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Get ready to go back to the future this year at iGaming NEXT Valletta ‘22!
Over the past two years, our industry has changed, and fast. But we’ve never been interested in looking behind us — instead, we want to invite you to turn your focus to innovation at 2022’s edition of the iGaming industry’s most disruptive live event.
Hosted once again in iGaming NEXT Valletta’s beloved home, the world-leading Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta ‘22 promises to be the biggest, best and most valuable edition yet of the most exciting show in the industry.
Our expert line-up of speakers will take to the stage to shed some light on their strategies, investments and areas of focus for the coming year, and there’s no shortage of topics to talk about.
From the growing popularity of Web3, NFTs, blockchain and the metaverse, to new markets launching in North America and across the world, via the massive waves of M&A and investment taking place across the market, we’ll be asking what the industry can do now to secure its place in the future.
The content-driven, VIP-style event offers something no other event can: an opportunity to cut through the noise and experience unique networking and learning opportunities, helping to accelerate your growth and secure your market position during the coming year.
We are thrilled to invite you once again to get ready to connect, explore and experience at iGaming NEXT Valletta ‘22.
Don’t Miss a Thing! Check agendas for 27-29 September.
26th September
Tuesday 27th September
Wednesday 28 Sept
Thursday 29 Sept
Wednesday 28 Sept
Thursday 29 Sept
Wednesday 28 Sept
Thursday 29 Sept
Wednesday 28 Sept
Thursday 29 Sept Date: Tuesday 27th September, 2022
Meet Time: 07:00 CET
Start Time: 07:15 CET
Meet Place: Venue: LOVE Monument, Spinola Bay, St. George’s road, St. Julian’s.
Route: St. Julian’s to Sliema and back.
Visit the event page to register iGaming NEXT Run Club with Bragg Gaming
Do you have a competitive streak? For those wanting a bit of exercise and friendly competition prior to the show, join your fellow colleagues for a Padel Tournament. Remember – The NEXT shot is more important than the previous one.
Date: Tuesday 27th September, 2022
Meet Time: 08:30 – 09:30 CET
Start Time: 09:30 CET
Venue: IK Padel Village
Location: Pietro D’Armenia Street, Pembroke Gardens.
Format: Mixed Doubles* 4 Groups of 4 Teams (*At least 1 team member must work in the iGaming Industry)
Visit the event page to register iGamingNEXT Padel Tournament
Date: Tuesday 27th September, 2022
Time: 18:30pm – 21:30am CET
Venue: Phoenicia Hotel, The Mall, Floriana.
Dress Code: Business Casual
The premium award show created to recognize top talent in the iGaming industry in Malta.
Date: Tuesday 27th September, 2022
Time: 19:00 – 02:00 CET
Venue: Xara Lodge
Location: Sqaq Tac-Cawla, Triq It-Tigrija, Ir-Rabat
Dress Code: Gala Attire
Visit the event website to find out more iGaming IDOL
The iGaming Main Stage will consist of 2 days’ worth of content with C-Level speakers coming from all over the world to discuss: M&As, Regulation, RG in the US, Esports, inflation, ESG and Sports Betting. This opportunity to delve in deep with the biggest operators, influencers and suppliers in the iGaming industry will create new and exciting focal points to deliberate across the 2 days.
How easy is it to predict the future?
In this keynote panel some of the most brilliant minds of the industry will try to do the impossible, figure out the future of the iGaming industry with direct, non-ambiguous predictions. To turn up the heat, these predictions will then be revisited during next year’s iGaming NEXT: Valletta.
As the global economy is set to slide and the talk of VC firms becoming more diligent, can the US market maintain its’ bullish rise. Will the influx of competition across the US mean greater focus on technological efficiencies and increased focus on the customer community?
From ancient habits of entertainment to the next era of casino, Pragmatic Play sheds a light on how the industry has transformed to pave opportunities for powering up new possibilities of play.
We’re currently going through the most turbulent times in our history. With CEOs taking the brunt of the stick, it’s time to hear what they have to say and for you as an audience to ask direct, thought-provoking questions back! What do you want to know most about a CEO and their role?
Times are changing, from the economic outlook through to multi-billion-dollar challenges and so, our continued ability to adapt and innovate will be key to the long-term survival of our businesses. But this innovation doesn’t always need to be seismic and can be the marginal continued improvements that lead to some of the biggest gains.
With the supply chain is stating that streamers are becoming gods in the industry with too much power. Is this true? We ask the panel what is the future of affiliation and debate whether streamers are really worth the ROI. Long term is affiliate model sustainable?
Streamers have powerful influence as organic marketers in the world of iGaming affiliation. With the ability to bridge the gap between providers and operators and their customers, streamers give industry giants the ability to maintain an online presence when the players themselves aren’t on-platform.
iGamingNext teams up with CasinoGrounds to bring the slot streaming action to the mainstage! Four streamers, each representing one slot and one casino, will brawl on the mainstage – biggest win takes home the ultimate bragging rights! Get your seats ringside and cheer for your favorite slot and streamer in this inaugural event!
