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A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.
Hello and welcome to another episode of iGaming
Daily. A week has passed since SBC Summit in
Lisbon came to a close. The dust is beginning
to settle on what was another fantastic event,
but talking points from panel sessions and discussions
between attendees on the exhibit floor will
be in the minds of industry stakeholders for
months to come. On this episode of iGaming
Daily, we will discuss the key takeaways from
SBC Summit for the casino, sports betting and
iGaming industries, why they could be significant
and how we expect these topics to develop.
a couple of months. Joining me, Connor Porter,
senior journalist for Casino Beats. To talk
about the event takeaways is Joe Schreeter,
editor of Casino Beats, and Victor Coyote,
senior journalist for SBC News. Gentlemen, how
are you both doing? You were both fortunate
enough to attend the event. I was unable to
attend the event. So, how was the event for
you, Joe? Give us a feeling of what the overall
experience in Portugal was like.
It was just so immersive. There was so much
going on. I think from every corner of the
industry, there was an expert and there was
just phenomenal insights. Obviously I kind
of stuck to my lane a little bit where possible
and was glued to the casino and I game in stage.
But I did get out and listen to some, some content
around emerging markets. Got to have lots of
really unique and cool discussions as well with
just. so many different people pick the brains
of some real industry leaders. So that's always
a fun thing. And also, yeah, just getting to
see a bit of Lisbon as well and getting to attend
some of the glitzy networking parties. Fantastic.
So Victor, how was the event for you in Lisbon?
First of all, thanks for having me here. It
was impactful. It was very eventful. I spent
most of the time running back and forth, speaking
and seeing a lot of interesting people. learning
a lot about the industry, which I'm sure every
attendee can say as well, that they've learned
a lot from it. But yes, it's been constant
work and now I'm back in Manchester and yeah,
it's again business as usual for me. Fantastic
stuff and I can say both of you have done a
great job in terms of marketing the event itself
for someone like me that missed out on it. If
any of our listeners want to help with their
own marketing, they can go to OptiMove, the
number one CIM marketing solution for the iGaming
market, our sponsor for this podcast. Let's
jump into our takeaways from SBC Summit then,
covering across the casino, sports betting and
iGaming industries. I've asked you both for
at least one takeaway each, and if we've got
time, we'll go to a third one to round it all
up. Let's start with you, Joe, and you mentioned
to me potentially, you mentioned to me the
intriguing conversations that you heard about
the Asian market on the exit floor in the panel
sessions as well. Joe Enoch Yeah, I think there's
always lots of talk about various markets,
different targets of expansion for various firms,
the markets that are going to be a hot topic.
And obviously one is always Brazil in modern
times. Lots of talk about Brazil. But It was
fascinating to sit in on the one of the leaders
rooms as they kind of had and the stage was
set up very interestingly actually where they
were facing each other in kind of a circle
in the middle and they were facing out to every
like everybody was had their they had their
back to the audience and the audience was circular
around them. It created for an interesting
discussion I felt the panel was more they were
quite collaborative in their conversation because
of that. because they were all looking at each
other during the panel. But yeah, they were
talking about the Asian market and specifically
the Philippines, as we've covered in quite
a good amount of depth on Casino Beats. The
Philippines go in through regulatory changes
with the POGOs and the PADCOR just strengthen
in action on the POGOs. What this means for
the country was kind of examined. I think there
was the consensus. that governance in the Philippines
isn't anti-gambling despite the intensifying
of new laws, but they are anti-bad actors.
And there was also a warning as well that was
kind of interesting that quite often the industry
will be judged by the worst actor in the industry.
So if the majority of the industry is, you
know, doing things above board and, you know,
doing things well and morally. they still,
there's still a tendency to judge the whole
industry on the actions of the worst possible
actors. And that's something that can be learned
across Europe and across America as well. I
think it's important to have a clean industry
because the bad actors are very much a stain.
