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Casino & iGaming

Casino & iGaming

JEFF IFRAH: WE’RE STILL WRITING THE U.S. GAMBLING STORY

IN AN INTERVIEW WITH SBC LEADERS, the Founding Member and Managing Partner of Ifrah Law reflects on his career as a renowned litigation attorney before offering his take on what we can expect from the US gaming industry in years to come

BY ERIN GALLAGHER

SBC: Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about your background? How did you become interested in the gaming sector?

JI: I was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey before moving to Washington DC in 1997 to join a very highly ranked white collar criminal lawyer group of former Department of Justice attorneys who were partners at the global law firm Paul Hastings.

A year later — just as the internet was really starting to take off — an internal email asked if anyone knew anything about New Jersey Gaming Enforcement. Coincidentally, the head of the Department of Gaming Enforcement was someone I served

PUT SIMPLY, THE DOJ WAS ENFORCING AND CHASING OFFSHORE OPERATORS OUT OF THE US, WHILE NEW JERSEY WAS BEGINNING TO WELCOME THEM

with in the US Army and who was also previously a federal prosecutor.

From then on, I started to deal with the NJDGE for some very early cases where the State was warning European sportsbooks not to solicit customers from New Jersey. Licensing wasn’t available, so I spent the next 10 years litigating the issue of who has jurisdiction and who has the right to enforce their laws. We looked at the questions of where gaming servers were based and where the activity was occurring. As you can imagine, these weren’t settled questions.

By the mid-2000s, we were starting to meet with regulators and legislators in Washington DC, where I'm located. In 2008-09, we started to see some federal legislation being proposed to regulate online poker. That effort failed.

But by 2010 and 2011, the DOJ started to become involved with more enforcement efforts. This coincided with some successful traction in New Jersey around gaming legislation

and regulation. Put simply, the DOJ was enforcing and chasing offshore operators out of the US, while New Jersey was beginning to welcome them.

I started to represent people looking to get started in gaming in New Jersey and helping them with licensing and regulation. That, of course, was just on the poker and casino side of things. But at the same time, there were efforts underway to pass sports betting legislation in New Jersey.

We then started a trade association called iDEA, which stands for the Internet Development Economic Association. This essentially encouraged operators to become members — to group together to leverage their power to help not just pass regulation, but to also spearhead efforts for responsible gambling.

This would also make it easier for them to operate in the US without fear of prosecution from other states or the federal government.

Eventually, that legislation on the sports side went to the US Supreme Court in 2018, and the rest is history. I've probably advised every operator supplier and vendor payment processor in the industry at some point, and my firm continues to represent a very large swath of the industry.

On top of that, iDEA, the trade association, is proud to now have approximately 85% of the industry, both B2B and B2C companies, and the payment processors as members.

THAT LEGISLATION ON THE SPORTS SIDE WENT TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IN 2018, AND THE REST IS HISTORY

SBC: And from your experience, what do you anticipate as being the biggest trends across the iGaming and sports betting sectors in 2022?

JI: Historically, the land-based casinos were always concerned about the cannibalisation of their revenues, so they weren’t usually helpful in promoting online gaming legislation. That has changed considerably, and in a very good way.

For example, in Indiana we're trying to pass online gaming legislation. Indiana previously passed online sports betting regulation, so we already have a lot of clients and iDEA members operating there; but

online casinos and online poker remain illegal there. We are working alongside the Indiana Casino Association to pass online gaming legislation. That’s really a first.

What we're going to see next, and what we're already seeing in Indiana, is stepping up to partner with online operators to pass online legislation, which is really an encouraging sign.

This means that the land-based casinos are starting to appreciate that there is revenue to be made from the online space and that the customers playing online are not necessarily the customers who are coming into their land-based casinos.

SBC: Speaking of online legislation, do you think that this growth has been fueled by the pandemic?

JI: I'm not someone who believes that COVID-19 helped online gaming. Many think that, because people were at home, they were playing online games more or that states where online gaming was not legal are suddenly going to realise the power and pass online gaming legislation. But personally, I don't think that's true.