Simon Lidzen, CEO and Co-Founder of Fast Track, will bring you on a journey on what it takes to outperform the market as an operator. Simon will also talk about how to build relationships with your customers that will last.
The end of 2023 is looking lucrative for European, and newly regulated US states, when we see the launch of the FIFA World Cup. Although operators have had years’ to plan, what impact is this to have on their usual domestic schedule – will we see a subsequent knock-on effect benefit or loss in domestic betting turnover?
Does the new precedent mean there will need to be a new requirement to engage with customers with alternative products and will operators need to adjust strategies in marketing – how early will this need to be started and what new innovations can we expect to see to maximise engagement?
In an attention economy where people are constantly chased for every moment of their attentiveness; How can we build jaw dropping experiences that entertain our players? How can live entertainment engage our users and help build a strong community? What is the role of Streamers, Influencers and ambassadors and how can we leverage this for our industry?
This session will deep dive into current trends in RNG games and ask whether slots can remain a dominant force as innovation in the sector continues to drive the sector forward. Is multiplayer a way forward and how can the industry create an all-purpose entertainment experience.
Discussing the rise of content releases, what this means for operators, suppliers, and players and what the future holds.
In the last decade, we’ve seen the iGaming industry drastically shift with the forever changing technology. Will the metaverse further shape our foundation and create a new form of betting or is the metaverse just the latest buzzword?
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Pragmatic Play, Playson and Zimpler
The iGaming Main Stage will consist of 2 days’ worth of content with C-Level speakers coming from all over the world to discuss: M&As, Regulation, RG in the US, Esports, inflation, ESG and Sports Betting. This opportunity to delve in deep with the biggest operators, influencers and suppliers in the iGaming industry will create new and exciting focal points to deliberate across the 2 days.
Hear from the CEO of Betsson provide an in-depth discussion on M&A, consolidation, and regulation
5 takes on what makes a kicking live casino.
With Disney already confirming their interest in sports betting, Fanatics desperately looking for a perfect match to enter the iGaming industry and Jeff Bezos’ eyes could be on a giant gambling company as well. Are we going to see an outsider buy out a giant gambling company? What benefits and implications could this cause to the entire industry? How is the industry now viewed in terms of risk?
Play’n GO’s relentless rise to the top of game suppliers has left many wondering – what’s the secret? In a rare opportunity and unique panel format, Play’n GO will draw back the curtain and let attendees find out how the Swedish giants really work behind the scenes.
Finally, we are seeing more diverse companies, but has it got to the point that we are now focusing too much on ticking the diversity boxes over focusing on the skills of each individual when hiring? Are we competing to be the most diverse?
Trustly’s VP of Product, Gaming will be running us through the value of User Experience with a few example case studies showing the actual impact of a better UX. Josef Darmark will also be touching on how Trustly can help merchants meet regulatory requirements with minimum impact on user conversion and how Trustly can aid in delivering best-in-class experiences in a responsible way.
Has the multi-decade period of iGaming growth come to an end? Hear from C-Level industry leaders with their view on how different parts of the iGaming sector are performing as we face greater economic and market volatility in 2023.
The future is coming whether we want it or not. Throughout the pandemic, it has become clear that flexibility and adaptation are crucial skills in an individual and within an organisation. The speakers on this stage, throughout this event, will give you tools and strategies to secure your place in the industry moving forwards.
Do you think you would take their advice, listen to their message, if their presentation is unclear, unorganized, full of nervousness and fright?
Would you gamble on that advice providing the answer? Would you risk taking that leap? Would you drop a euro and pull the handle to see if this maybe, maybe, give you three 7’s and the jackpot?
Alex wouldn’t, because He knows, presentations is not a game. In 15 minutes, He will be able to change your life, change the outcome of your next presentation and change the future for your company, forever. Interested?! Learn how the Presenter Mastery can change your life.
With current turmoil across the world, what situations could cause a significant blow to the iGaming industry? How can we prepare ourselves for the worst?
Six of newest and brightest brains in the industry come together to answer direct questions from top institutional investors.
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Evolution, Fujitsu and Sportingtech
The buzzword of the year goes to “Metaverse” – and what’s a conference without learning about the new, hottest trends in the new digital world? It’s only a META of time before web3.0 and the metaverse make a huge virtual footprint into the gambling sphere. The metaNEXT track will discuss: “the metaverse”, metanomics, Interoperability NFTs, regulation and more.
With a predicted $21.7 trillion market by 2030, the metaverse will potentially create huge opportunities for many businesses, but when is the right time to invest into the metaverse and is it as versatile as suggested? What are the current lessons we’ve learned in the early developments?
What is currently going on in the web3 sphere with gambling companies. Who is currently giving us a strong case study with gaming in the metaverse? What can we learn from them right now?
