely to come back.

On that basis, if a financial report were to come out based on the World Cup, where a sports betting company makes X number of losses based on results, while concurrently recruiting X amount of depositing customers, would shareholders and investors look at that favourably; or would it still be a negative?

I believe they would see it favourably. I think

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all companies have certain expectations when it comes to thresholds for profit margins in a given quarter. But it’s all about how sportsbooks interpret, explain and come to terms with results. If companies can show that they’ve had great turnover, a lot of new customers, but the margin was poor, it’s easy for most investors and shareholders to understand that these are notable dynamics to expect in the end. Personally, I’m not too worried about that side of things. But of course, if there is a high volume and a high margin recouped from a World Cup, that will also have a very positive and strong impact.

We all remember the fate of England at Euro 2020... But how much of expected revenue comes from people betting on their home nations? Does profit depend on English people betting on England, Italians betting on Italy, or is it more nuanced than that?

Well, what you see typically is more people betting on their home nations during big tournaments like the World Cup and the Euros. The betting volumes draw in irregular punters who bet recreationally as a one-off, compared to more regular bettors. Lots of people sign up and bet on their national team.

But we see a difference in betting between different countries. I would say that Europe, which is a more mature market – people here do tend to bet on the favourites and they place bets in the goals market. However, in Latin America, which is actually a big market for Betsson, here we see a lot of nationalistic betting; fans will, to a much higher degree, bet on their own country.

They bet with their hearts.

It’s interesting to hear there’s such a continental divide. Speaking of different continents, what was betting like for AFCON? Did punters take interest in the tournament?

For Europeans it was not a particularly big event to bet on. Betting volume rates didn’t really grow much in Europe throughout the tournament either. Also, I think in general there weren’t a lot of goals scored during the tournament; I think there was an average of two goals per match overall. So not as high as in other major tournaments. It was not a particularly big event for us at Betsson either.

I mean, it was okay internationally; there was interest in the tournament.

However, for us at Betsson, with our current market differentiation, we are not currently active at scale in the African market. At Betsson, we’re more focused towards Latin America.

For example, when the Copa America is being played, it’s massive for us at Betsson.

So, it does depend on the company you speak to; as others have a bigger presence in Africa and less of one in South America, for example.

Do you think the continuation of Europe’s domestic leagues could have distracted from AFCON? These competitions were being played at the same time, of course.

For sure, I agree. If there had been a break in domestic competition, like there is for the Euros, then I think the situation would have been different. I think betting volumes would have been up significantly at AFCON had there been a break. During this time, I would say that domestic leagues, the Premier League in particular, had more volume than AFCON had.

A Betsson-specific question now.

Does Betsson have any specific marketing plans or any big initiatives in the pipeline? Or is it more of the same, delivering the best product to attract customers?

Yes, we do have plans. We’re doing a lot of things leading up to the World Cup. One such initiative is doing a lot of work with CONMEBOL, for example, and we’re building a lot of traction there. But when it comes to the actual tournament – what we at Betsson really want, and we want to stand out with it – is having a really strong offering. Both pre-match and in live play. A lot of effort is going into making this a reality. We’re creating a range of markets and, when you compare us with the competition, we’re standing out quite strongly at the moment.

So we’re approaching the World Cup with confidence. Success is based a lot on what you do before the tournament.

That gives you a positive effect during the tournament.

Is it a wider breadth of markets that you’re targeting, or are you targeting promotions and boosts? In the Euros, for example, there were plenty of tournament-long promotional offers on goalscorers. Will Betsson be doing similar things?

Yes, absolutely. I think the key is to find the right balance and the right mix between those things. You need, as a company, a few things that make you stand out during the tournament. But when it comes to the match itself it’s all about the markets and the availability of those. That is where you want to be pretty strong.

And, lastly, who do you think is going to win the World Cup? Oh, I don’t know. Tough one! I’m not sure yet but I would maybe say Argentina. I think with Messi playing his last World Cup, they will have the opportunity to go all the way.

Brazil has been doing well, too, but I have a little feeling for Argentina. They’re an outsider, so if they win, I will win some good money as well.

BETSSON - JESPER SVENSSON

FEATURES

"In the end, it’s still the biggest sporting event and everyone will watch their national teams, as well as other national teams in big games... For the trading team, moments like this are like Christmas" GAMBLINGINSIDER.COM

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COMPANY PROFILE

DIGITAIN

In focus: Digitain Supplier Digitain talks through its latest products ahead of ICE London, and an exciting few months for the company Digitain is a global iGaming software solutions provider, offering its partners a world-class platform, featuring an award-winning sportsbook, a casino, esports, virtual sports and, newly launched, a premium live casino.

The company’s primary focus is on the regulated European market, with ambitious plans to expand our geographical footprint into the Americas, Africa and Asia in the coming years.

Our people and the passion they bring to their work are our greatest assets.

We have over 1,800 colleagues and to help them contribute their best to our company and to our partners, we continually invest in their development; as both members of a team and as individuals.

At Digitain, we pride ourselves on providing a professional and supportive work environment, where our people are encouraged to be efficient and effective, and to have fun doing it.

In 2021, we have achieved a milestone of having over 150 partners globally, receiving our products and services via turnkey, API or iFrame.

We value our partners and are determined to always demonstrate our commitment to them. We prioritise our resources to exceed our partners’ expectations, and to provide them with the best possible solutions to help them achieve their business plans.

Digitain is committed to continue its year-on-year growth by expanding our footprint into more regulated markets; and see our strategy as an opportunity for continuous improvement and innovation, as well as new market penetration.

With over 20 years’ experience in betting and gaming, innovation has been key to our success and through the use and integration of superior technology solutions, including AI and machine learning, plus an agile development methodology, we have been able to continually deliver creative and customised solutions to meet our partners’ needs.

Our innovative approach ensures our partners have the ability to manage and to successfully differentiate their product offering in their marketplace. At Digitain, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, and we allow our partners the flexibility to customise their customer journeys, across any channel – desktop, mobile or retail.

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Our latest products: Centrivo, our new, all-in-one, GLI-compliant iGaming platform, will be officially launched at ICE 2022. This development represents a real step change for operators, whether they are a start-up or an established operation; giving them ultimate control to differentiate and develop their businesses.

Innovative features include an extensive range of proactive responsible gaming options, a comprehensive back-office management and reporting system, an intuitive and flexible content management engine, a flexible cross-product bonus tool and a globally rich payment gateway, boasting over 400 payment providers.

The latest cutting-edge technology, including AI and machine-learning, has been employed to deliver a highly flexible, customisable and

easily integrated.

Product and service differentiation is easily achieved by operators via our customisation toolset, enabling swift brand set-up and auto-deployment.

Also at ICE 2022, we’ll be launching our new Live Casino, located in our own state-of-the-art studio in Yerevan.

Bringing all the emotions and experiences of a real land-based casino to the online world, our Live Casino features a unique customer interface and a cutting-edge back-office system, guaranteed to surpass our partners’ expectations.

Our Live Casino offers a luxury environment with Blackjack, Auto Roulette and European Roulette available. Partners who take this great new product can benefit from highly

“With over 20 years’ experience in betting and gaming, innovation has been key to our success and through the use and integration of superior technology solutions, including AI and machine learning” scalable solution – no matter where our partners are located in the world. Also, Centrivo can now handle even more bets being processed – up to 10,000 a second.

From a business perspective, the Centrivo multichannel, multilingual and multicurrency platform provides everything an operator will need to build a successful gaming platform.

As well as our own wide range of products verticals, such as our award-winning sportsbook, additional content and products can be

customisable and brandable tables and quick and easy integration. From a technology perspective, the Live Casino offers standard to full HD streaming, as well as cross platform and cross browser capability.

Our focus is on innovation, not imitation, and we have developed some great new features including direct seating, our game history and the player exclusive view function.

Visit our stand at ICE to see these and more great products from Digitain.

COMPANY PROFILE

ENTERACTIVE

In focus: Introducing Enteractive Mikael Hansson, Enteractive Co-Founder and CEO, discusses the specialities of the player retention company a hybrid commercial model with new clients, so there’s no costs to outlay, just better results and more LTVs from a larger number of active players; making our system a win-win reactivation process. It’s risk-free because you’re only paying for players that deposit.

Enteractive was founded in 2008 by Mikael Hansson, Founder and CEO. Established to help iGaming operators reactivate churned players that proved unresponsive to standard CRM practices, we have seen exponential growth in the market due to our innovative approach to reactivation: a unique platform dedicated to highly personalised one-to-one interaction directly with lapsed players. Our team now consists of 130 talented individuals across our two office locations in Malta and Romania, with an office in the United States touted for later in 2022.