I think the reason we saw, and we continue to see, more interest in and revenue from online sports gaming is the 2018 Supreme Court decision. No one thought that mobile sports betting was going to peak in 2018-19. Everyone expected it wouldn’t be until 2021-22 before all these states passed online gaming legislation. And that's what's happening now. It has nothing to do with the pandemic — it’s just a reflection of the consequences of timing from a Supreme Court decision’s impact on the growth of an industry.

I do believe that the online gaming

industry is going to continue growing on the sports side. As far as the casino side, nothing really happened during COVID-19. We only had Michigan that came online toward the end of the pandemic. No other state passed legislation. And so there is still a lot of growth to be had for both sports and casino online gaming.

In New Jersey and Nevada, we see crazy numbers. The revenue that's being reported now is in the billions of dollars in both states; it's pretty evenly split between online casino and online sports. So when you think about states that only have sports, and are reporting strong revenue numbers, imagine what they can do when they add casino and poker. That's all for the future.

But there’s certainly nothing about the pandemic that suggests this has peaked in any way. Following the pandemic, legislators will want the employees who work in those casinos to return, and they want the industry to generate revenue.

The pandemic might actually slow down the growth of the online gaming industry because local legislators need to first make sure that the land-based revenues get back to where they were before. They want employees back at work. They're not focused on passing new legislation, but they will be soon enough. But there is a tremendously bright future for the industry post pandemic.

SBC: What do you think lies ahead for the US sports betting industry as we enter a new year? Is the sector yet to realise its full revenue potential?

JI: We must remember that the two biggest markets in the US have not even opened yet: namely California and Texas, where no legislation is on the horizon. To put this into perspective, California is the fifth biggest economy in the world, and California and Texas together represent 50% of the US sports market.

When these two states pass sports betting and iGaming legislation, everyone's going to truly step up to the plate to distinguish themselves as the market leaders. There is still so much room to do that too — this isn't going to be something that's just going to be the exclusive domain of having one or two operators, or one or two platform providers, or one or two oddsmakers.

There is also so much creativity in this industry and we're going to continue to see that. Everyone knows how big this could be, but we haven’t seen anything in terms of how big this market can get. No way.

WHAT WE'RE GOING TO SEE NEXT IS CASINOS STEPPING UP TO PARTNER WITH ONLINE OPERATORS TO PASS ONLINE LEGISLATION

SBC: As more states introduce legalised sports betting, how important is it that gaming companies and state regulators place responsible gambling at the forefront of any legislative efforts? What lessons can the US learn from other,

more mature gaming markets when it comes to social responsibility?

JI: A couple of weeks ago, the NFL started partnering with business operators on a responsible gaming plan. The American Gaming Association also announced a responsible gaming plan. We at iDEA also announced one.

Obviously, this is an incredibly important topic right now. The industry really cannot afford any type of scandal or bad news. Sports betting must stay a form of entertainment and not a source of problems for consumers.

If there were more stories about individuals being taken advantage of, that would be terrible for the industry — and operators know that, which is why they're so focused on responsible gaming.

A lot of these operators are also very conscious of problems in the UK, and what the UK Gambling Commission has done to rein in credit card fraud and other issues that have raised concerns. Combatting this is all part of a responsible gaming program.

The UK has raised those concerns and operators in the US know that. The most important thing right now is to have a strong, robust, aggressive responsible gaming program so that this continues to be a form of entertainment and not harm consumers.

WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THE TWO BIGGEST MARKETS IN THE US HAVE NOT EVEN OPENED YET: NAMELY CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS SPORTS BETTING MUST STAY A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

SBC: And finally, consumer awareness and education can be to the detriment of unregulated states - can you talk us through this?

