Opportunity under every stone
to mature and people like Adam have a great chance. Anybody who is small coming in with a good product will succeed in the US and that’s what we see now.” When pushed on who will make money from igaming, Truman answered: “The people making money right now are the people that aren’t necessarily throwing money at the TV. You have your FanDuels and DraftKings which obviously led the way in New Jersey with market access very quickly. It’s the guys that are doing this very slow, very methodically your Golden Nuggets. It’ll take a while. The US, remember, is a seven trillion (dollar) black market. It’s just slowly going white.” As the unfolding sports betting market has clearly shown, operators and suppliers have been faced with a piecemeal approach to the US with legislation being passed on a stateby-state basis. Moderator Myles posed the question: will it be 50 completely different markets for the igaming sector? Noble responded: “A lot of the conversation in Europe talks about the
24 SBC LEADERS • AUGUST 2021
I THINK AS EUROPEANS WE ARE UNDERESTIMATING THE US TECH AND VC ECOSYSTEM US being the next gold rush, or is it the next gold rush primed and waiting to happen. Well yes it is collectively but then you’ve got to look at it as a bunch of different minds. They’re (states) all opening up at different times with different regulations, with different sizes, with different people. “So yes, you view it as the whole, but really it’s Europe 20 years ago with a bunch of differences between each state that you’re going into - a bunch of differences in the regulation. And, you know, when you launch in those states, arguably a product that works for you in one state isn’t necessarily going to work for you in another. So you need to be cognisant of the
I ACTUALLY SEE A LOT OF INNOVATION COMING FROM THE GRASSROOTS UP
US MARKET
differences right across every state. Just to say it’s the US is probably the wrong way to approach it. The panel session also addressed product innovation, with Costello telling delegates that he sees a more homegrown approach. “I think as Europeans we are underestimating the US tech and VC ecosystem which is completely different to what we’re used to over here (Europe).” Referring to US startups - the “classic really smart guys working in a garage” - he noted: “I’ve spoken to eight of those companies so far this year. And each of them have got some really, really cool stuff. And they’re very quickly - through their funding - being put in touch with some of the big land-based operators. “I actually see a lot of it (innovation) coming from the grassroots up, and my feeling for a lot of the more traditional brands - the suppliers that we’re familiar with - they’ll be too slow to innovate in an American way and provide a product that Americans actually want. My money is on a few guys we’ve never heard of doing amazing stuff.” •