What can we learn from an interoperable blockchain ecosystem or the current internet? Why is interoperability crucial for the future of the metaverse? Problems of Interoperability/What will it take to implement interoperability in web3?
Where do we see the NFT market in 2023 onwards? What can currently be achieved in the Metaverse?
Many con artists, scammers and hackers are already jumping at the naivety of users in the metaverse. Will an implementation of tighter data security and regulation deter hackers or increase user knowledge?
Meet your avatar at metaNEXT. We are digitalizing people into high resolution 3D avatars. With your avatar you can get full Metaverse experience and join future TRIIONFT P2E Game. The technology which we are using for avatar creation allow us to make it as realistic as possible. Avatars are usable for any type of 3D worlds on any engine.
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Pragmatic Play, Playson and Zimpler
investNEXT will bring the investment and top-level iGaming community together to discuss pressing issues surrounding regulation, shifting investor demands, rising sustainable investing requirements and the disruption impacting the entire iGaming ecosystem.
With predictions of a recession looming, dark clouds seem to be appearing above the investor sky. Many VCs, investors are re-evaluating who to invest in, whilst companies are rethinking their M&A plans. From an investor point of view, just how difficult is it to invest going into the last quarter of 2022? What really is happening in the investor world?
Different investment options are always available for start-ups. What do upcoming organisations, SMEs & Start-Ups need to be aware of when considering an investor/acquisition/merger? What do you want from an investor? Being a start-up, don’t always have the luxury to choose.
We are now seeing more capital markets and investors rely on these non-financial factors when it comes to investing into a company. The reason? They impact the company’s overall performance, but just how true is this and what are the other benefits behind ESG investment? How can we leverage the opportunities that ESG creates for the gaming industry?
For SMEs, bringing on board an investor could mean life or death of the business, but what really do investors look into when valuing a company? How can you ensure that you are doing the right things to better your chances with an investor? What are the turnoffs for investors when making investment decisions?
With a continuous rocky road ahead for the foreseeable future, how can you distinguish the good apples from the bad when it comes to investing? What critical exit strategies should you have in place?
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Evolution, Fujitsu and Sportingtech
Tailored conversations with in-depth discussion and insight on niche topics making waves in the industry.
For better or worse? It’s been a year since the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden opened into the iGaming industry, but are the countries actually benefiting from the changes over the last year? What are we going to expect to happen moving into 2023 and beyond?
Is the grass always greener? With operators and suppliers trying to find a way into the US, will regulators crack down on RG to mirror the UK? What problems will this cause?
There are 54 countries all very different, but what do they have in common? The economic growth, along with the development of the mobile broadband infrastructure and the approval by local governments to regulate online gambling, has seen a spike dedicated sports betting players. Investors and operators are now trying to get involved. Should you be targeting Africa?
The question that everyone wants to know to implement it into their business. What can be done to ensure that we maintain consumer wellbeing to avoid being penalised for doing not enough or by implementing too strict measures to deter the customer from going to your competitor? Finding the equilibrium is proving difficult, so what’s the answer?
With esports being the only betting opportunity during the pandemic, more operators are exploring the market, boosting gaming revenue. Whilst at the same time, esports gambling is seeing a darker side with match fixing, fraud, cheating and players’ mental health. How can we improve the esports gaming reliability and stabilise the rapid growth? Will their become a time where esports hits a sports betting ceiling?
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Pragmatic Play, Playson and Zimpler
The objective of this Marketing InFocus track is to stop for a moment, zoom out of the performance marketing box and look at the bigger picture. As an industry, we are often consumed by daily execution, keeping up with regulatory changes and it’s easy to lose sight of the long-term vision. Where are we now? Where are we heading? How do we get there? This track is built with CMO’s and Senior Marketers in mind and structured like a proper marketing plan; we start with market orientation and customer insights, then use those insights to define our strategy, which then again informs our tactical layer and execution. In addition to being inspired from a host of top-notch Brand and Marketing thought-leaders, come and network with your Marketing peers, make some new connections and talk as much nerdy Marketing stuff as your heart desires
Too many in iGaming spend their days completely zoomed in on the performance marketing box, as if that was all there is to marketing. Spoiler alert, it’s not. Before tactics, comes strategy. Before Strategy comes Market Orientation and identifying key customer insights, upon which a strategy can be built and tactics executed. This session is all about zooming out, having a clear map of the battlefield and only then deploying resources for maximum impact – but how do we get there and what are today’s best practices?
Branding is a cost with little immediate return”. A sentiment we often hear and one that has more often than not, been difficult to reverse. Is it the Marketer’s fault we haven’t defined brand properly and communicated its virtues or is short-term gain just an ingrained and immovable focus of our industry? Why it it that other industries can invest in brand as well as short term measures but we can’t? We know the 60/40 investment rule but how do we get even remotely close to it? How do we prove direct business impact from brand investment? Can “fluff” be turned to “fuel” in our industry?