JI: The basic problem in both unregulated states and newly opening states is this: Offshore books (meaning illegal and unregulated betting sites) have been advertising to the consumers in those states for years. If consumers in any state — regulated or unregulated — search ‘legal sports bets’ or ‘where can I place a bet?’ on Google, a number of the top 10 search results are going to be offshore sites. There are sites that falsely say they are legal for sports betting.

If a state decides that it will not regulate sports betting, it is essentially saying that consumers should continue to bet on offshore sites. On the internet, consumers can’t tell if a site is legal or illegal because it's just not easy to figure out.

When a state legalises gaming, it allows the operator to come in and start educating consumers about what's legal and not legal, which a legal operator is motivated to do. Until state legislators act to regulate sports betting and allow legal operators in, no one is going to teach consumers that they are really betting on illegal offshore books.

With legalisation and education, consumers will bet on sites that are regulated and safer. And that's really what every legislator should want for his or her constituents. •

DELASPORT: EXPANDING GLOBALLY AND FACING THE US MARKET

DELASPORT CEO OREN COHEN SHWARTZ tells us more about the company’s strategy to expand globally and deliver its comprehensive mobile sports betting and iGaming solutions in the US

BY LUKE MASSEY

SBC: Thank you for talking to SBC Leaders. Can you just start by telling us about Delasport’s interest in the mobile sports betting and iGaming market in the US?

OCS: Delasport is fully equipped to deliver a one-stop-shop solution to its partners in the US. We have one of the most comprehensive sports betting products in the industry, and the US is predominantly a sports market. We are expanding globally, and the US market is part of it.

The US online gaming market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world; it has grown in popularity over the last year, increasing its customers base and it is valued at $2.5 billion. Scalability is an essential factor in the US market. Delasport is one of the world's fastest digital sportsbook and casino platforms in the market, and it offers true horizontal scalability. The micro-services technology allows us to tailor the solutions to the partner and market needs.

As regulation requirements differ from state to state, we have the technology advantage to accommodate each market's needs quickly. For sports coverage, the product covers all the required sports and betting options for the US market. We offer 70,000 monthly prematch events, 40,000 monthly live events, 2000+ markets, 125+ sports coverage, including esports and virtual sports.

SBC: What are the main reasons for this growth, and what is Delasport’s unique value in the market?

OCS: The main reasons will be accessibility and offers. Mobile sports betting availability is 24x7, players enjoy richer betting options, welcome and activity-based bonuses, and it is easy to access through mobile devices. The pandemic put the entire online industry on steroids.

The online gaming market is expected to grow and reach $8.5 billion GGR by 2025, representing a CAGR of over 15%. It is estimated

WE ARE EXPANDING GLOBALLY, AND THE US MARKET IS PART OF IT

that the portion of the online gaming revenues from the total gambling revenues in the US is now 20%, predicted to double by 2023 on account of additional skins going live, an enlarged customer’s base and new states legalising online gaming.

Delasport’s unique value proposition is built on five pillars; first is our robust technology, it is the core infrastructure of our business and everything else is built on top of it. Delasport’s solution is cloud-based and it is built out of microservice using the most modern technologies. The system allows horizontal scalability that can support any load; we use real time monitoring and automation of various processes, in-house smart risk management tools and unique features like a personal trader (ability to chat with a trader), quick bet suggestion,

personalised UX with events offering based on past betting activities and geo-location.

Second is our ability to deliver a comprehensive, fully managed solution and run a skin operation from A to Z. Third is our vast experience in all online gaming aspects including acquisition, retention, payment and risk management. Fourth is our capacity to tailor our solution to partner and market needs, and the final point is that our flexible business model allows us to accommodate different deal structures from turnkey, white-label and joint ventures.

SBC: What are the challenges landbased establishments face with going mobile, and how can Dealsport assist them?

OCS: There are several challenges like lack of knowledge, assimilation, and picking the right technology and service partner.

The 12 years between the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 and the supreme court ruling in NJ in 2018 have created an online gaming knowledge gap that US gambling professionals are steadily catching up to by self-learning or M&A with European technology companies that already have the know-how.