There was also kind of talk, obviously, when
you're talking about
see progress being made with Thailand, integrated
resorts in that region, just so exciting because
yeah Thailand's such a hotbed for tourism, it's
such a fun place to visit and also Japan and
another completely kind of different beast to
tackle for operators but one that is again
just so exciting and... Yeah, just underlined
that when operators are entering these markets,
operators need to understand the nuances. They
need to understand the culture if they are
to have a successful expansion into Japan or
Thailand. Certainly true. And, you know, as
you mentioned, Asia is a growing market at the
moment with resorts in Macau recovering from
the pandemic. More recently showing that they've
almost fully recovered from that. We had the
recent news as well about MGM resorts. in Osaka
in Japan with a commitment to build a resort
there. So it's definitely a growing mark in
it, isn't it, Joe, within that part of the
world? Yeah, 100%. And as you see, the tightening
of restrictions in Macau is going to be attracting
the allure of other regions. And yeah, very
interesting to see. And on that note, it's
really important that... kind of the Philippines
and the PAG Core ensure that companies want
to retain their footprint in the Philippines
and they want to retain there because the Asian
market as a whole is so exciting. There's so
many different areas that are a prospect. And
right now the Philippines is kind of a market.
This was emphasised on the panel. That is one
that provides an entry point for operators looking
to come into Asia and they might be looking
to expand into Japan or into Thailand or into
any of the other regions. But the Philippines
kind of provides an entry point and yeah, it's
quite important I think to the Philippines
economy. And I think it will be to President
Marcos as well that they retain that status
even as they are kind of tightening restrictions
and looking to tackle the bad actors.
position with sports betting and niche sports,
particularly in focus, the Olympics. What was
the chatter from your perspective at SPC Loewsman
about niche sports and sports betting? KK It
was a very interesting discussion actually about
the Olympics themselves and niche sports in
them. Obviously, there is a big market to capitalise
on that because the Olympics are also competing
with... more saturated markets like football,
basketball, volleyball, cricket. Bookmakers
have historically struggled to capitalize on
that competition for a few various reasons
as well. One, for example, is the timing itself
of the event. Two years apart when you compare
it to a full year of traditional sports calendar.
Like I said again, the niche sports in them
like skateboarding, archery, athletics, shooting.
Big sports are in the Olympics, but they are
not. if you want to say the stars of that competition.
So that's why historically it's been a tough
market to capitalize on from my understanding.
And until recently there wasn't that player
factor, in quotes, I'm making air quotes, but
you can't see me. But the main discussion was
how can they leverage that? And another key
takeaway is like I mentioned, that player factor,
for example, before, I don't know how long ago,
years ago, professional athletes. weren't allowed
to participate in the Olympics, which now they
are. We have Djokovic with tennis, we have
LeBron James and Steph Curry with basketball.
So these names themselves, that player factor,
like I've mentioned, they carry a brand with
them. So, and that brand is often either equal
or maybe even surpassing the value and attention
to the Olympic brand itself. So there is definitely
an opportunity for operators to step into that.
It's wall to wall as well as like nonstop opportunities.
There's no break in action. There's always something
going on. So there's always a betting opportunity.
And you mentioned the time Victor as well. Like
obviously this one was in France. So we're
on a European time schedule. The next one is
in the US, I think, right? The next one is
in LA. Is that correct? I believe so. But with
your points Victor, especially with the Olympics
and the niche-ness of it, with it being every
so years or so. within markets themselves,
especially in Europe and in the US, there are
sporting events that do take place in that
once a year period that do gather a lot of interest.
Last year here in the UK, we saw a lot of interest
in the Darts during December, that World Championships
coming up later on this year in the US, expanding
opportunities with Formula One and they've got
their races going on there later this year.
So we could see that continue on. in the next
couple of months, Victor, but in different
sports. Exactly. But the key here is how do
these sports become popular, those niche sports,
and the popularity around them is driven by
the players themselves. So, yeah, so the betting
numbers are kind of hinged at the Olympics on
the big stars being in the event. That's the
key solution for operators. They need to localise
their offering, they need to target specific
markets and see what sports these countries
are good in. and offer the bitters the personality
to bet on. They kind of want to bet on the main
characters, right? That's what drives betting
engagement, I guess. And a bit of a lull in
terms of Olympic stars a little bit. You know,
obviously Usain Bolt dropped out. I think people
would have been plying on Usain Bolt props
to get on him, whether it's to break records
or to do this or even, you know, over-unders
on how many
Yeah, it's driven by the stars, I think, the
betting engagement. Definitely, I agree with
you there for sure. Time for the decision is
now how Sportsbook want to capitalize on that.