In a perpetually transforming media landscape, brand building has become more than just pushing a message to consumers via typical awareness driving channels. Brand building has accelerated towards enhancing consumer experience and connections across all media touchpoints. What fundamental processes and systems specific to the Paid/Owned/Earned media framework do we need to adopt today to ensure brand affinity? How does media planning need to adapt?
According to Gartner, we spend 26% of our budgets on MarTech yet only utilize 58% of the potential of our martech stacks. How do we ensure we are delivering world-class customer experiences which result in positive ROI?
SEO is the most affordable and efficient channel driving traffic and customers in the iGaming industry. In order to take proper advantage of the channel, a good strategy has to be in place. Every market has its specifics that a proper strategy needs to consider and reflect. Hear from industry seasoned experts who will teach how to go about this. In this session, you will learn about technical solutions, as well as on-page and off-page tactics that will help you win in any market.
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Evolution, Fujitsu and Sportingtech
The business case for diversity and inclusion is stronger than ever. Over the past years, we have seen a significant increase in employee and customer interest around this topic. Companies that address diversity and inclusion issues are more likely to attract and retain great talent, cultivating positive work environments, promote innovation and performance, and enhance their brand’s value. To succeed, companies must build bridges constructively and respectfully, creating cultures where everyone feels they can contribute and belong.
iGaming Next in collaboration with Betsson Group is hosting a Diversity and Inclusion Conference as part of iGaming Next: Valletta ‘22. This conference will connect experts from inside and outside of the industry, to facilitate a broad discussion on how to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, where all employees can thrive.
Presented by iGaming NEXT in collaboration with Betsson Group
In a group with over 60 different nationalities and many different professional backgrounds, experiences and personalities, diversity is a natural part of everyday life. Join this session to learn more about an industry leader’s approach to diversity and inclusion.
A though-provoking keynote on unconscious bias that will make you question what you know: What is unconscious bias? Can it be measured? Is unconscious bias training the solution? If not, how can we outsmart our unconscious bias?
Have you ever wondered if you are neurodivergent? Learn more about what neurodiversity is, how it affects individuals and how the workplace contributes from a neurodiversity expert.
Diversity and Inclusion needs to start from the top. Industry top leaders discuss why D&I is important for the long-term success of their companies and share their views on how to promote D&I in the workplace. Why is D&I important for your company’s success? How can we promote D&I in the workplace? Have you experienced/Do you see any challenges?
Despite a growing global awareness of the struggles trans people face, many companies that are LGBTQ+-friendly still focus on the “LGB” and forget the “TQ+.”. How can we create truly trans-inclusive workplaces?
Did you know that 90% of people globally are biased against women? Wait, what? That’s right! Even women are biased against women! In this session, Professor Murphy will talk about gender stereotypes, how they are manifested in the workplace, and how we can promote gender equality and equity and tap into the largest pool of talent: women.
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Pragmatic Play, Playson and Zimpler
HR Connect is an Association of Senior HR decision makers within the Gaming industry in Malta. With an industry voice towards government, educational institutions and commercial entities on all employee matters, the brand expands to host an HR Connect Summit during iGamingNEXT Valletta.
Bigger, Better, Brighter
How International Exchange contributes to business success.
As firms begin to make headway into the US market, we ask what you need to know between employing people in the US vs Europe
On the Roof Terrace, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Sponsored by Evolution, Fujitsu and Sportingtech
HR Connenct members exclusive dinner in Valletta, Beef Bar City
Date: Monday 26th September, 2022
Meet Time: 08:30 – 09:30 CET
Start Time: 09:30 CET
Venue: Royal Malta Golf Club
Location: Triq Aldo Moro, Marsa, MRS9064, Malta
Format: Shotgun Start, 40 players
Visit the event page to register iGaming NEXT Golf Tournament
Originally spawning from an iGaming career that started at the age of 17 during the early days of the online poker boom, Pierre Co-founded the event management company Ambassadör Events in 2013. The company specialises in B2B & B2C event concepts targeting the gaming sector with more than 600 successful projects behind them for most of the major organisations within the industry. In 2016, Pierre Co-Founded the primary award show of the gaming industry, iGaming IDOL followed by the content driven conference, iGaming NEXT in 2018.
Oisin Lunny is an award-winning marketer, webinar and podcast host for Fortune 500 companies, event MC, public speaker, speaking coach, virtual event consultant and journalist. His work has been read over half a million times as a senior contributor to Forbes, The Guardian and others. Oisin has spoken at over 250 conferences in every corner of the world, including TEDx and six times at SXSW, where he is a member of the advisory board since 2016. Oisin has also worked in a series of leading global technology firms over the past 20 years, and hosts a bi-weekly radio show on Brighton’s Slack City.
Heidi Lofthus is an iGaming industry veteran, with over 15 years within the industry having worked both with suppliers and operators alike. Her iGaming journey started with operational roles in Gibraltar and Sweden and she has been active in Malta over the last 13 years. She has broad experience ranging from managing start-ups, mid-sized and larger corporates across multiple geographical locations. Heidi is running the iGamingNEXT brand HR Connect.