Turning churn into return Many operators find that although digital CRM can take care of most of their player engagement, there are some player segments who do not respond as readily to one-way communications.

Taking a human-led approach to this problem, Enteractive provides a solution with our reactivation services, which reaches players on their own terms to make them feel heard, valued and cared for. Having a conversation with a human being in their own language generates better reactivation results than other, more digital, CRM strategies. As such, Enteractive offers native-speaking agents for each market in which a client operates; we call from local numbers and we understand the unique cultural differences for players in different localities.

Enteractive has developed, and perfected, a platform and process that achieves this mission, and vision, in an incredibly scalable way. When this methodology is applied, it builds long-lasting customer relationships and strengthens brand loyalty. It re-engages players and makes them stick around.

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This is how we turn this segment of seemingly lost traffic into a revitalised revenue stream.

Our approach leads to both undeniably impressive conversion rates – an average 265% increase in ROI for our clients – and a healthy base of loyal, active players that form the foundation of a sturdy bottom line.

“Enteractive has developed, and perfected, a platform and process that achieves this mission, and vision, in an incredibly scalable way” ReActivation Cloud technology Our unique (Re)Activation Cloud software was developed by our in-house IT department, to optimise the way our clients can connect and benefit from our services. The innovative custom-built platform can be integrated with an operator’s player databases seamlessly and securely via API, mixing the ease of a digital approach with the more personal, emotional connection of a human touch. Every step of the way, the (Re)Activation Cloud keeps the operator in the driving seat with a dashboard that ensures full transparency and control.

With the ability to deploy to new markets in less than a day, it’s the only scalable tool to truly personalise the player experience in a secure, GDPR-compliant manner.

The best thing about Enteractive’s service is that it’s pure revenue generation. We agree on

Responsible gambling at its core All of our teams are accredited by G4 to deliver a responsible approach to gambling.

And because we are making tens of thousands of calls each month to an operator’s customer base, we help to identify players who might need help with gambling-related problems, ensuring that the gaming and entertainment sector remains fair, fun, and safe.

What does the future look like?

We’re growing fast! In 2021, Enteractive was ranked in the top four revenue generators for the global online gambling industry.

Our teams’ tireless hard work resulted in just over 100% year-on-year increase from 2020 for player deposits for our operator clients.

In 2022, we’re looking to expand our services to new markets, primarily the burgeoning US market, but also in LatAm and Asia.

And with this expansion comes the ability to scale seamlessly for our clients, as they also venture into new markets around the world.

Currently, from Brazil to Japan, from New York to New Zealand, players are reactivated by our agents around the clock. We are incredibly proud to work with some of the best and most respected operators in gaming, including Hero Gaming, Kindred Group, Kaizen Gaming and a range of Betsson brands. In fact, Betsson is our longest-running client and we celebrated our 10-year partnership with them in 2021.

How to learn more If you’re interested in generating more revenue from your iGaming brand by unlocking those lost segments of your player databases, come talk to us at Enteractive. We love making new friends, and once you see how easy it is to increase your active players through our unique CRM approach, you’ll never look back.

FEATURES

PRONET - ALEX LEESE

Making the most of a winter World Cup Pronet Gaming CEO Alex Leese predicts how betting levels will be impacted by a winter World Cup, and how trading will differ from other major football tournaments, in conversation with Peter Lynch 20

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PRONET - ALEX LEESE

FEATURES

Alex Leese

Just a few short years ago, the idea of a winter World Cup would have been laughed at, primarily due to the huge upset it would cause to the regular football calendar. Fast forward to 2022, and this is now a reality, with the upcoming World Cup to be played from 21 November to 18 December.

The winter period is usually a very busy month for players, clubs, supporters and, of course, betting companies. But now the entire routine has been turned on its head, with the biggest competition in world football forced to be held from November to December due to the intense summer heat of Qatar, the host nation.

Before a ball has even been kicked, the 2022 World Cup certainly hasn’t been short of controversy, but FIFA will be hoping all the excitement quickly drowns out all the criticism as soon as the tournament gets underway.

It’s just the second-ever World Cup to be held entirely in Asia, following in the footsteps of the 2002 competition in Japan and South Korea. Sports betting has evolved immensely since then, with countless innovations developed in the gambling industry in those two decades.

Fans of the game may certainly need some time to adapt to this new format – which incidentally is to be played in a reduced timeframe of around 28 days – but given the calibre of teams and players involved, it shouldn’t take long for punters to fully immerse themselves in the competition.

It wasn’t that long ago, of course, when fans of the beautiful game were gambling in huge numbers on the 2020 European Championship last summer (played, of course, in 2021).

Interest was also evident in the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

One constant of such huge sporting events, however, is the global audience. And as one of the most-watched tournaments on the planet, the 2022 World Cup certainly has the potential to attract its biggest audience yet.

Sports betting companies will be expecting another fruitful period, particularly in the UK if the England national team manages to enjoy another lengthy adventure on the international stage.

As you know, the World Cup will be held in November for the very first time. How will it being held in November impact betting levels?

Typically with the World Cups falling in June/July time, that is normally a dead time for football betting in an ordinary year. So the impact of those summer tournaments on the bottom line is that it tends to be the cherry on top; it’s always going to be an addition to what you normally get.

So here, and even in my previous firms like William Hill and GVC (now Entain), we would always be forecasting for at least a higher turnover amount during that period. I guess the difficulty this year, and this is where we’ve actually impacted our forecast, with it falling in November – I think it starts on 23 November, but the

players are all reporting for international duty on 15 November – from that point onwards they’re going to be gone for a month. Normally, that period tends to be one of the busiest periods, certainly in UK football, but also globally as well. You’ve got the combination of the European domestic leagues, the cups taking place, the Champions League, the Europa League.

So you are tending to see a very, very high level of turnover coming in at that time.

Turnover wise, it’s a pretty strong time of the year and we run a January to December financial year so it’s quite a nice boost in that period.

Obviously now, the World Cup is going to eat into that. So for the individual matches, yes we’ll see a decent boost in turnover; but I think, overall, we are going to be forecasting a little bit less during that period, just simply because of losing so many fixtures and basically replacing them with a much lower number of fixtures. Yes they’re more high profile, yes they attract more recreational punters, but the bottom line is – seeing it very bluntly – it’s just another set of football matches really, and it’s about how you make the most of it.

How will World Cup betting compare to the recent Euro 2020 tournament?

You could argue that the World Cup has a higher profile, but I would tend to put them on the same level just because of when they actually occur. I think ultimately the success of those tournaments – when you’re speaking specifically about turnover – is all about the build-up to it. We’re a B2B platform provider, so we are reliant upon our B2C clients doing a good job on the marketing in the build-up to the tournaments. So doing what we would

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PRONET - ALEX LEESE

"I’ve never been on a trading team, but I have certainly been on the marketing side of it. It is always an exciting time because of its profile"

expect: using it as a good acquisition event, trying to bring in a lot of players, making sure that the PPC is all timed correctly so it falls on the three or four days just before the tournament; and that they’re bidding on the right keywords, and that they’ve got the right cross-sells in place. Then post-tournament, making sure they hold on to the players that they’ve acquired for about three or four weeks before the friendlies and the new European domestic leagues start.

Maybe some of the trading directors would give you a different answer, but in terms of me forecasting for it, if it was a summer event, I wouldn’t be forecasting more for either the World Cup or the Euros, I would tend to put them on the same level.

In terms of results, I don’t really see how that is going to affect our results too much, because ultimately with summer World Cups you’ve got players coming off the end of the league; it’s a more tiring tournament for the vast majority of players. This one, you could argue that players might be a bit fresher, but then you wonder what the impact is going to be in terms of this very sudden jolt between stopping the regular fixture schedule at that time of year, then going straight into a World Cup. My hope and expectation is that it might throw up a few interesting results for us, which for every B2C and B2B operator with a trading team is good for business.

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And how did betting do in the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournament?

January, generally speaking, tends to be a slightly slower month than what we would see, for example, upon the resumption of the Champions League. From a broad point of view, we had a really strong performance.

It was a generally low-scoring tournament and ultimately the final was 0-0, which is the dream, margin wise. But I think with those two really high-profile players – Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane – being involved with their teams in the final (Egypt and Senegal), we put some pressure on our clients to really make the most of that when it came to their promotions and mobilising their database of generally recreational and VIP football punters.

