Hello and welcome to the latest episode of iGaming Daily and the second day at SPC Summit in Lisbon
and it's been an interesting few days. I'm joined by Christian Lee, the business journalist for
SPC writer for Gambling TV and we've got Kieran O'Connor, the business journalist for Insider
Sport and payment expert. How are you both doing today, Christian? Yeah, very good, thank you.
Nice to meet my debut at iGaming Daily as well. Oh yeah, it is your debut today, isn't it?
Oh, well you've done some introduction work for some of the Path to Lisbon's, but yeah,
it's actually, I didn't realise you were the first one. First time in person. What a venue
to do it as well, at SBC Summer Lisbon. It is, it's a grand venue. It's my legs are sore.
It's the second day, my legs are sore. But it has been ridiculously good. Kieran, how are
you doing? You okay? Yeah, just about recovered from the sunburn. I... picked up at the football
tournament on Monday. But yeah, I'm doing fantastic. It's been a really good week so far and just
sort of looking forward to everything we've got ahead. Yeah, I must admit. I didn't realise
how much you picked up the sun until we saw you in the evening and you just came out like
a red tomato, man. Like my head's quite burnt because I shaved my head beforehand and I've
never really, I never really know how to maintain a bald head because I never really have one.
But I've got a red scalp, but you were something else. Yeah, like a lobster. Perfect. So I've
got you both on today because you've been somewhere and you watched something which I just didn't
have time to go and see and it was the Tony Hawk keynote. So I'm insanely jealous. So we're
going to talk about that. But before we do, just a shout out to our main supporter of the
iGaming Daily podcast and that is OptiMove, the number one CRM marketing solution for the
iGaming market. Listeners out there, you can still sign up for OptiMove and claim your first
month by visiting OptiMove.com forward slash SBC as per usual. I will leave the links in
the description below. So, Tony Hawk, I didn't get to go, so it's now up to you two to make
me feel like I was sat there. So, Kieran, we'll start with you. What did Tony Hawk have to
say? Before that, I just wanted to sort of put a notice in about the venue. It was incredible
to be fair. Oh, the Superstage? Absolutely huge. Everyone's done a great job on that. They even
had like little video roles playing before he come on. when he come on showing like little
clips from his career. Yeah, I did an interview with Clever Advertising there yesterday and
it was on the stage and the setup that we went through backstage, the backstage looks just
as grand as I mean and like we're getting mic'd up and there's professional equipment and then
you had the studio where they were like cutting to us and when I saw the footage at the end
I was like this could be like a news channel like Parkinson's-esque, like it's just so grand
in every scale. We're going. So Tony Hawk, what a man. I mean, I don't know about you, Christian,
but for me, he's sort of been, always been there in my youth. I've never been a skater from
Manchester, from Lee. I don't think many skaters come from Lee. I don't think I have a skate
park. But I think they even mentioned that, even though I'm not a skater, and a lot of
people in that room were skaters, they were all there to see him because of his brand and
who he is. Yeah, I think Laurie Wood said it herself on the stage that if you say to anyone
the word skating, the first one that will come back is Tony Hawk. I'm the same as Ciaran,
that I've never been a skater. That's not something that's crossed my mind, but I was always aware
of Tony Hawk. I played the Tony Hawk video games. So he's just someone that cuts across, across
popular culture beyond the skateboarding industry. I'm gonna jump in here, because you two are
saying you were skateboarders. Back when I was younger, I actually got into skateboarding
because of the Tony Hawk games. Like, I'm not gonna say I'm Tony Hawk-like level, because
nah, not a chance. But like he got me into it and I did it for about a year or two and he
was the main influence of why I got into skating. And then I got introduced to like a Don of
Kebab and I thought I'm gonna get on the skateboard again. Oh yeah it's interesting you say that.
So first of all it was presented by Laura Woods as well did a fantastic job. I know a massive
name. They first talked about how he got into skating and I picked out a quote sat there.