Stefan Kovach has been working for internet startups since the late 90s and has worked in the gambling industry for over 15 years, including at PokerStars and Bwin.Party. He got involved with blockchain technology in 2017 when he became CEO of FunFair Technologies, a first-generation Ethereum gambling dapp. Since then he has gone on to create RarerThings an independent web 3 advisory that focuses on gaming, sport, fashion and celebrities.
Maria leads a combined function of Learning and Development, Performance Management, and Diversity and Inclusion at Betsson Group, acting as a people growth enabler through the design and execution of talent management and development strategies across all organisational levels and global locations. Maria is also a doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow. Her research focus revolves mainly around leadership development. She has also done extensive research on the impact of gendered structures on women’s leadership development in the workplace.
Robert Montgomery is an investor and entrepreneur focused on the digital media, communications, gaming and technology industries. For many years Robert has been an executive and advisor for media, communications and technology companies and the investment community. Robert currently serves as the CEO of First Maximilian Associates Inc., an investment and advisory firm. Robert is an investor in and serves as Chairman of GameCo, a Las Vegas-based company focused on innovation in the regulated gaming industry. Robert was previously owner and CEO of Achilles Media, an events and transaction facilitation company focused on the entertainment, technology and investment industries. Robert was co-founder of the Canadian Innovation Exchange.
Robert’s prior positions include: Co-Founder and Partner in Achilles Partners in Toronto and New York, an investment and advisory firm; President, Americas at the Fantastic Corporation in San Francisco, a broadband software company; Co-Founder and Chairman of Media Content plc in London, a media rights company; Managing Director for Europe and Asia Pacific at communications research and consulting firm Kagan World Media; co- founder of Digital Media International; Managing Director at Euromoney plc, and Managing Director at IBC plc, all media and events companies based in London.
Robert has served as a Director of public and private companies and is an active investor in emerging companies. Robert is a graduate of the University of Manitoba, Canada and a Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. Active in the community, Robert is Past Chair of the Board of Governors of OCAD University.
Scott Longley has been a journalist since the early noughties covering personal finance, sport and the gambling industry. He has worked for a number of publications and now writes for online and print titles including Wagers.com for which he also co-writes the Wagers.com Earnings+More newsletter.
Robin is currently the CEO of HappyHour.io, a seed and early stage accelerator for iGaming startups. The Happyhour portfolio has over €110million AUM and is transforming the future of igaming with truly novel ideas and the industry expertise to take them to market.
Peter Heneghan is a Senior Associate at Bettor Capital, a venture capital firm focused on B2B suppliers to the real-money online gaming space.
Martin has a long experience from leading positions and extensive experience from M&A. Before joining Betsson in 2019, Martin held the position of CFO oatf Upplands Motor. Prior to that, he held the positions of Finance Director within the Handicare Group and as CFO at Bactiguard. Martin has an MBA in accounting and finance from the School of Business, Economics and Statistics at Umeå University.
Ed Dickerson is the co-founder and CCO of Greco. Having consulted 35 operators on bonus abuse in recent years, Ed has a wealth of knowledge relating to bonus abuse and related fraud. Greco was founded to solve bonus abuse. Building out Ed’s extensive and intricate knowledge of all of the gameplay behaviours linked to bonus abuse, Greco is able to automate the detection of value-enhancing behaviours and shows the true value of players.
Emma is an experienced business strategist and technology commercialist, having practised formal management consultancy at Deloitte and strategic investments, acquisitions and cross-group business development at Sony’s Corporate Development and M&A group. At Amazon, she delivered strategic initiatives to launch and grow Kindle in the UK and other European markets. Emma holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago.
George brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience, with a focus on the professional gambling sector. He is immensely passionate & knowledgeable about all things DeFi & blockchain, founding LunaFi to ensure transparency and fairness for the end user.
Mitchell is the CMO at Future Anthem. A 25+ year technology veteran passionate about data, AI, marketing and brand. Retired Maltese DJ.
Pallavi started her igaming journey at PartyGaming in 2003. During her 13 years there, she headed the PartyPoker affiliate team, played a vital part in the successful launch of Danske Spil Casino, won WiG’s 2012 Industry Achiever of the Year award and moved to NJ, USA to manage Borgata Casino. In 2016 she moved to NetEnt where she managed some of the biggest accounts for the company.
Pallavi founded NetGaming in 2019 – one of the fastest growing casino games studios.
Tomash is a technology industry veteran focused on algorithmically curated in-game microbetting. As a CEO & Founder of Kero Sports he works with the largest names in pro sports and gaming to deliver sportsbetting experiences that match the entertainment value of mainstream apps like TikTok and Instagram.
James King is the CEO of Flows, an innovation no code platform that enables iGaming companies to easily automate their digital processes, build digital features, and produce applications. With Flows,organisations have more ownership of their product roadmaps, can integrate with any app or data source quickly, coordinate multiple systems, and automate workflows in real-time.