The Black Friday in 2011 has left a strong impression that things are different now and being compliant is crucial. Land-based establishments that wish to go online are required to close knowledge gaps regarding online gaming products, technologies that are different in many ways from land-based ones.

Other areas are complying with regulatory framework requirements of each state, payment processing, player acquisition and retention techniques etc. In Europe, new services, products and functionalities were introduced to the market over the last decade, and operators and players had the time to adopt them over the years. In the US, many new functionalities are introduced in a short period, which brings assimilation challenges by itself.

Running an iGaming or sports betting operation is a complex task. Some land-based casinos are familiar with only running a slot and table games business. With only five states legalising online casinos, the know-how of sports betting is critical, therefore partnering with the right sports betting and casino partner like Delasport is critical. Choosing the right partner can put land-based organisations in the best position to capitalise on the opportunities regulated casino and sports betting hold.

While the potential is clear, the road to success is not without hurdles. Starting from skin licensing, liquidity allocation and financing. One crucial challenge on hand is to identify the right provider to partner with. Some casino owners will look for complete control over the new B2C operation, while others may be reluctant to obtain the know-how and like to hand the operation to a trusted and experienced 3rd party to run it for them or to ‘sell’ one of their skins, where multiple skins are allowed.

Some states allow just one skin per licence, while others do not specify a limit. For instance, PGCB in Pennsylvania offers unlimited skins for iGaming licences but only one for sports betting licences. The multi-skin approach is crucial to maintain variety and healthy competition.

Delasport brings to the table the right ingredients to support the local brick-and-mortar establishments. We

own our technology, and that allows us full control over the products. Over the years, we have acquired vast experience in running successful online sports betting and casino operations from the ground up. We support both strategies of turnkey solutions allowing operators to run their brand operation and fully managed solutions where we run the day-to-day operation.

We see technology as a critical ingredient that allows our partners to grow and thrive. Our microservices architecture enables us to tailor our solution and adapt it to partner and regulation requirements needs. On top of this foundation, we build our products and on top of that, our various managed services.

SBC: And finally looking to the years ahead, what are the trends to look out for?

OCS: According to the American Gaming Association, players in 26 states plus Washington DC will be able to legally wager, with as many as five more states potentially permitting such wagers before the season ends in February with the Super Bowl. Enjoying the political support giving additional state tax revenues from GGR and licensing, increase in-state employment, and a decrease in illegal betting through a regulated framework, the online gaming market will continue to thrive.

Online gaming holds a broader potential that is larger than the immediate market operators and providers. There is an entire ecosystem of providers in many fields like KYC automation, anti-fraud and AML systems, AI and machine learning systems, CRM, BI, gamification tools and payment processors.

This, in turn, means more indirect taxation and more job creation. Seeing the potential, operators can also take advantage of the growing interest of venture capital organisations and investment banks that have started to invest their time, effort, and money in the industry.

With the exclusion of Tennessee, the regulator gave an advantage to the brick-and-mortar establishments. This, in turn, should remove some of the fear of losing revenues. While online regulation will cannibalise land-based establishment revenues, mostly from the younger demographic (below 50 years old), going online is a necessity, and not doing so simply means that potential online customer will seek to do business elsewhere.

The potential of land-based establishments to boost online gaming revenues comes from the fact that online availability is 24x7, it is easier to access through mobile devices, and it extends the customers base of the entire state.

We will see more leagues like the NFL and media companies like Fox and Sports Illustrated asking to take a piece of the action, and operators seeking ways to acquire the technology to control their own destiny. •

ONLINE GAMING HOLDS A BROADER POTENTIAL THAT IS LARGER THAN THE IMMEDIATE MARKET OPERATORS AND PROVIDERS

USABILITY: STREAMLINING THE US MARKET ENTRY PROCESS

AVI HOWARD, SEAN CARROLL AND ROB HENDERSON

discuss how USAbility is helping companies set up a compliant, scalable and future-proof business in the US

BY ERIN GALLAGHER

Three years have passed since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was repealed, and the US has since become a global sports betting powerhouse as more sportsbooks look to get in on the action.