What is it like trading during a World Cup? I’ve never been on a trading team, but I have certainly been on the marketing side of it. It is always an exciting time because of its profile. I would say that, in most of the major B2C betting firms in the UK, the traders themselves are in it every day.

Most of them probably have a bet as well, but I would argue the vast majority of the other people who are working for the big operators in the UK, probably about 90% of those people never really bet in general.

But with these big tournaments, what you tend to find is that it really generates a level of excitement internally, and I think it’s a chance to bring the company together. There’s usually a couple of betting competitions internally, so it’s a time when you get the whole company involved in watching the vast majority of the games. It’s a good time.

How much of betting in major tournaments is due to fans backing their own nation?

Everyone’s going to have their opinion on this one, but from what I have seen – and this is actually reflected by the budgets that the firms are tending to spend on acquisition in the run-up to the tournament – these are events that people who maybe don’t normally bet, or the more recreational punter, are going to get involved with. Of course, your regular punters who are betting week-in, week-out on all the various leagues, the more savvy punters, they’ll still be involved. But you do get a surplus of these recreational players.

I think with all the excitement that goes with it, and the further it goes, you do tend to find people backing their own teams, just out of interest. But it’s also good to see them getting involved in some of the other games as well.

And that’s what any B2C operator should

PRONET - ALEX LEESE

be trying to do; just trying to leverage the excitement around the tournament, in terms of getting people to back their own teams.

But you don’t just want that, you want to get people involved in as many games as you possibly can so that you can retain them in the build-up to the new season, to give yourself a nice boost come August. That was always my strategy when I was doing that sort of job in the past.

Does Pronet have any specific plans for the World Cup, either in a product sense or indeed a marketing/strategy sense?

Our job as a platform provider is to provide our clients with as many tools for them to be successful, because we all share in that success.

We don’t work for free, of course, we charge a percentage of whatever they make; but it is our job to do that.

For the last Euros, for example, we were releasing a number of widgets, which were certainly very well received by all of our clients; so don’t be too surprised if you see that kind of thing occurring again. Certainly something that includes group betting, player betting, outrights and as many markets as possible in the widget.

But I guess we can reveal a bit more about that when it comes to ICE, which isn’t too far away.

FEATURES

And last but not least, who will win the World Cup? I’m going to duck that to a certain level; I could just give you one of the favourites and that would be it! But what I would say is that I think everyone is perhaps waiting for the day when we see one of the African nations going really far in the competition. Hopefully it is a matter of when rather than if. There have been some strong performances in the past from the likes of Senegal, Ghana, etc.

I know I’m copping out of the question, but I think any answer I give you is just going to be pretty much what everyone else will tell you. So I’m going to go with what I would like to see happen. I’d love to see one of the African nations getting far in the tournament, and given the fact that Pronet Gaming is very focused on the African market, I can’t deny there’s a bit of self-interest in that, which hopefully is fair enough.

But also from a personal perspective as well, I would like to see that, and hopefully AFCON can be seen as a springboard for success.

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COMPANY PROFILE

IQ SOFT

In focus: IQ Soft What does it mean to be an Independency Provider?

Our research and experience in the iGaming industry has been surprising to us, because we feel there is a synergy between the human natural needs and the rules and needs of the industry. As soon as operations become bigger and more stable, they start to think about their independence, sovereignty and safety. Understanding that in our century those are about technology and provided solutions, our team of engineers designed and implemented gaming industry-related solutions, which can be delivered as a white-box with source codes for online and land-based gaming operations. Owning our provided solutions, companies can run multiple operations themselves and control everything from one single point, decide the markets where and when they want to enter and keep their operational sensitive data safe on their own ecosystem. Every year, numerous companies are becoming independent using the solutions and technologies we provide, as a result of which the community of our independent partners decided to stamp IQ Soft as Independency Provider.

What are the business models and how do we define them?

The two main verticals with which we offer our iGaming advantages are the Independency

With our solutions you will not only compete with up-to-date tools, you will also plant your tree in IQ Island of Independency.

The Independency business model is something new in the market, where you have a chance to become the owner of an advanced platform’s Source Codes and shape your new standards in the market. The most simple way to become a game changer is to own the game-changing platform instead of renting it. It gives you the ability to become unique: with unique ideas, unique platform, unique features and unique brand. The ability to develop branded content will allow your operation or your B2B partners to feel the advantages and all of the platform’s capabilities.

Nerses Khachatryan and Revenue Share business models.

The Revenue Share business model is designed for rising stars, with all possible tools to enter strongly into the market and achieve a fair market share in no time.

IQ Soft’s Revenue Share business model is unique, with non-standard conditions like: • No setup fees • No monthly minimums • The launch of a new brand within 24 hours

“The existing game rules are no longer acceptable for the upcoming years of the iGaming industry” - Nerses Khachatryan, Founder and CEO at IQ Soft What are the key features of the provided solutions?

One of the most valued capabilities of our complete platform is the quickness of running a new operation, the ability to manage all B2B partners from one single management point and the ability to enter to all possible markets.

Moreover, we can highlight the following key features available: 1. Multi-partnering 2. Multi-currency and multilingual support 3. Bonus Factory 4. Website builder 5. Dynamic and static segmentation 6. Aggregation of games and payment methods 7. Multi Feed support for Sportsbook operations 8. Odds management per website individually 9. BetBuilder for Sportsbook operations The flexibility offered by us is the key advantage which we consider as a target.

At IQ Soft we always try to automate the processes as much as possible, to reduce the waiting time of our operators; which is one of the most valuable resources nowadays.

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COMPANY PROFILE

PRONET

In focus: Pronet Gaming

By Alex Leese, CEO at Pronet Gaming Pronet Gaming has experienced two years of unparalleled growth, despite the well-documented difficulties that have arisen during that time. This culminated in our announcement late last year that we had hit our three-year growth targets, 18 months ahead of schedule. A crucial element of this rapid progress was the popularity of our platform solutions across a wide range of global markets, especially in Africa and LatAm. A two-fold rise in turnover for the business was celebrated in conjunction with signing more than 35 new clients during this period.

The strategic and rapid implementation of content integrations with top-tier providers, including Golden Race, EvenBet, UltraPlay and Sportradar, have served to boost our product range across the swiftly growing verticals of esports and virtual sports, as well as online poker. Each of these fields have enjoyed increased and enduring levels of prominence as a result of the pandemic.

On top of this, we have been able to offer our customers an entirely modular platform solution, which has proven hugely beneficial to operators across regions that have vast cultural differences and preferences.

Operators utilising our system are able to cherry-pick those sports and markets they feel will particularly appeal to their customers, and embellish them with a range of specific features and widgets; creating differentiation in the marketplace and increasing engagement levels through a more attractive experience.

Customisation has been at the heart of our overall strategy. Combining this with effective speed-to-market capabilities and product innovation has made for a formidable strategy. We can deliver more quickly than any other platform provider. To add to this, we launched a range of widgets, Popular Bets and Popular Events, in October.

These allow operators to show the top 10 bets and events in a particular market, automatically refreshing at five-minute intervals.

Being able to offer customers an intuitive, innovative solution for boosting engagement

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was satisfying and it meant that with minimal effort on behalf of operators, they were safe in the knowledge that players would be constantly shown the most popular events and bets at any given moment. It was also vital in creating a hassle-free, personalised engagement tool, with Popular Bets and Popular Events auto-populating according to the requirements of a particular operator’s market.

We have struck a series of exciting deals in recent months, with Tenlot standing out as the first major brand, encompassing

in order to continue exceeding growth expectations, we will be looking to develop new solutions that help operators engage and entertain. Coming in the middle of the regular European football season, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will undoubtedly be a tournament like no other for myriad reasons.

Before that, we will get to shake hands with some old friends at the first ICE London exhibition in two years. The show will be ideal to promote our new Managed Services division, Focussed. The user-friendly system offers top-level management capabilities,

“We have been able to offer our customers an entirely modular platform solution, which has proven hugely beneficial to operators across regions that have vast cultural differences” dedicated national and regional lotteries operators across Central America and Africa.

It was very much a gateway deal, opening up new opportunities for business that contributed substantially to our success. The launch of truenorth.net in Canada, using our platform, was another highlight. It showed that we were able to rise to the challenge of powering a new brand for an operator that has won a hard-earned reputation as the country’s most legitimate in the face of unregulated competition.

MAJOR EVENTS This year promises to be both a return to normality and to offer extraordinary experiences. Later in 2022, we will see the World Cup heading to Qatar. Once again,

enabling operators to sharpen their approach to the player experience.