Alexander Grabner-Jarlung is a communication specialist and coach at HeadGain Academy – Providing training for high executive leadership and management from all over the globe. He teaches how to present themselves and their business in an efficient, impactful and influential way.
With a decade of experience, Alex has positioned his communication experience in order to transform leadership and engage the core communication needs in business, with a focus on presentation and brand awareness. His unique approach is based on science and backed by research – bringing out the best of each individual and fine-tuning their communication
Arne is Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Co-Founder at Malta based MetaverseME Ltd.
He is Entrepreneur, Strategic Advisor for esports and games, as well as Advisory Board Member at multiple games studios and blockchain focused companies.
With many years of experience in development and publishing of computer- and videogames, as well as esports, he has a broad understanding of the industry and an international network.
As a frequent speaker at international conferences and events, he has often been addressing the opportunities, challenges, and importance of digital growth markets.
Alongside other engagements, Arne Peters was Vice President Strategic Relations at ESL Gaming and Segment Manager, Games & Consumer Solutions at Intel Corp.
Chris Scicluna is the CEO of Livespins, an innovative startup creating a new, socially charged category of game play for the iGaming industry. With a decade of experience working on some of the most cutting-edge products and brands in the industry at Mr Green and Casumo, coupled with his specialized expertise in game mechanics and gamification, Chris is on a mission to build the best product-led company that brings value to the whole industry through exceptional player experiences.
With nearly a decade of experience across various gaming technology companies, Edo joined Playtech as the CEO of Euro Live Technologies in 2016 at a transformational time for the Live Casino product. During the last 5 years, Edo has been driving innovation and pioneering the technological changes within the Playtech Live Casino vertical.
Edo’s vision for Playtech Live is to deliver the best possible entertainment-led experience and work with leading operators across the industry. It is clear from the continued growth and variety of games offered that under Edo’s management, Playtech Live has cemented itself as a global leader of next level entertainment live products and services.
Emilie Zamponi has recently joined the commercial team at Play’n GO as their new Regional Director for the Southern Europe and LatAm markets.
Emilie has over 10 years’ experience in B2B sales and account management working at some of the most established slot providers in the industry.
George Olekszy is the Games Ambassador at Play’n GO. His role is to promote games to both internal employees and to customers. He is also responsible for selecting games to push in new market entries, such as the upcoming U.S. states, New Jersey and Michigan.
He has over 10 years’ experience in the online gaming sector, with several previous roles on the operator side.
VP Product Gaming at Trustly with over 15 years of experience from both payments and the gaming sector.
Leading the GamingMalta Foundation – a non-profit foundation set up by the Government of Malta and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) – since 2018, Ivan together with his team spearheads efforts in promoting Malta as a centre of excellence in the digital and remote gaming sector globally.
He is also responsible for liaising with the local relevant authorities to improve Malta’s attractiveness as a jurisdiction and enhance the ecosystem surrounding the gaming industry.
Under his leadership the GamingMalta Foundation has taken a broader of gaming encompassing igaming, esports and video gaming.
With a successful background in various fields including communications and advertising, his efforts within GamingMalta were recognised in 2018 with the SIGMA Outstanding Contribution to the Gaming Sector.
Strategic brand and marketing leader with high EQ, driving growth for tier-1 brands. 15 years within the online gambling industry and 20+ years commercial leadership experience.
Neville Agius has been a platform product lead at Play’n GO for the last 5 years. His main area of focus is the iGaming Platform, specifically the remote game server where he spearheaded various successful initiatives.
He has over a decade of experience occupying strategic roles while working on various IT initiatives in different verticals like the Financial Services industry; Airline industry and now in the iGaming industry.
Rob Procter, VP of Game Development at the leading cross platform global game company Light & Wonder, oversees all of our global online slot releases from conception to completion, ensuring they are always up to the highest standards. Rob is accountable for all roadmaps in all markets and ensuring we deliver the highest value for our customers and players alike.
Stuart Trigwell is Head of Sales for Western Europe at Play’n GO. He is responsible for some of Play’n GO’s largest European partnerships and is now spearheading their launch into the US gaming market.
He has over 10 years’ experience working within the industry and has enjoyed a successful career working at the English Football League managing commercial relationships and as a sports television broadcaster.
Virginie has c20 years’ experience in marketing internationally. She worked for blue chip tech and lifestyle brands such as Philips, TomTom, Vodafone and Microsoft, where she grew businesses with strategic marketing thinking and running multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns. As a CMO for Pragmatic Play, Luce aims to drive marketing excellence and establish a best-practice framework within the industry to provide partners and end-users with premium marketing content.
Simon is a specialist in technology, product development, innovation and organisational scalability, with over 15 years of experience in iGaming.
Having held senior positions at Betfair and within the Betsson Group, he co-founded Fast Track in 2016 as a direct response to the challenges that operators face in running an efficient, scalable business. He is now on a mission to digitalise the iGaming industry.