But with more and more states opening up to legalised betting, operators must err on the side of caution when it comes to setting up shop in the US - ensuring that they understand the colossal task ahead of them. This is where USAbility comes in.

With its market-leading compliance and business transformation consultancy, USAbility offers an end-to-end solution for planning and delivering complex regulatory compliance and product integration projects - ensuring that sportsbooks and iGaming businesses eyeing up the

FUNDAMENTALLY, WE OFFER TWO MAIN TYPES OF PROJECTS. ONE IS ANALYSIS, AND THE SECOND IS DELIVERY

US market get through the process with ease and confidence and set up a compliant, scalable and future-proof business.

The brainchild of Avi Howard, Sean Carroll and Rob Henderson,

USAbility specialises in two key areas: analysis and delivery. This laser focus, according to CEO Howard, is what gives USAbility the edge.

Speaking to SBC Leaders, Howard walked us through the typical process that takes place when working with a partner - highlighting that USAbility can help companies identify all of the areas which must be adapted to the US market from a regulatory and competitiveness standpoint.

He said: “Fundamentally, we offer two main types of projects. One is analysis, and the second is delivery.

“It can take approximately two

Avi Howard Sean Carroll Rob Henderson

months to carry out a complete Gap Analysis on a single US state - but that analysis isn’t just looking at the regulatory aspects of that state, it’s assessing the organisation readiness as a whole too. We conduct deep assessments of the client’s capabilities and readiness for multi-state operation in business areas such as HR, finance, legal, compliance and other sports betting and iGaming operations units.

“Our benchmark to carry out an assessment is up to two months, which is us approaching the company without any prior knowledge of their business, very quickly educating our team about the client and their ecosystem and then being able to give them a very deep assessment of how to meet and exceed the regulatory bar in each state they have access to. It will take internal teams of any company much longer to achieve the same results and guarantee 100% strict adherence to the legislation to start their compliance journey smoothly.

“With the delivery side of things,

what we’re after is for a business that lacks the market experience and bandwidth to trust us and ‘give us the keys’ to temporarily drive the implementation project for them while we support the setup or scaling up of their Stateside business. We don’t drive it alone, of course.

“We put a multi-disciplinary program team in place, all with prior and recent US experience to deliver the client’s requirements while working shoulder to shoulder with their team and mentor them. Essentially, we consolidate and centralise the market-entry effort to ensure efficiency, strict adherence to the regulations, and minimal disruption to clients operations during this period of rapid change and intense corporate effort.

“If a client would like to deliver their solution into one state, let’s take New Jersey for example, we would expect to have that company ready for market entry within 12 months from the start of our Gap Analysis exercise. That would be a good benchmark.

“As you can imagine, though, for some companies that haven't prepared for the US at all, that process can take up to 18 months. We can cut such timelines short with our experienced team and create a higher quality product as we’ve been working in this market from day one of post-PASPA repeal.”

Drawing upon his own experience in the banking sector and project management, Henderson described the USAbility team as “delivery experts, project managers at heart”, specialising in a niche part of the gaming industry sector.

During his time as a consultant, two key areas which he identified as being wholly underestimated by prospective US sportsbooks are data migration and operational readiness.

By using the team’s knowledge of the gaming sector, USAbility can help its partners to navigate the complexities associated with data and platform migration by setting up, and executing, thorough plans to make the whole process both less risky and less costly.

“Re-platforming projects, which quite a few operators in the industry are going through at the moment, and specifically the data migration element of that is an incredibly challenging thing to do to ensure zero impact to patrons,” Henderson cautioned. “A company will usually complete a data migration and then throw away everything they’ve learned from the process. But fortunately for us, we have a team of real experts that can repeat the process.

“A data migration process can last up to six months to make sure the migration will meet a regulator’s expectations. That process can span more than 18 months if an inexperienced team tries to go it alone.