Its CRM capabilities include data segmentation as well as daily, weekly and monthly promotions. While this can be utilised to communicate with logged-in players, Focussed also boasts a team working on all channels of communications; from phone calls to messaging on WhatsApp, email and SMS, which is also supported by leading AI and BI abilities. This will be a complete game changer for our clients On top of that, we will be speaking about our major new plans for expansion into Asia at the show. Watch this space on that front – or better still, come along to our stand to find out more.

FEATURES

DIGITAIN - VARDGES VARDANYAN

Growing since Italia ‘90 Digitain Founder Vardges Vardanyan completes our World Cup hat-trick, as he discusses the sports betting supplier’s expectations for this November’s showpiece event with Gambling Insider

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DIGITAIN - VARDGES VARDANYAN

Vardges Vardanyan Hi Vardges, it's good to speak with you.

First off, what are your expectations of betting volumes for the World Cup? We expect betting levels to significantly exceed those seen in the 2018 tournament.

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If you look at the betting history of the World Cup, the turnover has grown over every tournament since Italia ’90 and we do not feel this pattern will change.

I read that the total amount of bets placed globally on the 2018 World Cup Finals exceeded €130bn ($144/06bn), an average per match of €2.1bn, with over €7bn being gambled on the France v Croatia final.

That is spectacular and just underlines the popularity of football across the world Since then, a number of significant new markets have been regulated and interest in football continues to grow, so we are confident that, despite this tournament being the first one to be held in winter, the 2022 World Cup will beat all records for betting.

From a Digitain perspective, our partner network has grown significantly since the last World Cup, so we will obviously see much higher volumes being processed through our platform than previously.

However, we still feel that our World Cup 2022 organic growth with be significant over the previous competition. Coincidently, we are launching our new

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FEATURES DIGITAIN SPORTING - VARDGESSOLUTIONS VARDANYAN COMPANY PROFILE iGaming platform, Centrivo, at ICE and that enables us to provide more customer choice in terms of betting options and supporting content; as well as processing even higher levels of bets per second than previously, so we will ensure there is an even better player experience during the tournament.

Globally, I would not be surprised if this year’s World Cup generates over €250bn in stakes, with football fans ignoring the controversies surrounding the event and focusing on the spectacle.

How will the World Cup happening in November impact betting levels?

This is a great question. I think there’s two parts to this. There will be an obvious impact on the expected betting turnover on the domestic football leagues, especially the key European ones; the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Primera Liga and Serie A that all plan to take a six-week break when the World Cup is on.

However, this will balance out as the postponed games will be squeezed into an extended season, ending in late May 2023.

As already stated, we’re confident that this year’s tournament will be a betting bonanza, with regular bettors on premium football switching to betting on the tournament.

The games are being played at 6pm and

11pm locally, which is reasonably attractive from a European, African, Asian and even North and South American betting fan’s perspective, fairly similar to current domestic league timing.

There could be some impact on the dynamic nature of the games, given the heat of Qatar, even at this time; but I think the levels of excitement watching the world’s best teams will overcome any potential obstacles. It’s going to be a wonderful spectacle, in my opinion.

How will it compare to the Euros?

Last year’s tournament was brilliant, for drama, entertainment and excitement; but also as a betting event.

From a dramatic perspective, we had the near tragedy affecting Denmark’s Christian Eriksen and the brilliant way his team-mates responded, during the match and later in the tournament.

Later, we had the excitement and emotion of the final being decided on penalties and the trophy not “going home” to England but instead going to an Italy team who few forecasted as winners at the beginning of the tournament, after a disappointing qualification campaign.

Globally, betting revenues were significant but not in the same ballpark as the World Cup. Average betting turnover per match was reported at €1.2bn, with €4bn staked on the final.

France as the outright winner was not a brilliant result but, at Digitain, we saw a lot of support for Croatia too, so balance was achieved.

"Globally, I would not be surprised if this year’s World Cup generates over €250bn in stakes, with football fans ignoring the controversies surrounding the event and focusing on the spectacle"

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What’s it like trading during a World Cup? Hectic, I’m reliably informed by my hard-working Trading team! They do look forward to these massive tournaments as they’re all football fans; but there is definitely pressure, with much bigger liabilities to manage.

We have responsibilities to our partners to deliver a competitive product for them, but one that also delivers revenue; which can be a challenge at times, especially during such a high-profile tournament.

Bets and liabilities can be much bigger than normal, which adds to the general level of drama, but that’s what we’re here for. There’s a real sense of excitement, especially in the group stages, when the games come thick and fast.

From our operator partners’ perspectives, the World Cup is a prime opportunity to recruit new players, and it is our job to make sure the experience they get is faultless, ensuring a wide choice of betting and supporting content, delivered on a stable and secure platform.

Profitability of the tournament, especially in the early rounds, can depend on the number of draws, as this result is generally the least popular with players, who normally seek to bet on a positive outcome. The final games of the Group stages can sometimes be fun to trade, though...

How much of betting is down to fans backing their home nation?

That’s a good question again, but difficult to quantify. Bets on individual countries to win the competition is a favourite option,

DIGITAIN - VARDGES VARDANYAN FEATURES SPORTING SOLUTIONS COMPANY PROFILE particularly for patriotic recreational customers, whose behaviour can skew odds away from the “true” chances – just another thing for the traders to keep an eye on.

If a country goes on a successful run in the competition, such as Croatia in the last World Cup, or England in the Euros, then excitement in their country builds up as their media get behind them and as they progress – with a result that we see an uplift in “patriotic bets” to win the tournament and also to win their individual games.

Regular players tend to be a bit more logical, betting more often with the head rather than the heart, although if your national team goes on a successful run in the tournament, then everyone can get a bit excited.

So, the answer to your question is “it depends.” Overall, we see most money bet per day in the group stages, due, of course to the number of games being played. As the tournament progresses the games become spread out and there's less daily activity.

How did AFCON betting do?

It was generally positive. TV coverage internationally is much more limited outside Africa than for the Euros and World Cup, so we see betting stakes mainly coming from regular players; as opposed to newer, more recreational customers.

With so many top-class African players playing in the main European leagues, the betting customers can have knowledge and, importantly, a view on the likely outcomes.

Live betting on the AFCON tournament was the hero for us – we saw very good turnover growth over the last tournament in 2019 in Egypt.

Generally, betting stakes in this year’s tournament were up over 2019, right across

our partner network; especially in the week where there were no Premier League matches, where we saw some substitution from players seeking quality betting events.

The result in the final was also good for the bookmakers, with Senegal beating favourites Egypt after a dramatic penalty shoot-out – what a way to win a tournament!

Does Digitain have any specific plans for the World Cup, either product-wise or marketing/strategy-wise?

As an iGaming platform and sportsbook supplier, we have two main aims for this year’s World Cup tournament.

Firstly, to make sure our platform and products are the very best they can be, so that our existing partners and their customers have the very best World Cup experience possible. This year, we will be launching our new iGaming platform, Centrivo, powered by the latest AI technology.

This will ensure our partners have a scalable, stable and flexible solution that can optimise the opportunity provided by the World Cup. Secondly, we are developing our sportsbook product, especially our easy-to-integrate API version, adding more football bet types, enhancing the bonus engine, especially for the World Cup and delivering additional supporting content such as stats and data.

The marketing strategy is being developed currently and we are listening to our partners now to ensure we develop flexible customer offers, bonuses and promotions that meet their local needs – wherever they are located in the world.

From the already qualified teams, I think Brazil, Germany and England will have good tournaments (no big surprise there), but France may find it is difficult to defend the trophy – it hasn’t been done since Brazil in 1962!

From the countries still to qualify, Italy and Portugal have been successful tournament teams in the recent past, so it’s unfortunate that they have been drawn in the same qualifying group and only one of these great teams will be in the Finals.

So, to get off the fence I’ll give you two selections, one a favourite and one with an outside chance: A win bet on England at around 10/1 – they have been very good in the last two tournaments.

A small each-way bet on Denmark around 50/1.

Hopefully, the Denmark team includes Christian Eriksen, now playing well in the English Premier League – what a heart-warming story that would be!

Lastly, who will win the World Cup!?

That’s a great way to put me on the spot.

With qualification still open to a number of countries, the question is if the winner will come from one of the 13 countries already confirmed or from one of the 19 nations still to achieve qualification? (At press time.)

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COMPANY PROFILE

SPORTRADAR

In focus: Sportradar

Werner Becher, CEO EMEA & LATAM What trends in technological advances do you think we will see this year in the industry?

