Missed out on the SiGMA Americas Virtual summit? These are some highlights from the expert keynotes and panel discussions
After a well-attended launched first virtual foray into LatAm markets with a tri-lingual summit last September, SiGMA Group has outdone itself with a 2-hour virtual event once more. The first day of the two-day summit featured a fully interactive expo hall, a live chat box feature where attendees could speak one on one with exhibitors, and direct message attendees, and panelists, and a high profile line up of speakers sharing the newest developments in online gaming making this an ideal networking, deal-making, and educational event.
Today’s conference focused on iGaming developments happening across the United States and in Canada. Top industry leaders discussed topics such as responsible gaming, working with gaming affiliates, brand building in the iGaming space, working with tribal operators, and the new competitive and regulated iGaming market coming to this interior.
Topics covered:
- The transition to iGaming
- Responsible Gaming for Online Gaming
- New Jersey: Operators and Affiliates
- Brand Building for iGaming Operators
- Working with tribal operators in the U.S
- Canada: A new competitive and Regulated iGaming market
In the opening keynote, Ali Bartlett, Vice President of Government Relations, Bose Public Affairs Group spoke about the growth of iGaming in the United States following the rise of sports betting.
Bartlett notes the major milestone that was marked when sports betting became legalized in each of the states – as these states saw mobile and online operations become reality, responsible gaming initiatives started to constantly grow. Geolocation at work, age, and identity verification processes have also proved to be successful. This has created a level of comfort with legislators looking to expand into the iGaming world.
Industry partnerships and multi-state partnerships will also see a lot of opportunities as more states are moving online. Bartlett says that there could be different types of gaming coming to life as more and more opportunities are arising for various operators in the industry with ideas becoming legalized on a state-by-state basis.
“The more advancement we see in these spaces the more the industry will grow and innovate, but they’re also going to provide new revenue opportunities for states. They’re going to allow for changes to the industry landscapes and partnerships we see.”
She closes off by saying that online gaming will benefit the industry as a whole, not just the online industry, as it will also create new opportunities for brick and mortar casinos and bring a new style of player that they haven’t seen before.
Another hot topic tabled by leading academics, during the summit was that of Responsible gaming. Casinos, gaming control boards, operators (such as casinos), and vendors all have social responsibility initiatives in place to maintain the integrity and fairness of their operations and to raise public awareness of gambling-related problems, such as gambling addiction.
In this panel, Stewart Groumoutis, Director eGaming of BCLC; Elizabeth Lanza Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Laura Mcallister Cox, Chief Compliance Officer at Rush Street Interactive and Seth Palansky, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility & Communications Conscious Gaming take on this topic to discuss it further.
Lanza says that since you can gamble from anywhere, so you should be able to self exclude from anywhere. Having a tool like Play Pause can empower the consumer, in their journey in this world of addiction. It will be difficult, but times are changing and we have to adapt quickly – most other regulators and operators would like to move forward on a nationwide self-exclusion program, especially in the iGaming world.
Cox also believes in giving patrons choices. Clear choices determining how they utilize these tools is important, and right now, with multiple exclusion lists, it’s confusing for the player. “How can we make that experience for that player who wants to do something affirmative, more clear and easier to pursue?”
“Sports betting patrons skew male and younger. We also have an iGaming platform and we’re live in a number of states – and we see the tendency there is more 50-50 with females, and of an older age demographic. So, we’re seeing a broad base of the population entertaining themselves with our platform – but when they need that reach out, whatever is comfortable for that person should be an option.”
Cox states that individuals can change quickly, adapt, and find new, better ways to use technology to address a situation that wasn’t anticipated.
“We need consistency on what data is being gathered, on the time frames that are being offered to players for self-exclusion, consistency on limits, on when and how the player comes off self-exclusion. The idea of a central system for online gambling throughout the US is a tempting concept.”
Groumoutis says that having a single view of a customer allows you to recognize gambling behaviors, such as problem gambling.
One of the things we recognize, when people are gambling in their home is that we have no idea of their environment, their current state – and on top of that people could be going through a challenging situation and feeling very lonely, this can be an extremely problematic situation.
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