He said, I want to fly, how do I do that? And he said that when he was... about two years
into skating and he first went to his first skate park and he saw all these like older
kids going up these ramps and flying off. So I thought that was quite interesting and then
what followed after that was a story about how he then attempted it himself and because of
he fell off he said, he actually became unconscious and lost a few teeth but that didn't stop him
and he never looked back. So yeah. imagine how different the world would be if after that
fall, he decided not to skate. Like what would have happened, the games, everything that goes
alongside it. And that's the thing Tony Hawk's done, and as great as a skateboarder he is,
because he is good and he has that unusual style to skateboarding compared to how skateboarders
are perceived. It is all about the brand with him. And I think Kieran, we were talking beforehand,
you said like, he doesn't really want that kind of fame and to be known for that stuff, but
there's no hiding behind it. He's had... hit successful games from Tony Hawk's projects,
Underground 1 to all the way up to like Project 9. I think that was the last one or something
like that. And films, he's been in some great films as well. And he did set a trend and kind
of a generation like he's known for that late 90s, early noughties for me is that kind of
post punk, maybe like American alternative
something I'll always remember that era for. And that's a testament to the brand that he's
built. Did he speak much about kind of that brand? Yeah, so it's interesting you say, he
did come out and say, it was never, he never aspired to have fame or fortune, but it obviously
follows when you're so talented like he is. But yeah, he spoke about his branding and as
always, he said he actually beat quite a bit of his success to a bit of luck, that's always
the case. But it's interesting because He never actually tried to build a personal brand. He
never went out and said, he never got a team of marketers and said, I wanna build a personal
brand, how are we gonna do it? Things just sort of fell in line. I don't know if you heard,
Christian, but the video games, he actually tried to do that on his own at first, before
he got approached by, I think it was Activision, was it? Yeah, I heard that about Activision.
I think as well, one thing that we'll talk about later on in the podcast is authenticity. And...
One thing I noticed with the different brands that he's built, he was focused on being authentic.
So he created a clothing brand that was focused on skating and what he thought was missing
from the clothing that was for skating already. The same with shoe brand in the same nature.
And also near the end, he mentioned with the game that when it was first being developed,
they were pushing to try represent skateboard as like an extreme sport and make it more extreme
in the game than in real life. Whereas he pushed back. and wanted it more to be an accurate
representation of skateboarding, I guess, to help push the sport further and get more people
into it. Yeah, I feel like maybe, I don't know, this is maybe who's the developers for the
later games. I feel like that realism kind of went away from the Tony Hawk games. I always
remember a meme and it was like, I think someone might have modded the game or something, but
it was like Jesus coming out of like the tomb on a skateboard with like. Creed song, Take
Me Higher on it and stuff. But I mean, again, people still use that game in different mediums
to this day and again, testament to him. I'm not sure, like I said, I wasn't in there so
I do want to ask yous, did he talk anything about DraftKings and kind of the promotion
stuff that he did with them? The practice safe bet stuff? He actually didn't talk about that.
I don't know if he was meant to maybe. But Laura Woods might not have got that memo, but he
didn't talk about that. It was a lot about his early life as we said growing up. his older
brother was a big influence on him. He actually told us about the story when he first turned
pro. Okay. Now you'd think, oh he got signed to a contract. What actually happened was he
was 14. Mm-hmm. He went to a skating competition in his local park and ticked a box. He had
two choices, one was amateur, one was pro. Mm-hmm. He just ticked a box saying he's pro. And that's
how he turned pro. And he performed or took part in a competition where the winning...
the champion would get a hundred dollars, he'd come forth. So yeah, it's quite an interesting
story. Kind of wish I could just do that in life. It would be nice. Do I want to be a millionaire?
Yep, I'll take that box. Kristin, what was kind of the highlight for you then in this talk?