The industry will continue to undergo tremendous digital transformation and I believe we’ll see greater use of technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning across sports betting.

These technologies are already with us, but I anticipate their use will skyrocket as people start to understand their true benefits.

Sportradar already deploys AI and Machine Learning (ML) at the interface between data collection from leagues and how this is provided to operators and media companies.

Sportradar will also use this technology to drive forward the evolution of odds predictions this year. ML allows a deeper level of data and insights and from this, a more sophisticated odds model can be created with even more accurate probabilities for our Managed Trading Services (MTS) customers.

With more than 700 engineers and 30+ AI and ML experts, we’re able to create 20 billion data points ingested from inception, and generate 30 million odds per minute, all with near 100% total accuracy.

This technology is critical to shaping and powering our data and will shape the future of sports and empower our customers.

Where do you see the gambler’s customs and demands to satisfy in 2022?

I think there’s going to be even increased demand for soccer content amongst our clients and their customers this year. Unsurprisingly,

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from a sports betting perspective, soccer is the biggest revenue generator for operators, and, heading into a World Cup year, that’s likely to grow as hundreds of millions of dollars will be wagered on each match during the tournament.

Sportradar are well placed to address this demand with a market leading portfolio of soccer products and solutions. And, recently, we’ve significantly increased our offering by automating the trading of Live Odds on soccer matches, meaning we can trade hundreds of soccer matches at a time.

It’s a game changer for Sportradar and from an operator perspective it’s simple – they can book more matches, scale their soccer offering, and provide greater choice to their customers.

To address higher demand, clients will require more than data and odds, so we’ll see an increase in numbers of operators outsourcing part or the whole of their trading and liability management to us, using our MTS product which has a traded volume of more than $1bn per month already.

How do you think the pandemic will affect the industry in 2022?

The industry relies almost exclusively on live sport and thankfully we’ve seen it return to pre-pandemic levels.

However, the industry is likely to remain cautious and what we are seeing amongst our clients is a significant uptake of redundancy content to ensure diversification of their offerings and to protect themselves against any future Covid crisis moments.

This is something we’ve been really conscious of the past two years and have moved to provide content for our clients through the launch of Simulated Reality, our AI driven sports betting solution.

In addition, content such as darts and table tennis – sports that require low human interactions – can also be used to fill any gaps in the timetable and sport calendars.

What markets and / or countries do you see more attractive, with more possibilities to progress and growth opportunity?

Countries that open and regulate for sports betting are likely to deliver growth for the industry in 2022. Media reports suggest that Brazil and a couple of other South American countries, as well as India, may potentially have sports betting regulation up and running in the next couple of years. If this is the case, we anticipate an influx of operators moving into these territories and existing operators

scaling up their operations to gain market share at a critical moment. We’re also aware that countries including Japan are keeping a keen eye on progress in the US market ever since betting was legalised there in 2018.

The US will remain key to industry growth with more States set to allow sports betting in the coming 12 months and a diverse range of products and services such as mobile betting and in-play betting being made available to customers. We’ve just witnessed New York state hit $150 million in sports betting handle on opening weekend, proving there is huge demand there for mobile betting.

We’re well placed across markets, particularly in the US, as we’re the only company with official data rights for the leading US sports leagues - NBA, MLB, NHL. With these official data rights, Sportradar has access to the fastest, most reliable data across the most popular sports in this market, putting us at the centre of mobile and in-play betting opportunities - the largest growth sectors within US betting.

Do you think that the advertising restrictions to the gaming sector will be deepened globally?

In mature European markets, it seems inevitable that there will be increased restrictions on betting advertising. In recent years, both Italy and Spain have banned gambling advertising outright, while lobbyists in Germany are pushing for restrictions on betting sponsorships in football. The UK could go the same way following its review of existing gambling legislation which is currently underway.

As a partner to hundreds of operators within the industry, it’s important that we’re responsive to regulatory changes and that we help our clients with alternative ways to engage with their customers.

The betting industry is constantly evolving, with changes in regulation creating new challenges for operators to overcome. Rather than work against each other, the industry needs to come together to address the big issues and set high standards of compliance.

The introduction of harsh restrictions and bans only moves the problem elsewhere.

We have a very specific programmatic advertising product, “ad:s”, for the betting and gaming industry. This can help operators to not only reduce costs of their marketing investments, but also to increase effectiveness in more complex regulatory marketing environments.

COMPANY PROFILE

ALTENAR

In focus: Altenar A through the looking-glass discussion with Altenar COO Dinos Stranomitis on how to choose a sportsbook software provider Choosing a sportsbook software provider can be an arduous task that many people would rather not undertake, even if sports betting participation and revenue are vastly increasing around the globe.

Altenar COO and Co-Founder Dinos Stranomitis has key information on how choosing a sports betting software provider doesn’t have to be the mammoth task you may believe it to be.

With years of expertise under his belt, it’s no wonder many professionals within the iGaming and online gambling sectors come to Dinos for advice, help and most of all, Altenar’s full solution software.

So what does one of Altenar’s Co-Founders have to say on the current state of the sports betting market, and how should this affect your choice in sportsbook software providers?

When speaking with Stranomitis there is an air of knowledge around him, the kind that comes from years of experience and a hands-on approach to his life-dedicated work: sports betting technology. His name and achievements with Altenar proceed him and getting to the core of the sports betting world didn’t take long.

How would you explain the shift to online gambling and the desire for online access since 2020?

Stranomitis smiles his signature grin and explains: "As a sportsbook software provider we need real-time sports coverage of what’s happening in every stadium or sporting event around the world to successfully operate. With Covid-19 preventing access to these venues, data had to be expunged from other means like television, where a satellite delay can far exceed the typical good user experience delay of five to six seconds."

The Altenar COO continues with vigour: "We need to, as a sports betting provider, have a complete understanding of what’s happening live, which is slowly returning to pre-Covid delay time; and in some regions like Latin America, the sports betting arena has seen several in-land operators make the jump to online operations as a direct result of the pandemic. This requires Altenar to adhere

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Dinos Stranomitis

“Choosing a sports

betting software provider doesn’t have to be the mammoth task you may believe it to be” to the demand, which we’re more than capable of."

The believer of information technology as the future of iGaming goes on to describe the increased interest in sports betting and move to online gambling post-pandemic: "Through data and statistics Altenar discovered that from 2022 to 2027 the predicted revenue growth in sports betting was over $2.5bn and the most used device in CAGR percentage was mobile, with a 10.7% winning outcome showing that the pandemic

may have hastened the somewhat inevitable move to online gambling, iGaming and sports betting’.

Stranomitis added: "Choosing the right sportsbook software provider is equally, if not more important now, as it was in the emergence of online sports betting in the 1990s. Something I have spoken on in the past is the need for a ‘mobile-only’ approach, and then expanding and building from a four-inch screen to the needs of the market you’re looking to enter."

With Dinos’ trademark smile still brightening his face, the COO of Altenar adds a final few words: "Choosing a sportsbook provider like Altenar offers you access to numerous markets, several data providers and a level of expertise that has witnessed the birth and growth of the online sports betting arena. As the world adopts technology more each day, it will only benefit your online gambling business moving forward."

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ROUNDTABLE

Roundtable: Virtual sports Gambling Insider speaks to Playtech’s Virtual Sports Director, Richard Andrew, Inspired Entertainment’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) – Virtual Sports, Steve Rogers, and Leap Gaming’s CEO Yariv Lissauer

Richard Andrew, Playtech, Virtual Sports Director

Steve Rogers, Inspired Entertainment, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) – Virtual Sports

Yariv Lissauer, Leap Gaming CEO 36

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ROUNDTABLE

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Richard Andrew, Playtech, Virtual Sports Director Virtual sports has seen extraordinary levels of business in the last two years, especially during the initial lockdowns of 2020. This enabled many players to experience virtual betting for the first time, and more familiar players were able to further explore the entertainment on offer. Even when live sports resumed, players saw the benefits of virtual sports.

This new exposure has elevated its value within the industry, it is a vertical that can now stand on its own. Playtech is well positioned to capitalise on this popularity by producing state-of-the-art content for sports and iGaming players.

COVID-19, HOW HAS IT AFFECTED VIRTUAL SPORTS AND WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NOW THINGS ARE OPENING UP Yariv Lissauer, Leap Gaming, CEO Virtual sports provided entertainment when there was no real sports action available. When Covid hit, the demand for virtual sports skyrocketed. The spike in demand for virtual sports both caused a short-term revenue boost and educated punters and operators on the quality of the product suites. It further embedded the vertical at the core offerings of sports betting and casino operators. The latter now recoginse this vertical as a revenue source for bad times, and as a risk mitigator for shake ups to the flow of real sports content.