And the need for change is evident. So in my
opinion, the way Betts are placed is going
to change in the future because let's talk about
your Sportsbook's UIs now. For me personally,
they are very complicated. So bets must be simplified.
They must be made easy to use. And I think
sports personalities will move the focus from
the teams when placing a bit, because it's
much easier to connect in a so-called parasocial
relationship. We see it all the time in the
iGaming sector, which is now working more closely
with content streamers just because of the
interconnection between the viewer and that
one person that they see.
be in the minds of stakeholders in the months
to come. Joe, just one point I want to ask
you on particularly, another takeaway that you
mentioned is about AI and about how that particularly
is not exactly the... Silver bullet. Yeah, yeah.
No, I just noticed a kind of change in tone
around AI, you know, and when we're talking
about AI, I was privileged enough to host a
couple of panels at the event and I think there's
a real change in sentiment. I've noticed a
little shift in the way people speak about AI.
And that's not to say that it's not going to
be massively useful, but it's not going to just
completely transform the way we do things instantly.
It's going to be useful for different reasons,
I think now. And I think that's being established.
Data management being one for sure. How we utilize
data. I think AI can be tapped into there.
I had a couple of conversations about kind of
casinos of the future and slots of the future
and the role AI can play there and yeah, just
there are limitations on AI, especially when
it comes to kind of slot creation and creating
new content. You really need that human touch
if you're going to hone down that quality. And
yeah, it was just interesting to me to hear
the sentiment around AI change, something that
I witnessed in with. Open Banking as well,
a similar journey that Open Banking went on
where, you know, when it was first being touted,
it was touted as this thing that is just going
to instantly transform everything in the way
that we work. And then it kind of shifted and
then, you know, as you know, adoption slowed,
the sentiment around it just became a little
bit more tentative, a little bit more weary.
And it has its role like AI will. But I think
it's just learning to. to know where the ceiling
is for now and slowly raise that ceiling. But,
you know, we're not going to shoot it up like
a rocket ship. It's true. And many casino operators,
sports betting operators, iGaming operators
have been looking at AI and how to incorporate
that into how they operate in order to, you
know, best utilise how they provide their services
and also how, in Victor's case, how to best
provide a user interface that works well for
their customers too. those will be takeaways
that will definitely be in the thoughts of plenty
of stakeholders in the months to come. We're
going to round off here now, so any final thoughts
that you want to mention about SBC Summit Lisbon
for now until next year? Mason- Yeah, no. It
was just a fantastic event and I did get to
share a moment with Victor actually really briefly
where he enjoyed duck pancakes for the first
time, not a Portuguese But yeah, Ted, they came
out delicately, nonetheless, exactly. And they
came out and he looked very confused. And I
got to witness Ted Menmure mentor Victor into
rolling the perfect duck pancakes. That was
quite a beautiful experience. Very wholesome
and yeah, very filling as well. Yeah, yeah,
definitely. And I'm not usually a big Chinese
food guy, but I think this experience transformed
me forever in a good way. Thanks, Tit, for
teaching me the way of life and Joe, I'm glad
you enjoyed. One final thought as well as we
close up. One of the panels, a really interesting
note, a really interesting takeaway. A bit
of a side discussion, but we're trying to take
a closer look at what casinos in the future
will look like, what games and how immersive
games are going to be. And there was a little
clue that as we wait, I know we're all gamers
here as well. As we wait for Grand Theft Auto
6, there could be a hint that, you know, we're
going to see a casino in Grand Theft Auto 6
and it might provide a clue as to what casinos
in the future look like. So yeah, something
to look out for. Yep, yep. I will definitely
be looking out for that. Do you think we get
currency where you can play with Grand Theft
Auto currency, I guess? I heard the rumour
is going to be a crypto, but let's not get into
that. Crazy, crazy. It's got to be exciting
though, something to look out for. Yeah, let's
not delve into rumours and all that stuff.
Thanks, gentlemen, for joining us on the iGaming
Daily podcast today. It was great to hear your
thoughts on the SPC Summit in Lisbon and your
experiences at the event. And be sure to tune
in tomorrow for more from iGaming Daily.