Here are some highlights of Jim’s presentation:

Jim addressed current economic downturn of Europe and its member states, the impact on consumerism,  purchase habits of individual nations and its effects on the Euro currency and its future growth. He described the potential uplift and which countries are likely to see fastest economic comeback in the coming years. It is expected that Germany and the UK will be market leaders. The process will be long and may not guarantee Europe hitting heights of growth witnessed in the early 2000′s.

Regulated markets will need time to prosper, as Tax Levy and regional sanctions are imposed. Operators have to judge the process of entering these European markets carefully. They must also look to see where they can gain best margin control on operations and cost of marketing.

It is expected that USA will add value to European operators that seek to increase presence and capital by targeting the USA. However legislation could be more convoluted than in Europe and will need operators to restructure their operations in order to tackle US market. USA growth will simply be imminent due to popularity of gambling and size of market.

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article by the Sports Betting Society.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

In his presentation at the World Gaming Executive Summit 2013 Tom Hall, Business Development Director, ONEWorks looks to outline the successes and failures in the gaming sector. He also looks to give insight into trends and what major gaming operators are viewing as attractive for future acquisition in gaming. Tom Hall sheds light on upcoming sectors and also focuses on the expanding Asian gaming market.

Click here to download Tom’s presentation >

Here are some key points of Tom’s makes in his presentation:

Failures in acquisition have been down to several factors, such as convergence of technologies and corporate culture. He also notes that certain failures have been driven by acquiring company being to ambitious and not understanding key competencies of their purchase and outlining specific goals post acquisition.

US operators have been offline for a while now, so there will be short term benefits for them to partner with more up to date European operators. But it will be a short term thing. In the long run the US operators will have no need for European partners. The fact that many European operators are shedding their grey area markets in a hope of qualifying for a US license if and when the market opens is extremely risky.

Asia is very desirable to major operators that do not have a foot mark in this lucrative market. He expects that the major acquisitions will occur with companies that have some form of presence in this market. Furthermore Tom outlines that the Philippines will become a tech hub for this region.

With regards to traditional markets and new technologies, the focus will be driven by value added extensions to igaming operations such as optimised CRM, igaming analysis tools, social gaming / real money gaming hybrids. Mobile will not be an attractive proposition for M&A as it is already become a standard tool within igaming operations and the mobile market is already saturated.

Download the presentation now >

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article by the Sports Betting Society.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

Geaspar Byrne CFA, Head of Corporate Development, Strategic Planning & IR at AGTech has also discussed the Chinese market in his presentation.

Download the presentation slides here >

Here are some key points from the debate:

China, although lucrative, is a legislation minefield with various obstacles; operators must tread carefully in this new market. There are only two permitted lottery operators in China. One whose proceeds are diverted in part to social projects and the other towards sports projects.

John Sun AGTech pointed out that illegal market is still much bigger than legal market. He estimates market to be 10 times the size! John notes that this is a dominant issue, as there can be no level playing field with non regulated gaming operators and that it has further consequence on legal operations as their brands may be tarnished in association with betting and gaming.

Fabio Celadon of GTECH commented that too many western operators have expected quick and big returns from the region. Patience is a crucial factor for success as gaming operators have a big learning curve with regards to any Asian market. Only operators with realistic long-term goals can survive, they also need to be prepared to appropriate a correct level of financing in order to get any success.

Download the presentation slides from AGTech here >

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article by the Sports Betting Society.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

David Rowan Editor of technology innovations magazine Wired, discussed new technologies and new customer trends expectations and trends with regards to new technologies entering markets at the World Gaming Executive Summit 2013. Rowan discussed how these new technologies and innovations will affect igaming operators; He drew some examples from other high saturation markets and their reaction to new technology and innovation.

Rowan assessed the impact of mobile, stating that it is the ‘norm’ for customers and that the ‘learning period’ for engagement with mobile technologies is over. Your customer is smarter than ever and knows how to use tablet and mobile devices. iGaming operators that do not deliver on this vertical are simply out of touch. Rowan addressed that customer expectations for mobile applications are very high throughout Europe, if a customer does not like first time interaction with the application or mobile site – the operator will simply lose that customer.

Technology is now built on the assumption that it should be able to target its customers anytime, anywhere. Geo location targeting in technology is crucial and customers do not seem to mind as long as messaging is not intrusive or simply annoying. Technologies are becoming more integrated with the daily routines for their customers. This does not simply apply to mobile technologies. Rowan expresses that wearable technologies such as Google Glass will further enhance this engagement for all users. Rowan gave an example of users being feed promotions whilst playing in a live casino environment wearing Google Glass.