Richard Andrew, Playtech Virtual, Sports Director Some have the perception that players don’t invest time in the realistic nature of virtual content and just look for the thrill of a winning outcome. This desire overrides a want to replicate the ultra-realistic reproduction of sports betting experiences. Whatever the viewpoint, players are looking for a complete package. The most important aspects are content, usability, speed and quality stimulated entertainment. Whatever the stylised look, it is out with clunky web-based betting systems, and in with the quick downloadable app-based experiences. Here at Playtech, we believe there is room in the market for these different experiences and that wide demographic of users. We strive to make our simulations and content as engaging as possible and realism reinforces the trust element of betting.

We are always seeking ways to further innovate our products and see a lot of opportunity in areas where sports and gaming collide. We are continuing to provide bespoke solutions for different licensees and their player bases, both real-life based graphics for sports-style betting, and unique gaming interfaces for on demand play. We don't put out interfaces lost ‘in the fog’ of reskinned casino slot games.

Steve Rogers, Inspired Entertainment Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Virtual Sports Like any industry during the pandemic, Inspired experienced a wide range of Covid-based changes — how our staff work, how we develop our products and how we market our products. But unlike a lot of companies, we saw increased demand from customers and players for our virtual sports products given the disruption to live sporting events and the obvious move to mobile and online play as retail venues closed. Inspired’s virtual sports filled the live sports gap during the pandemic lockdown. Not only did the sales volumes increase dramatically with our existing clients, but the pipeline of new opportunities increased dramatically as well, given our experience in online and mobile play. The live Grand National, Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate and Kentucky Derby events were either cancelled or delayed in 2020, and Inspired’s races took centre stage with national television broadcasts across the UK, the US and Australia. They reached audiences worldwide and drew attention from NBC’s “Today” show, Newsweek, USA Today and other global media outlets.

The Virtual Grand National drew an audience of over five million viewers in the UK and raised over £3m ($4m) for charitable causes.

The virtual races not only offered passionate fans the opportunity to interact with the sport they love, but also made a whole new audience of players aware of Inspired’s virtual sports.

Steve Rogers, Inspired Entertainment Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Virtual Sports Fundamentally, virtual sports players are looking for entertainment. A lot of virtual sports players also play slots, table games and lottery products, as well as betting on live sports. Different players seek different experiences, multiple complex sports bets or quick pick selections. Virtual sports can be tailored to appeal to all types of players. With today’s technology, Inspired’s virtual sports products are as close to the real thing as they can get. Players feel like they’re watching a live sporting event.

WHAT ARE PLAYERS LOOKING FOR FROM VIRTUAL SPORTS? IS YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL TO RECREATE THAT REAL-LIFE SPORTS EXPERIENCE OR ARE YOU AIMING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT Yariv Lissauer, Leap Gaming, CEO Players are looking for the same exact experience from virtual sports as they experience with real-world sports. They want to feel as if the game they’re viewing is taking place in front of their eyes at that moment. Therefore, our goal is to achieve as much realism as can be achieved, so the believability of the virtual space becomes equal to that of the real world. This is mostly important to our players during times when they cannot experience real-world sports. The virtual world can come into place to fill those voids.

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ROUNDTABLE

Steve Rogers, Inspired Entertainment, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Virtual Sports

HOW HAVE VARIOUS TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS CHANGED VIRTUAL SPORTS

We’ve seen virtuals grow from a niche product to a global industry, driven primarily by player demand — for more sports, more innovation, more realism and more betting options. Again, creating that realistic experience for players is critically important to further growth and development for virtual sports. Advancements in graphic engines and motion capture technologies are speeding that process up, allowing us to create life-like virtual avatars and environments for players to immerse themselves in.

Yariv Lissauer, Leap Gaming, CEO Using real-world data helps improve the believability of virtual sports taking place in a virtual environment. The more data we collect and use from the real world, the more our players can believe that the game they are viewing is real.

The main technological innovation that we use is capturing the motion of our subjects (mocap) — which imitates the exact motion of our virtual actors (humans or animals) and applies it to the virtual realm. Before that, animators had to painstakingly attempt to imitate the motion of their subjects, which was very time consuming, costly and rarely achieved believable results. In addition, new lighting, shading and rendering techniques have been developed to help advance the look of our virtual worlds to become way more realistic than before. Physical light calculations take place these days and the outcome is much more convincing.

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Richard Andrew, Playtech, Virtual Sports Director The advent of real-time technologies has become the de-facto technology for content creation. This has allowed more content to be produced in the same timeframe as the old pre-rendered content created in advance. Motion and facial capture technology has gone from demanding a ‘movie studio’ budget to being created in-house for a fraction of the price, even captured on mobile phones. The software that controls these new technologies has also drastically reduced in price from a few years ago. This has improved the time to market for our licensees and their players, and Playtech is utilising these game engines to speed up delivery and revenue return. In terms of the accessibility of games, while not exactly new, the continued advancement of mobile app-based betting continues to be so important. These app-based games can draw people in in creative ways, and when presented well, the risk and reward elements can change perceptions or attitudes to gaming on virtual sports products.

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Richard Andrew, Playtech, Virtual Sports Director One thing is certain, virtual content and its user experiences will grow in their own right. Perhaps we will see the arrival of the virtual sportsbook with esports providing an interesting opportunity for crossover products which will only grow as the gaming generation represent a bigger share of the market.

Undoubtedly, we’ll also see the addition of many new and interesting variations of the current virtual sports games themselves, particularly as a result of the emergence of the huge US market. Where it develops technologically is more difficult to foresee. Many entertainment-based digital products are moving toward a streaming platform where content can be viewed or played at any time on a whole host of mobile devices. Previously, users were unable to interact with streaming videos, but now video games can be played in almost real time. As VR and AR improve to become more immersive and affordable, then we will see the same practices employed now but on a larger, more immersive scale.

These interactive elements could be introduced along with bolder console and app game style features, as the gaming industry increases in popularity.

FIVE TO 10 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD, WHAT WILL VIRTUAL SPORTS LOOK LIKE AS AN INDUSTRY

Steve Rogers, Inspired Entertainment Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Virtual Sports With the improvements of technology and virtual sports becoming part of the norm within the entertainment and gaming industry, we see a bright future for any virtual format.

The introduction of the metaverse should revolutionise how virtual sports are used. If this concept is as successful as expected, players will be doing everything in this new world — day-to-day work activities, socialising with friends, and entertainment.

What does this mean for virtual sports betting? Well, not only does it make our form of entertainment more acceptable within society, but it also takes us to the next step of our evolution.

Players will move from simply experiencing the virtual realm by looking at content on screens or mobile devices, to living the experience in the virtual world.

Yariv Lissauer, Leap Gaming, CEO As technology improves its ability to deliver more realism with our products, I believe that over time we will probably witness the emergence of hyper-realistic content on the market. By this I mean virtual sports that don’t even exist yet. I think the acceptance of virtual sports will be much more widespread, with players seeking content that pushes the boundaries of their senses even further. Moreover, new uses of sensory stimulants will probably take place. Instead of just visual stimulations we might find other sense-triggers more widely used, as players will demand a much stronger sense of immersion into the games, such as audio, smell and even touch. Many advancements in those areas are already in development and it would be interesting to see if they’ll end up getting into the virtual sports arena as well.

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COMPANY PROFILE

BTOBET

In focus:

Evolving the sportsbook platform according to operators’ needs and feedback BtoBet is a leading sportsbook platform provider with a wide presence in the vast majority of regulated markets. Its successes have led the company to be considered as a gateway to emerging markets, particularly Africa and Latin America. This while establishing itself as a trustworthy partner for betting and gambling powerhouses in the more mature markets requiring constant technological innovation. The experience gained at the forefront of these advanced landscapes allows BtoBet to have a deep understanding of the requirements of the market, and anticipating bookmakers’ and operators’ needs.

By undertaking a scalable and fully customisable approach with its sportsbook platform, BtoBet ensures the flexibility that operators require to be unique in the market and differentiate their brand. We give them the opportunity to personalise their offers through an interconnected omnichannel environment.

The Neuron 3 sportsbook platform is built from the ground up having the operators’ requirements in place; and is a sportsbook

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solution that seeks to leverage the operators’ market knowledge, with the product evolution and roadmap mirroring customer feedback.