I think the main thing I took away was, as I mentioned before, the authenticity when it
comes around creating a brand and also working with brands. So one of the questions was regarding
how brands across different industries can choose. what athletes are influencing general to work
with. And he really pushed and emphasized the need for that influencer slash athlete to be
authentic and also to believe in the brand's vision. So I think sometimes when you look
at some brand ambassadors that come up, not just in gaming, but across different industries,
sometimes you can tell when the person's been chosen for just their name rather than, because
it's something they believe in and they really want to be a part of. So that was. the main
thing that I took from what you were saying. I mean, that's kind of a key point because
we've seen it, we've seen it probably at this event, but definitely within the iGaming space,
the amount of influencers are coming into the space. And there's some question marks. I mean,
how responsible is it? Wait and see, I'm probably in the mindset of, they don't know their audience.
They see dollar signs, euro signs, pound signs, wherever they are in the world and think, it's
a good revenue stream, but know your brand, know your audience. and you have to be responsible
with it. But it's something that's coming into this sector a lot more now, away from just
normal advertising of like having a celebrity endorse like Ben GM do all the time. Like these
social influencers are the new movie star influencers in a way, because everyone digests news or
any kind of form of media via like YouTube shorts or TikToks or Instagram reels and stuff like
that. Yeah, and it's not to say, I mean, Tony Hawk, that advice that he gave is really important.
laughing. But it's also not to say that just by picking a big name, you won't get the reach
that you're looking for. You probably will. If you pick the most up and coming influencer
and put him on whatever product it is you want to sell, it probably is going to work. But
as you said, there is some moral dilemmas there from both the advertisers. There's some responsible
gaming side of things. Yeah. Like everything, everything that people do know is responsible
gambling. And it has to be the forefront safe, but it has to be the forefront of everyone's
mind. And that comes from the marketing side of things from the, even the mechanics that
you meet within slot games, um, any form of like better in order to data, you go through
how you utilize that data. Everything has to be. Play protection, responsible, gamble, moving
forward. Um, we're reaching the half point, halftime point of this show. I w I'd love to
talk about Tony Hartmore, but there has been other things that have been happening at the
event. So we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, Christian and Kieran,
I'm going to ask you what you've been up to the previous day, because we are on the second
day for the listeners, where this is recorded on Wednesday, you'll listen to some Thursday,
and what you've got prepared for the rest of the week. So join us back in a few minutes.
Welcome back. So like I said, we're moving on from Tony Hawk. We're going to talk about what
you've been up to at the event and what you've got in store for the rest of the week ahead.
So Kieran, not Kieran, sorry, Christian, I'm going to come to you because this is not only,
not only is your debut, on the iGaming Daily podcast, but it's your debut at an SBC or even
just an industry event. How are you finding it? It is, yeah. To be honest, I didn't know
what to expect at all and it sort of exceeded my expectations completely. As James says,
it's my first industry event altogether and just to see the scale of, I think we've got
four or five different conference halls. When you see the stands, some of the operators and
suppliers have come up with, it's crazy to think. just to see the scale and also the time and
effort that's gone into making them stands. Most of it is a sensory overload. Certainly
the casino floor is insane. And in fact, I went to... Whose stand was it now? Delosport have
an incredibly vibrant red and orange stand and Databets is just so sleek and they've got esports
streamers. They're playing Counter-Strike on that stand. And if I wasn't working, I'd be
like... She said to me like, Oh, do you want to come play a big part of the competition?
I said like, I'll be honest, it's a disadvantage for everyone else because I will beat you all
at Counter-Strike, but I just really wanted to jump on it. But yeah, this event from, even
from Barcelona last year is insane. My legs are sore already, but I mean, I've not even
had time to really digest the conference stuff and I'll use have been. So I've been doing
interviews since I've got here. But any interesting panels that you've been on, Kieran? Yeah, I've
been on a few actually. Yesterday, one that I'd pick out is an article we just put out
on Payment Expert this afternoon, which was on open banking and how that fits into the
gambling industry and the gambling sector. But there's some really interesting quotes though
and it was chaired by Payment Expert's editor himself, Ted Ormeclay, who did a fantastic
job and moderated the panel. Big shout out to Ted there. Well done, Ted. But it was really
fantastic. There were some really good quotes and it got a bit, it got, when I went into
it, I thought Some of these panels, they give quite basic answers. You sort of know what
they're already gonna say. I'll just tell you one quote, what we've used for the headline
is that an operator has said that open banking is actually a nuisance. So that sort of tells
you how that article goes, but it's very, very interesting. Another interesting thing that
I've done at this event is interviewed in this room that we're in now. Josh Sparks from LifeScore.
