Industry leaders headline Betting on Sports 2019 conference

Jason Robins (DraftKings), Paris Smith (Pinnacle), Jose Duarte (BetCris), Dominik Beier (Interwetten), Lahcene Merzoug (ComeOn!), Jesper Svensson (Betsson), Carmelo Mazza (Betaland), Sergey Portnov (Parimatch) and Stan Reoutt, (Fonbet) represent just a small selection of the industry CEOs taking to the stage at this year's Betting on Sports conference.

Organiser SBC Events has released the full agenda for the fourth edition of its flagship event, which has seen significant growth to both the conference and exhibition, including the addition of the CasinoBeats Summit.

The event is held at Olympia London from 17-20 September, and will feature more than 300 industry expert speakers across 13 specialist tracks, with an expected 3,500 delegates in attendance from around the world - a 30 per cent increase from 2018.

Speaking at last year’s event, Robins said: “Betting on Sports has been fantastic. It gets better and better every year. There is obviously a lot of excitement based on the new US regulation. So it seems like it’s bigger than ever this year.”

Smith echoed Robins’ view: “It's the focus that SBC has, it’s the operators they bring to Betting on Sports,” she said. “There is a lot of C-level people that you won't see walking around at other events.”

Jamie McKittrick, Head of Commercial at GVC Group, declared: “Betting on Sports always has the highest proportion of relevant contacts, suppliers and content for sportsbook operators.”

Industry heavyweights joining the speaker lineup include Brett Abarbanel (Director of Research at UNLV International Gaming Institute) Raffaela Zillner (Secretary General at the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling at OVWG), Mark Blandford (Founder of Sportingbet), Shelly Suter-Hadad (MD at Mansion Group), Norbert Teufelberger (Founder of Bwin), Eoin Ryan (Director of Product at BetVictor), Tyrone Dobbin (MD at Sportingbet Africa), Bill Mummery (Executive Director at SBOBET), Martin Lycka (Director of Regulatory Affairs at GVC Group), Tim De Borle (COO of Napoleon Games), Erik Backlund (Group Head of Sportsbook at Kindred Group) and Andrew Wright (Trading Director at Sky Betting & Gaming).

US operators are also well represented with speakers such as Kresimir Spajic (SVP Online Gaming at Hard Rock), Evan Davis (VP & General Counsel at Sugarhouse Casino), Matthew Cullen (SVP iGaming & Sports at Parx Casino) and Nik Bonaddio (Chief Product Officer at FanDuel Group).

From the payment side of the industry, speakers include Isabelle Delisle (Head of Payments at Pinnacle), Jamie Frendo (Head of AML & Risk Operations at Betsson Group), Paloma Gonzalez (Head of Payments at Vbet) and Steven Armstrong (Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer at William Hill).

Rasmus Sojmark, CEO & Founder of SBC, said: “The agenda this year is dominated by the operators with around three quarters of the speakers confirmed so far sharing their views from an operational standpoint. Given the variety of challenges and opportunities that the industry is facing at the moment, it is these gambling brands which will be shaping the future direction of the sector.

“The conference also presents a great chance for suppliers to understand their customers better and listen to what the operators are looking for in terms of market interest, products and services. At the same time the operators can discuss new products with key suppliers in the growing exhibition area.”

Betting on Sports 2019 consists of eight tracks across two days and four conference rooms, including the second running of the PaymentExpert Forum on the first full day (18 September).

Meanwhile, there are four tracks held as part of the CasinoBeats Summit, the conference for online casino gaming running in parallel to the main event on both days, and a standalone first day track for the Digital Marketing Forum - also handed its second outing.

For more information about the event and access to the full agenda, please visit the Betting on Sports website.