The main distinct element that distinguishes BtoBet from other iGaming and sportsbook platform providers is its cutting-edge proprietary technology that allows operators to tailor their user experience according to each and every player profile. Such a personalised betting experience is allowed through in-depth data harnessing reliant on a very wide bank of filters and parameters. This allows operators to not only offer a personalised experience on a micro-level but also maximise their player lifetime value through an increased rate of engagement.

In parallel to its technological solutions, BtoBet also allows operators to leverage its knowledge and expertise through its managed trading services. This is a sportsbook management solution that simplifies the day-to-day operations for bookmakers through an ad hoc suite of services, which reflects a particular bookmaker’s requirements in terms of size of operations, risk management and level of trading experience.

BtoBet’s global footprint, with its platforms being compliant to the vast majority of local market requirements, is particularly deemed as an asset to operators as the industry becomes even more widespread globally, yet increasingly

local and fragmented. This evolution will place an even greater burden on product compliance to deliver exciting, localised and regulatory compliant products to their customers.

Dima Reiderman, BtoBet’s Chief Operating Officer, commented that with the sportsbook vertical growing exponentially on a global level, operators are facing many challenges when it comes to the platforms themselves, particularly when it comes to regulation.

He further stated that the development of cutting-edge sportsbook platforms have become increasingly complex and costly.

Developing a platform that meets the bare minimum with regard to operating safely and user experience is a major challenge in itself; let alone the challenge of developing and maintaining a highly engaging and exciting sportsbook, which increases in complexity year-on-year and requires the continuous evolution of technology.

Reiderman added that it is only through this continuous evolution of the technology at the core of the platform that allows BtoBet to deliver exciting sports betting experiences to the players, and eventually allow its partners to increase their market share.

Reiderman added: “Our eyes are set firmly on consistently providing players with new and stimulating ways to enhance their betting experience,e through the provision of a cutting-edge sportsbook platform to our partners.”

COMPANY PROFILE

DS VIRTUAL GAMING

In focus: DS Virtual Gaming What is your star product/main service?

The victory run of DS Virtual Gaming (DSVG) started with DS Software GmbH’s launch in Austria, in 2003; which instantly started making waves with its strong dedication and fresh ideas. Today, it is a household industry name with strong recognition among countless betting shops and online gaming software developers.

Right from the get go, DS Virtual Gaming positioned itself as a distribution company and comprehensive service provider that has the customer at heart; our support, for example, is a no-nonsense setup, swift, and hassle-free for all partners seeking to tackle issues regarding licensing and technical solutions.

All partners have direct contact with our business developers, who help them with the growth of their company by relying on our vast experience in the industry. The entire portfolio of DSVG consists of top products.

RacingDogs, RacingDogs+, RacingHorses, RacingKarts, KickboxMania and Roulette are established bestsellers, and promise long-lasting fun with the highest standards.

RacingDogs is, however, the epitome of a classic. It proves to be the most iconic and charismatic game. It is visually easy to play for both novice and experienced bettors alike.

Who is/are your key personnel?

Since its inception, DSVG has counted on talented, dedicated and thoroughbred experts who have contributed to the continuing and ongoing success of the company, through the dissemination of their know-how and skills.

Being a small company with a flat hierarchical structure, this has always allowed us to be flexible and adapt to changes, as all employees are effectively involved in more than one department. Communication and short decision processes have been the secret ingredients to the thriving of the business.

In our company, each employee is a key figure, since the present and future of DS Virtual gaming depends on their actions. Every idea or thought is valuable, and motivation is an unshakable component of success.

My colleagues know our success is impossible without their dedication and energy. That is why people have been working here for years, feeling their involvement and necessity.

My position as Head of Business Development is rather a novel job title that unites more

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Araksi Sargsyan than one task. It arose out of the necessity to combine sales, account management and business development in general. I enjoy this multidisciplinary task as it gives me a good overview of the entire business.

What makes you stand out?

There are many aspects that differentiate us from the competition. First, our approach is and has always been to showcase virtuals with real, pre-recorded graphics. DS Virtual Gaming uses a selection of over 20,000 videos of real races to create a realistic track-side experience. The RTP for DS Virtual Gaming’s products is between 88% and 96%. The pay-out rates cannot be manipulated. This guarantees satisfied long-term customers thanks to stable winnings. Players trust in our games and know they will not be swindled.

Also, the fact that we are a small company gives us the possibility to respond to customers' requirements in no time. We treat our customers as our partners. Honesty and trust are the basis to our relationship. Because their success translates into our success.

What is your strategic outlook for 2022?

First of all, we are very excited to announce the introduction of a new title around kickboxing that will set new standards in the area of martial arts in virtual sports.

The second project we are envisaging is the new interpretation or rebirth of RacingHorses, with new video content in HD quality and fresh presentation.

It is noteworthy mentioning the achievements of last year, as this year’s projects build on their completion. The harmonisation of the mobile and online solution was a big milestone in 2021.

Moreover, we are developing new games that have no analogues in the industry and we believe they will be a new must-have for the operators.

Our focus will remain the exploration and penetration of legal markets. Our next goals are the regulated markets in Europe, LatAm and Africa. We also look forward to meeting our industry peers at exhibitions and summits. The last two years were very challenging and we hope we can return to normality soon.

COMPANY PROFILE

INSPIRED ENTERTAINMENT

In focus: Inspired Entertainment Inspired offers an expanding portfolio of content, technology, hardware and services for regulated gaming, betting, lottery, social and leisure operators across land-based and mobile channels worldwide. Inspired’s gaming, virtual sports, interactive and leisure products appeal to a wide variety of players, creating new opportunities for opeators to grow their revenue. Inspired operates in approximately 35 jurisdictions worldwide, supplying gaming systems with associated terminals and content for approximately 50,000 gaming machines located in betting shops, pubs, gaming halls and other route operations; virtual sports products through more than 32,000 retail venues and various online websites; digital games for 170+ websites; and a variety of amusement entertainment solutions with a total installed base of more than 16,000 terminals. Virtual Sports provide an exciting new revenue stream for gaming providers that can be easily integrated into their existing sportsbook, website/app, or retail venues. Virtual Sports’ constant schedule makes a broad array of sports available 24/7, providing a consistent stream of sports betting content, even at times of the year when live sports are not available.

They are visually engaging, and easy to play for novice and experienced sports betting, casino and lottery players alike.

Virtual Sports provide an exciting new revenue stream for gaming providers that can be easily integrated into their existing sportsbook, website or retail venues. Virtual Sports’ constant schedule makes a broad array of sports available 24/7, providing a consistent stream of sports betting content, even at times of year when live sports are not available.

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V-Play Horses 2 Flats They are visually fantastic, and easy to play for novice and experienced sports bettors alike.

With more than 50,000 machines installed, Inspired is an integral part of the gaming world. Inspired products deliver a winning combination of innovative technology, hardware and content, with a product portfolio that offers player-proven features, high-performing multi-games, visually stunning graphics, and G2S and server-based compliant games to please customers and players. Inspired’s wide variety of premium games provides unparalleled experiences and entertaining themes for almost every playing need, from time-on-device to greater volatility.

Inspired’s proven interactive slots are currently some of the highest-performing content on more than 170 top-tier websites.

A diverse portfolio of high-performing HTML5 games, built in-house, offers both online and mobile players vibrant graphics and 3D animations mixed with high-quality game play. Our games include branded content, well known omnichannel slots, casino titles, leading table and number games, scratch cards, and a suite of unique Virtuals games. Inspired’s close attention and insights into players’ preferences

have paid off with online and mobile product launches that have drawn enthusiastic attention from customers and players.

COMPANY PROFILE

ABELSON INFO

In focus: Abelson Info key tool to plan marketing strategies and help promote in-play activity.

As operators strive to improve the personalisation of their offering, this has proven a great tool to help with keeping the sites/apps looking fresh and improving the local appeal of their brand.

It is fair to say that localisation has been key to our success of late. Here is a couple of examples: • An existing operator was planning on expanding into the recently regulated Chilean market and needed us to add goalscorer odds for the Chilean Primera.

• A new firm launched in the Netherlands and required a complete feed of all sports on TV in Holland to help engage its new Dutch customer base.

Matching client demands and helping them stay local has definitely helped our business flourish.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF Abelson Info supplies data and odds to the sports bookmaking industry. Launched back in 2003, the business started by supplying predominantly to UK-based operators.

Since then, we have developed our innovative and niche product suite and now supply a range of services to sportsbook operators, platform providers and media companies across the globe.