“Everyone seems to think it’s a case of picking out data and inputting it into another database; it’s not that simple. Offering that service to help facilitate a data migration is one of our USPs. Our team has been running such

A DATA MIGRATION PROCESS CAN LAST UP TO SIX MONTHS TO MAKE SURE IT MEETS A REGULATOR’S EXPECTATIONS

projects in the industry for the last 10+ years.

“Another area often underestimated by US market entrants is the readiness of the non-tech and non-product units. While tech and product teams are naturally designed to self-organise and work in an agile way, business units such as legal, compliance, HR and finance find it hard to self-manage a complex project involving every part of the organisation and often a very long chain of external suppliers.

“These units need to be managed closely by a team that sees the entire process clearly and ensures that outputs from these units get to the right party at the right time to ensure a healthy and productive cadence.

“Our Business Readiness

Practice supports the design and implementation of the Target Operating Model for a stateside compliant and scalable business, provides talent-hiring lists that tackle first the requirements of each regulator, map out the legal and compliance work and breaks down the licence application process in each state into manageable pieces of work.”

For Carroll, one of the core components which makes USAbility unique is treating US market entry as a textbook change and transformation exercise. This, he said, was an interest sparked by his experience in the telecoms and banking industries, as well as his time working in government programmes and over 10 years on some of the largest projects in the gambling industry.

ANOTHER AREA OFTEN UNDERESTIMATED BY US MARKET ENTRANTS IS THE READINESS OF THE NON-TECH AND NON-PRODUCT UNITS

“At USAbility, we can expedite change,” he noted. “People in this industry are adaptable and flexible and have experience in a fast-paced regulatory environment - but to enter the US market, companies must fully understand the scale of the task ahead of them. It is not ʻjust another market’. There are specific, complex parts of compliance - particularly the

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A COSTLY, LENGTHY, UPHILL STRUGGLE TO MAKE YOUR WAY INTO THE US

Wire Act - which will prohibit them from launching in a way they originally envisioned.

“The US regulators are interested in compliant companies and tax revenues generated in a compliant way. While some state regulations are stricter than others, all regulators want to ensure that their licensees are not just implementing statutes in a literal way but demonstrating a deep understanding of the regulations and creating a safe environment for their patrons.

“Compliance is of the utmost importance. That is the focus of our engagements with our clients - let’s get them live in the US as quickly as possible, but let’s also ensure that they are fully compliant with every bit of legislation set out by the regulator and help them create differentiation in the market. We see very little innovation in the marketplace currently as the constant race of operators and suppliers alike to prepare their teams and their products to each market/state and just meet the regulatory bar leaves little to no time for product innovation.

“The struggle is real. However, we are changing that very fast as we quickly remedy the multi-state compliance challenge and free up the product teams of our clients to create the products they want while we are there to support them and ensure that their ideas will be compliant.”

Carroll disclosed that as more states begin to open up, the battle for market share in some of the ‘larger’ states is becoming much more difficult, not to mention costly. For USAbility, however, the aim is to make sure that its partners can gain a market advantage.

He added: “What we’ve found is that across the US, there are some states which may be more attractive from a statute perspective. Nobody wants to go to the US to enter just one state. It’s costly to enter just one state and will never justify the effort. That’s why multi-state considerations are at the heart of the advice we are providing our clients with.

“We analyse the differences and commonalities across the states they have market access for and provide hundreds of recommendations for every part of the organisation on creating a compliant, scalable and competitive business that will satisfy all the state regulators they work with.

“The number of multi-state projects we are running in the US gives us a very wide view of the latest trends and best practices and a constant flow of real-life lessons learnt from projects on the dos and don'ts of US market entry.

