The second day of the World Gaming Executive Summit in Barcelona, Spain, saw a change of conference room from the opening Regulatory Day - and a fast start.
In the vast Great Room of the W Hotel, around 300 C-level delegates settled down to a slightly ill-judged (and deafening) soundtrack of Motörhead and the Ace of Spades. Mercifully, the song looped just twice before the serious business got under way with an introduction from Roger Withers, non-executive chairman at Playtech.
Within the first sentence of his opening address, Withers referenced the US online gaming market. It was to set a more appropriate tone than Lemmy and his band had managed to do.
The keynote address came from Kevin Slavin (pictured), who was billed as an “entrepreneur, provocateur, raconteur”. Slavin spoke eloquently – and excellently – on the History and Future of Luck; a rattle through the history of humankind’s passion for chance and luck. From the ban on dice in 19th century America, to The Game of Life, via mahjong, the teetotum, Corewars and the rise of the algorithm.
Slavin’s somewhat abstract run-up had promised a pay off and he neatly zoned in on the very DNA of our relationship with gaming; with the roll of a dice, on black or red. A love affair with chance, or luck. The difference between the two, said Slavin, is that “luck really matters.”
The panels throughout the morning featured a number of high-profile figures who prefer not to leave all that much to chance. A discussion panel with online CEOs featured Richard Glynn of Ladbrokes, Kristian Nylen of Kambi Sports and Norbert Teufelberger of bwin.party, among others.
Pressed on the future plans of their respective companies, there was a consensus on likely opportunities in Asia and South America and, for most, the US. Glynn said that while Ladbrokes had no immediate opportunities in the US, he felt strongly that sports betting opportunities would open up once the primary demographic of 18 to 24-year-old males was drawn away from the existing sports betting industry in the US and into online poker and casino games.
Teufelberger, like Nylen, said his company would be opportunistic about global openings, not offering any services in unregulated markets, while admitting that the US is, for bwin.party, a “key battleground.”