We talked about horse racing. how it has become stagnant and needs to sort of embrace innovation.
So we talked about that quite some length and that was really interesting, yeah. Mason Hockenberry
Yeah, I know he was on a panel session, he's going to be on a panel session this week or
he's already been on one on that matter. And it was, it's always been an interesting conversation
because certainly in the UK horse racing was probably the biggest sport for betting. I think
it's just been eclipsed by football now. But it's still, it's still a dominant force for
the UK market. But yeah, it's on a it is on a decline and it does kind of need to revitalise
itself for the modern, modern day audience. And it'd be interesting to hear that interview.
You'll hear it on, it'll be on payment expert in the next few weeks or so. Yeah. So keep
an eye out for that. Keep an eye out for that on YouTube as well. Christian, you've, you've
had a mixture of things to do, cause obviously you've been working with me on some of the
multimedia stuff as well. But also I wanted you to kind of digest some of the content that
was happening here because you're here and what better place to kind of understand the industry
and kind of soak up some of the knowledge in there. So give us a glimpse of what you've
been up to. Yeah, it's definitely been a crash course in behind the scenes of everything that
goes on with the media side. I think coming back to some of the things we discussed in
the first half, I was actually at a panel that was looking at how the regulations around social
influences and whose responsibility it is to actually regulate how operators use. social
influences. I think the consensus among the panellists, which included people from Entain
was that ultimately it should be a synergy between operators, the influencers themselves and the
regulators. But at the first point of call is always the operators because they're the people
who are choosing to use the influencers, choosing to advertise their content. I think it's mainly
about educating the people they work with. So they understand the responsible gaming implications
of what they're promoting and how they should do that in a way that doesn't endanger the
people who are watching their content and choosing to then go on and play with the company. Perfect.
And we're going to round off the podcast soon, but we've just talked about what you've been
up to. What have you got in store now for the remainder of today and tomorrow as well? I'm
actually going to the horse race in... panel that you mentioned and who came and spoke to
yesterday. So I'm excited for that one. I thought you were going to say you're going to go to
the horse races. I was like, where? Yeah. The horse races in Portugal. That would be nice.
I don't think it's nearly paid here. So I don't have enough money to go horse racing yet. But
yeah, that should be a really interesting one. We've covered a fair bit on gambling TV about
some of the issues that are going on, especially regarding the racing levy that's currently
needs to be sorted out. So it'll be interesting to see what they have to say. and what they
think the future is. They'll probably say further consultations like we've had for the past 12
months. Kieran? So I've got a payments panel in around a few, I think I've got a few hours.
I've got some time to write up some of the stuff that I've already seen. And also the Tony Hawk
article, which will be coming out inside of sport this afternoon, hopefully. And then I've
got a sports integrity panel, which is always interesting. We'll see what we can get out
of that. And yeah, it should be good. Perfect. Now you've mentioned you're getting the article
out tonight, but I'll promise the listeners, because this is going out tomorrow, going out
on Thursday for the listeners, I'll make sure I'll link the article into the description
and any of the write ups that you do as well. Yeah. But that's all we've got time for today
because we're busy, busy. I'm gonna jump to the conference room floor again, because there's
a lot more premiums to produce and make sure they're running smoothly. You're all going
to panel sessions. Have a great rest of the event. Thank you for joining us on I Give Me
A Day Today. Christian, great debut. Well done. Yeah, thank you very much. Well done, Kieran.
I'm always trying. No, good stuff. Have a great rest of your week and to the listeners out
there, make sure you tune in tomorrow for the penultimate episode of iGaming Daily. No, not
the penultimate, it'll be the final episode, yeah? The final from Lisbon. Yeah, penultimate
is the one before the final. This is the penultimate one, listeners. Tune in tomorrow for the final
episode, live at SBC Summit at Lisbon. Until then, see you soon.