With technology trends moving at such fast pace, in order to innovate operators have to prepare up to two technologies ahead in order to make any actual innovation, according to Rowan. This is a very hard practice since operators have to second guess what will and won’t be popular.

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article by the Sports Betting Society.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

Sports Betting Community

WGES is like no other conference in the igaming calendar, the calibre of speaker offering insight was simply out of this world, combining a mix of top industry talent and decision makers mixed expert speakers on tech and e-commerce. In terms of networking you won’t find a better platform as WGES created an open environment where both offline and online operators could communicate about the issues and challenges their industries and products are facing.

With so much information and thoughtful opinion being shed in each session, my hand started to cramp from all the note taking! Here are my summit highlights from WGES Barcelona conference 2013 and picture gallery:

• CEO Panel – In Conversation With the Online CEOs A very frank discussion regarding the current and future state of igaming. CEO’s outlining how customer expectations are higher than ever with regards to products. All CEO’s shed opinion on economic downturn in Europe, and the effects running operations, and the need to make tougher managerial calls in the coming months.
• Sean Ryan – The World According to Facebook. A fine speaker, Sean Ryan  presented a fantastic passionate session on Gaming and Facebook. Full of confidence he addressed the audience in his FC Barcelona shirt, and explained that he was so privileged to be talking about Facebook in the home of his favourite football team. Sean won extra points when he presented Facebook’s new sports betting application to the song of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop – What a Move!
• Asia Panel – In Conversation With Chinese Operators: An in-depth look at the Chinese and Asian markets, and the issues western operators face when trying to penetrate these markets. Panel offered tips on insights into how to tackle the market, also showing tacit knowledge of cultural intricacies and player trends
• Tom Hall  One Works- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Great and often humorous look at the complicated world of M&A in gaming. Where some succeed and many fail. Mr Hall highlighted what he believes igaming giants view as attractive in terms of acquisition and how he views M&A in gaming to be in the coming years.
• Kevin Slavin on Luck. Its no wonder he is a featured speaker for TED.com. Kevin really highlighted a factor that I feel is rarely discussed in igaming – Luck and its perception.  Slavin pointed out common misconceptions of the term and how it has always tried to be controlled by both business and governments. He also points out the motivations and attractions of Luck with regards to games of chance. This was a great way to kick-off the innovation and technology segment of the summit.

I would like to personally thank the Terrapin team for a fantastic week and a top conference. Well done team, look forward to next year!

Please click here to visit the picture gallery.

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

We spoke to Rick Weil from Scientific Games at the World Gaming Executive Summit 2013 and asked him about where the gaming industry is going. Watch this video to find out more.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

Expert gaming panel at the World Gaming Executive Summit 2013 has discussed new technologies and sports betting, the impact of sports broadcasting rights and its effects on in play sports betting. The Panel further debated strategies and execution of partnerships in on-line sports betting. Session speakers included Kristen Nylen, Chief Executive Officer, Kambi Sports, United Kingdom, Mr Magnus Silfverberg, Chief Executive Officer, Betsson, Sweden Jack Davison, Chief Commercial Officer, Betgenius, United Kingdom, Melissa Blau, Director, iGaming Captial.

Here are some key points from the discussion:

Mobile offering is key, better customer lock in and better at acquiring mid-level sports betting punters rather than professional punters. Mobile promotion and advertising coverage of odds is now standard practice for most operators seeking to get best revenue and protect margins.

Magnus Silfverberg said mobile delivery is key since the standard of competitor applications for sports betting is very high. Customers want very practical and easy to navigate applications that can be customized to their habits. Bettson do not put out any new mobile add-ons unless without a stringent user diligence process.

Social Sports betting yet to make an impact on sports betting, panel believes that this product has yet to be developed, although they acknowledge that there has been expensive failure.

Sports rights are complex and vary from region to region, also operators can pay over the price for streams that do not necessarily rely solid revenues. Negotiation is key to saving margin costs on broadcast rights

The future looks to be competitive as ever, however brands are concentrating a maximising their brand value, also the shift in sports betting has moved to be more holistic by bookmakers targeting general public, rather than high wager punters. Panel view this as a move to harmonise sports betting and align itself as more of a hobby or entertainment.

This blog is a courtesy of our valued media partner Sports Betting Community and the team of their guest bloggers. Please click here to view the original article by the Sports Betting Society.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.

We spoke to some of our delegates at the World Gaming Executive Summit 2013 and asked them about where the industry is going and what the biggest challenges will be for gaming in the future. Watch this video to find out more.

Would you like to network with the top gaming CEOs in 2014? Why not join us at the World Gaming Executive Summit on the 8-10 July. Visit the event website to find out more.