“What we say is simple: it doesn’t have to be a costly, lengthy, uphill struggle to make your way into the US There is another way. We do it, one project at a time.” •

JORDAN LEVIN: ENDEAVOR ALLOWS OPENBET TO REACH A NEW LEVEL OF SPORTS BETTING ENTERTAINMENT

CEO JORDAN LEVIN talks us through a transformed OpenBet and the company's aspiration to drive a new wave of sports betting experiences

BY CONOR PORTER

In October, Scientific Games announced the company had reached an agreement to sell its sports betting business to Endeavor Group Holdings for $1.2 billion. The move resulted in the rebirth of the OpenBet brand.

The sports betting landscape will change once again with one of the industry’s leading providers set to define the future of sports betting entertainment.

SBC: Scientific Games has reached a definitive agreement to sell its sports betting business OpenBet to Endeavor Group Holdings Inc in a cash and stock transaction worth $1.2bn. Why was Endeavor the perfect candidate to purchase OpenBet?

JL: Under the Endeavor banner, there will be enormous scope to keep transforming and reimagining what’s possible. We will soon have access to unparalleled sports rights, content and data across the Endeavor portfolio, which will take our own offering to a new level and define the future of

THERE WILL BE ENORMOUS SCOPE TO KEEP TRANSFORMING AND REIMAGINING WHAT’S POSSIBLE

sports betting entertainment.

I spent one of my most enjoyable weeks at G2E in back-to-back conversations with customers talking about the art of the possible. They’re expecting us to be even more agile with access to cutting edge content that redefines the sports betting experience for their players.

Joining Endeavor is exciting news for our teams and demonstrates the value of our transformed services, content and technology that span the entire value chain. None of our customers want standard, indistinguishable, old hat, cookie-cutter technology. Their primary focus is to find new ways to engage and retain their players. The old game of commoditised betting experiences is well and truly over. Just look at how sports content, media and betting experiences are beginning to blend and merge.

OpenBet kick-started the original online betting wave in 1997. It was a services focused business for many years, but in 2018 when I sat down with our teams we looked at the broader technology trends that were set to shape our industry in the years

NONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS WANT STANDARD, INDISTINGUISHABLE, OLD HAT, COOKIE-CUTTER TECHNOLOGY

ahead. Bespoke services were, and still are, a key pillar for us. But we knew back then that players wanted more and operators needed us to deliver.

As seamless ecommerce journeys and digital media evolved, we saw a sharp uptick in player expectations. We all experienced it as digital consumers. The bar keeps on getting raised. No longer were we competing with our industry peers – we had to rapidly develop productised technology and layer in content and experiences to match what was happening outside our industry. In partnership with Endeavor we will be more than ready for the next generation of sports betting entertainment.

SBC: What was the thinking behind introducing a new brand look for OpenBet?

JL: OpenBet has a heritage of powering the world’s leading sports betting operators and the strength of its brand still resonates in terms of awareness and perception. When

WE HAVE RE-ENGINEERED THE OLD AND REIMAGINED THE NEW

you think about OpenBet, the first words that spring to customers’ minds are trustworthy, scalable, robust and responsible.

That’s what our product offering is known for and will always remain part of our value proposition. But it’s not enough these days. With the continuous transformation journey and bolt on acquisitions like DonBest and SportCast, we have re-engineered the old and reimagined the new.

OpenBet is celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year, and what better way to mark the milestone than by laying the foundations for its future. We have ambitious expansion plans for our product portfolio that will enable us to capture market share through a relentless focus on these new experiences.

SBC: Does this agreement mark a shift in perception of sports betting as a form of entertainment?

JL: We have sports embedded in our DNA. We live it. We breathe it and most importantly, our performance is evaluated every second of the day by the biggest operators in the world. We never take that for granted. Our modular technology, content and services power the likes of FanDuel, William Hill, Sky Bet, Wynn, BetMGM, DraftKings, theScore Bet and many more. That doesn’t happen by accident or on a whim.

There’s a lot at stake and our customers like a safe bet. We’re betting on a new game too. It’s about reliable, immersive experiences, with layers of cutting edge content that defines our category.

WE HAVE SPORTS EMBEDDED IN OUR DNA. WE LIVE IT. WE BREATHE IT.