Silvio Schembri is a Maltese politician and academic currently serving as Minister for the Economy, EU Funds and Lands on the Labour Party ticket.
Previously, he was the Minister responsible for the Economy and Industry, and before this served as Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation.
At the age of 27 he was elected to Parliament on the Labour Party ticket, for the first time in March 2013. Previously, he had contested the local council elections for his hometown Luqa on the Labour Party ticket, where at the age of 18, he became Malta’s youngest Councillor.
During his tenure as Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation he was the brains behind Malta’s first Artificial Intelligence Strategy which is considered to be among the top 10 AI strategies in the world as well as the launch of the AI Certification Programme – the first of its kind worldwide. Another significant milestone is that of putting the Maltese Government among the first in the world to draw up a strategy for the country tied to the Esports and Videogame Development industries, a step which caught the attention of big players in the field across the globe. Schembri was also behind Malta becoming the world’s first to provide a legal framework for Blockchain-based activities. He also worked on seeing that Malta was the first country to put education certificates on Blockchain.
As Minister for the Economy and Industry, he reached a number of milestones in such a short span, most especially during the pandemic, where he played a central and vital role in creating and implementing aid packages on behalf of the Maltese Government to support families and businesses.
Under his watch, Malta can boast of the lowest unemployment levels and highest rates of employment, even during the pandemic, Malta surpassed its pre-COVID successes.
Alexandre Tomic is the founder and CEO of Alea.com, the multi-award-winning company behind several successful gaming B2C and B2B operations. Tomic is well-known within our industry, having over fifteen years of experience in varying aspects ranging from affiliate network owner, casino operator and game aggregator. His passion for the industry is matched by his drive for innovative products and ideas. Alexandre himself is a biohacking and VR enthusiast and is committed to promote social responsibility among operators and create awareness about the societal impact of the gambling industry.
Dr. Ioannis Revolidis studied law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a legal academic at the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), responsible for the legal stream of the interdisciplinary research and teaching endeavors of the Centre. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications, and Technology Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Malta. He is an editor of two Legal Journals in his native Greece (Lex&Forum and Armenopoulos), as well as a practicing lawyer, registered with the Bar Association of Thessaloniki, where he supervises cases of civil and commercial law with digital elements. He focuses on the law and regulation of emerging technologies with an emphasis in copyright law, data protection law, private international law, e-commerce law and the philosophy of law.
Julian is co-founder of RB Capital. He is an investor & board director to multiple ventures in the gaming, fintech & music industries. He has managed investments, M&As and exits to date in excess of $500m.
Todd Haushalter has been Chief Product Officer at Evolution since 2015. Todd oversees all aspects of Evolution’s games and product development, including many of the industry’s most celebrated games. Having previously worked as Corporate Vice President of Gaming at MGM Resorts and as Vice President of Business Strategy at Shuffle Master, he has a wide and varied knowledge of the casino industry.
Pontus is CEO of Betsson AB – one of the world’s leading iGaming companies, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. It’s nearly impossible to talk about the Swedish iGaming wonder without mentioning Pontus Lindwall. As current CEO and former Chairman of the Board of Betsson AB, as well as founder and former CEO of NetEnt and former CEO of Cherry, Lindwall has helped lay the grounds to the modern Swedish iGaming market and made many of its gaming companies to market leaders in Europe. In addition to being one of the driving forces of the re-regulation of the Swedish gaming market, Lindwall is a passionate cyclist and DJ.
Tim Heath draws upon two decades of experience within the igaming and emerging technologies sectors as GP of Yolo Investments. An early adopter of Bitcoin in 2013, he was founder and CEO of the Yolo Group (formerly the Coingaming Group) until 2020. The Group operates leading crypto gaming brands Bitcasino and Sportsbet.io, with the latter securing high-profile sponsorships with Premier League clubs Arsenal and Southampton.
Robin is currently the CEO of HappyHour.io, a seed and early stage accelerator for iGaming startups. The Happyhour portfolio has over €110million AUM and is transforming the future of igaming with truly novel ideas and the industry expertise to take them to market.
Daniel Graetzer is the Founder and CEO of Carousel Group, the owner and operator of MaximBet, a North American regulated online sportsbook. With over 20 years of experience in digital, Graetzer created Carousel Group after previously serving as director at leading Spanish gaming B2B provider Mediatech Solutions (acquired by R. Franco Group in 2017). After its successful launch in 2021, MaximBet is rapidly expanding its footprint across the US and Canada.
Lloyd Danzig is the Founder & Managing Partner of Sharp Alpha Advisors, a venture capital firm that specializes in sports betting and online gaming.
Seth Schorr is CEO of Fifth Street Gaming and Chairman of Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino. The urban casino resort is the embodiment of Schorr’s vision to create a downtown Las Vegas hospitality experience delivering a superior guest experience and genuine sense of community.