Our data team delivers a fixture & results feed, scoring and bet stimulation packages and bespoke, localised television listings.

Through our ‘Abelson Odds’ division we produce our well-renowned pricing service, focussing specifically on football player markets.

WHAT ARE YOUR MARQUEE PRODUCTS? Our Goalscorer Pricing & Settlement (GPS) product has gained a great reputation and certainly bolstered our brand. For over a decade we have been supplying our pricing product to an ever-growing list of clients, including some of the biggest names in the sector.

We produce up to 25 markets per player, per match, such as the ever popular ‘First Goalscorer ‘or ‘Anytime Player Card’ markets.

As we bring new partners on stream and as our clients embrace new regulations and markets, we are constantly expanding both our coverage and team! Since launch, the product has grown steadily, we now

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deliver pricing for over 130 competitions from around the world and can offer our pricing in-play as well as pre-match.

In the last few years we have seen a surge of interest from across Europe for this service, and not just from the traditional established markets. Companies across the continent and beyond have woken up to the potential of these player markets.

These prices are hard to produce with accuracy due to the constant sensitivity to team news, transfer news, injury news, positional changes and player form.

Therefore our partners have chosen to work with us, a provider with a proven track record, who has been delivering these prices to the industry for years.

Another product that has proved particularly successful is our Televised & Streamed Sports (TSS) service. Our team scours the globe daily to put together a complete schedule of live TV broadcasts and streaming coverage for all sports that can be delivered to clients based on their local preferences.

Initially launched to help operators promote their streaming services, it has since become a

ANYTHING NEW FOR 2022?

Absolutely, our most recent release is our Player Incident Pricing & Settlement (‘PIPS’) product. It provides odds and settlement across a wide range of player markets, such as player shots, tackles, passes, offsides and assists.

Two years in the making, the service has been designed in partnership with sports intelligence operation Twenty First Group, and is underpinned by Stats Perform data.

It is the natural progression from our revered goalscorer service as we look to become the one-stop-shop for all football player markets. Our expertise in handling player lines and squad management puts us in a great position to deliver these markets to the betting industry.

As well as providing standalone markets, our PIPS service can deliver expectancies, so can be used as a perfect input tool for betbuilder products. As these betbuilders become more standardised tech, and punters become more accustomed, we expect these markets to grow in popularity rapidly.

As for our other products, we are of course led by our customers’ requests. Certainly, we have a keen eye on the race for Latin America, with a particular focus on Brazil.

We have expanded our coverage greatly in that region, and with many deals in the pipeline we expect our connections there to continue to grow.

As for our team at Abelson Info, expect to see them popping up at all the prominent trade shows, as the world of gaming welcomes back some long overdue face-to-face meetings!

FEATURES

AMELCO

The US view: Amelco Brandon Walker, Head of Amelco USA, speaks to Gambling Insider about the firm’s US operator clients... and maybe one day Netflix or Amazon?

So BetBull is an exciting one for us.

They are also looking to launch towards the end of March/beginning of April.

In the US, Hard Rock is certainly a big one for us. It is a shame that Florida, where Hard Rock is based, got stopped in its tracks.

The state was live for about four weeks and they were absolutely smashing it.

But that’s not to say we’re not rolling out more states with them. We went live with them in Arizona a few weeks ago, and we will be launching with them in Virginia next week. They’ve got a large roadmap ahead of them in terms of other states where they’ll want to roll out.

FuboTV – the well-known streaming service in the US – is a big client for us.

We are live with them in Iowa and Arizona and, again, we have a large list of states where we will be rolling out with them in the next few years.

Other than that, we have a number of other mid-tier clients in the US, but those are our main ones.

Brandon Walker Who are your main clients and your main markets?

Our main markets are in the US. Obviously, the US is broad. Canada is also on our radar at the moment. It’s gathering a lot of attention with Ontario going live in the next month.

That’s not to say we’re taking our eye off anything else. We have a close eye on the UK; Africa, to a certain extent. We’re looking at launching clients in South Africa in the coming months.

South America is also a place that we’ve kept a fairly close eye on. We’re not present there at the moment, but with certain South

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American countries talking about regulating in the future, we’re keeping an eye on going there too.

What about your key clients?

For us, key clients in the UK will be BetBull.

They’ll be our first end-to-end solution in the UK. Primarily, the way that tier-one operators who we’ve worked with – the likes of Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddy Power, William Hill, Betfred – have used certain components of our software; they’ve never used our full end-to-end stock, it’s always just been a modular component that suited them.

Who is Amelco’s dream client in the US? I mean, if we were having this interview in a few weeks’ time, I could probably tell you about how we landed our dream US client.

I suppose, though, it’s a tough one. We do go out and hunt who we want, and Hard Rock was certainly one of those. We got what we wished for and it’s been great. Of course, you generally look at your big operators – your DraftKings and FanDuel and groups of those ilk – but they’re not really looking for a software provider any more. They’re beyond that.

So, when it comes to your dream client now, I think it will be one of the bigger streaming services or ticketing services.

That could be a Netflix, Amazon, Disney or Yahoo: one of the massive corporates looking to get into the sports betting space.

I would say it would be one of those.

The personnel you would be working with would be very advanced; people that aren’t just looking to dip their toe in the water.

You know that if they are going to go for it, they’re going to go hard. If you’re going to work with a client, you want to work with someone who is looking to match the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM from a marketing perspective, as well.

COMPANY PROFILE

SPORTINGTECH

In focus: Sportingtech Sportingtech is an award-winning, full-service platform provider that specialises in betting and gaming solutions for regulated and emerging markets across the globe.

Based in six offices around the world, the Sportingtech team has more than ten years’ experience in delivering scalable sports betting and iGaming solutions to the global betting and gaming industry. Offering sports, casino, live games, retail and esports with extensive customisation options, the company utilises its knowledge of worldwide gaming to lead from the front. Specialising in regulated markets, it places emphasis on key regions such as Europe, LatAm and Africa.

Sportingtech’s flagship product is the Quantum platform, which provides players with an optimal betting experience that ensures operators have the ability to build a tailored operation.

The sportsbook has over 65 sports to choose from and features more than 1,000 betting markets, while its casino offers a portfolio of more than 9,000 games from hundreds of the industry’s leading studios.

Fast and scalable, the omni-channel platform currently processes more than 500 million bets from more than 150,000 unique players each month. Its particular focus is on providing a robust and adaptable platform, utilising modularity for partners; an aspect of Quantum that highlights it as up-and-coming market leader is its ability to be customised to meet the individual requirements of each customer. The solution is designed to offer unparalleled flexiblity, offering the ability to manage and integrate any features that suit specific market and business needs. The company’s existing operator customers place huge value in Quantum’s ability to configure the sportsbook and casino offering to create a player-centric betting experience.

This capability is well positioned for the industry’s current demand for an omnichannel experience whether it’s for a new brand, the migration of an existing online operation or a land-based business looking to expand into online. Quantum’s scalability and technical set up is such that it eases this transition, accurately transposing an existing land-based model to digital or building a brand new online identity from the ground up.

It is this modularity and its many benefits that has seen Quantum rapidly expand its reach. Quantum is an innovative solution that allows its customers to

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Victoria Bonner, CMO, Sportingtech remain fluid and adaptable to the industry’s many different barriers to success. It is a constant challenge to set oneself apart from the competition to gain the upper hand and attend to the ever-changing needs of the player, and Quantum’s flexible nature gives its customers the ability to do this quickly and easily.

Nowhere has this been more apparent than in Sportingtech’s recent success in the LatAm region, where Quantum’s strong presence has been key to forging new opportunities and fuelling rapid

"Sportingtech’s

expertise and knowledge of multiple markets has allowed it to design Quantum with flexibility in mind"

growth. Delivery time is a matter of six-to-eight weeks and its fastest migration was completed in under three. The company’s agile platform has proven to deliver growth for multiple operators in countries that are experiencing regulatory shifts, as well as increased activity in the digital space.

Sportingtech’s expertise and knowledge of multiple markets has allowed it to design Quantum with flexibility in mind, giving it the capability to be quickly localised and deployed at short notice. One-size no longer fits all, so well-designed software like Quantum is the optimal choice for any size of operator – it allows for an accelerated time to market with true product localisation, allowing quick and seamless integration.

Sportingtech’s previous 12 months have been a series of success stories, seeing the company’s revitalised and rejuvenated Quantum platform go from strength-to-strength in worldwide regulated markets. This year will see it build on this – with a number of partnerships already sealed and plenty more in the pipeline, it has started how it means to go on.