SBC: What can we expect from the new OpenBet? Will there be any changes to your operations?

JL: Operators know what they’re getting when they partner with OpenBet. It’s a clearly defined, proven product offering split across three key areas: technology, content and services. Operators trust our tech stack to produce a robust performance that delivers on every occasion, at peak times, at

the biggest sporting events, when it matters most. OpenBet was the only platform in the industry with zero downtime during this year’s Super Bowl, and supports the largest sporting and racing events in the world with unflappable quality.

Falling over at these pivotal moments when operators have invested heavily in brand awareness, activation and acquisition completely erodes their reputation and their return on marketing investment. Tried and tested foundations enable our teams to innovate with confidence too. Operators can execute bold campaigns, CEOs sleep well at night and shareholders remain bullish.

There’s a story about NASA that I was told by one of our engineers a while back. NASA’s highly sophisticated computer hardware setup onboard the Orion spacecraft includes two IBM PowerPC 750X single-core processors. These dinosaur chips have been in use since 2002, and they are no faster than modern smartphones.

But despite this, NASA uses them, and it’s not because of budget constraints or a lack of modern alternatives. They’re just utterly reliable, and that matters when you’re building out the future. They’re a tiny part of the overall system and this is our ethos too.

We don’t compromise the trust placed in us by switching out tiny parts of our system for vanity reasons. We surround our reliable foundations with state of the art technology and services that never fail. It’s created an insatiable demand from operators. But we never settle. In the new game you can’t settle.

The old game with sports betting technology was a take it or leave it game. The new OpenBet portfolio is fully modular and operators select what they need to take their game forward. Some have front-end capabilities, some don’t. Some have player accounts, some don’t. What we have today at OpenBet is the perfect solution. It’s been engineered by the best in the industry and designed for the new world.

TRIED AND TESTED FOUNDATIONS ENABLE OUR TEAMS TO INNOVATE WITH CONFIDENCE TOO

SBC: What new developments are on the horizon for OpenBet? Can we expect further expansion within the US market?

JL: Right out of the gate, we’ll soon have OpenBet’s market leading ecosystem combined with access to unparalleled sports rights, content and data across the Endeavor portfolio. All the ingredients we need to define the future of sports betting entertainment are at our disposal. Of course, the US market remains an important focus for us but we are also focused on continuing to extend our reach across the globe.

We have plans to expand our teams but quality and culture fit really matters to us, particularly as demand for our products continues to grow. As we enter more markets and expand our operations, securing the right talent is hugely important. When you’re engineering new experiences, it takes deep expertise and steadfast resilience.

Nothing ground breaking or industry defining ever happens the first time. We are actively looking for like minded

PUSHING BOUNDARIES AND PROVIDING CONNECTED EXPERIENCES IS THE ONLY WAY TO PLAY THIS NEW ENTERTAINMENT GAME

individuals who are passionate about technology, who thrive on challenges and want to develop their careers in a fast-paced environment.

We recently opened up a new trading hub in Tampa, Florida, which will dramatically enhance our trading capabilities. The hub provides us with greater time zone coverage across the US and complements our existing trading operations in Las Vegas and Athens. We’re looking for experienced traders who are keen to work with new technology and play a leading role in our full risk and liability management service powered by DonBest.

We’ve talked a lot about our tech but our teams at OpenBet operate with the focus and precision of F1 pit crews. They’re highly skilled and take enormous pride in the quality of their work. In every corner of the globe they support our customers 24/7/365. They’re available and dialled in at every stage of the race because our objective is to help customers take podium positions.

Like any technology and product provider reshaping their category, we’re eager to grow our crew. We’re eager to invest in the right people and we’re actively recruiting across every major continent we operate in. We challenge everyone at OpenBet to reimagine the status quo. To feel safe in the pursuit of greatness.

Pushing boundaries and providing connected experiences is the only way to play this new entertainment game and who better to join forces with than Endeavor. •

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