Since beginning his career in gaming and hospitality in 1991, Schorr served as an integral member of the Wynn Resorts team, developing the international marketing department in Macau and the iGaming division in Nevada. Earlier in his career, Schorr also worked in numerous capacities at Mirage Resorts including positions at Bellagio Hotel & Casino, The Mirage Hotel & Casino, and Treasure Island Hotel & Casino.
Schorr and his partner, Jeffrey Fine, co‐founded Fifth Street Gaming which owns and operates five casinos. The principals of Fifth Street Gaming also control, through its affiliate, the LEV Restaurant Group, a food and beverage operation that owns and manages more than 60 restaurants in the Las Vegas area and Southern California.
Tom founded Waterhouse VC in August 2019. In 2008, Tom became Australia’s largest on-course bookmaker. In 2010, Tom launched an online wagering company, TomWaterhouse.com, with just three people. By the time the business was sold to William Hill in 2013, the company employed more than 100 staff and had 250,000 clients. In 2014, Tom was appointed as CEO of William Hill (Australia) with around 500 staff and one million clients, generating USD 2 billion in turnover.
With a prominent career in state, federal, and global public affairs, William J. Pascrell, III, more commonly known as BPIII, is a lobbyist with PPAG–Princeton Public Affairs Group. His extensive work in a broad array of industries, particularly gambling and cannabis, has made a tremendous impact on the success of PPAG’s clients and the firm as a whole.
In the gaming sector, BPIII has been a lawyer, strategic advisor and consultant throughout the U.S., Canada, Israel, Europe, South America and Australia.
BPIII led the successful 10 year campaign to legalize sports betting in the United States culminating with the repeal of PASPA by the United States Supreme Court in 2018. Most notably BPIII lead a successful multi-year campaign to pass the first in the Nation On Line Gaming Act in New Jersey. He worked to develop the regulatory regime put in force prior to launch. BPIII continues to advise state governments across the Nation on issues involving the gaming industry.
BPIII served as a Member of the Murphy for Governor Finance Committee and Counsel to NJ Governor Murphy Transition Team. He previously served former Congressman Herb Klein and former Governor James J. Florio.
BPIII served as the Passaic County Counsel from 1998 to 2019, starting with his unanimous appointment by the Passaic County Freeholder Board.
Awards – The New Jersey Globe and Insider NJ, two prominent statewide news outlets, rank BPIII amongst the top 100 politically powerful personalities every year. He was further named to Insider NJ’s “Insider 100 Policymakers” lists each year since its inception: in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Carla has 13 years of experience in the igaming sector.Carla has worked as the CMO of betPawa, a B2C Sportbook licensed in 10 African countries; a non-exec board member of Scout Gaming Group; CEO of Optimizer Invest which held 24 portfolio companies under management and a portfolio value of €1bn; and prior to that, she was the Managing Director of Betsson.com. Throughout her years of consultancy, Carla has also worked with Yggdrasil Gaming and AvatarUX, along with several affiliate sites.
Carla has a strong history of enabling teams, driving operational efficiency, and encouraging a data-driven approach to marketing.
Christine Lewis, CEO of Bombay Group has over 12 years of strategy, commercial and iGaming industry experience. She has held previous high-level positions such as Global Commercial Director for NetEnt and CEO for Pariplay. Christine is focused on leading the company’s strategic growth initiatives by overseeing the operations and working with key stakeholders to successfully deliver on increasing Bombay Group’s market position.
Cristina is the CTO of BeyondPlay, building innovative technology that provides multiplayer experiences for players on games that are traditionally single player. She has built her career focused on the design and delivery of disruptive technology to the gaming industry and has also been actively engaged in tackling gender equality issues through her work with Girls in Tech Gibraltar.
“I am Italian, but I have been living in Malta for the last eight years.
I started my journey in digital marketing back in 2014 and then decided to specialize in SEO, my favourite channel, where I have been working since 2018.”
Ed Dickerson is the co-founder and CCO of Greco. Having consulted 35 operators on bonus abuse in recent years, Ed has a wealth of knowledge relating to bonus abuse and related fraud. Greco was founded to solve bonus abuse. Building out Ed’s extensive and intricate knowledge of all of the gameplay behaviours linked to bonus abuse, Greco is able to automate the detection of value-enhancing behaviours and shows the true value of players.
Emma is an experienced business strategist and technology commercialist, having practised formal management consultancy at Deloitte and strategic investments, acquisitions and cross-group business development at Sony’s Corporate Development and M&A group. At Amazon, she delivered strategic initiatives to launch and grow Kindle in the UK and other European markets. Emma holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago.
Eitan Gorodetsky is the CMO of KitCode a casino company in the CIS & Asia regions.Eitan has been involved and leading efforts in marketing, M&A and strategy for the last 10 years in companies as 888, Catena Media and Betsson focusing on user acquisition.
Evert is a portfolio manager with an academic background in applied economics and law. He has professional experience across data analytics, investments, and legal spaces. He was previously working for Yolo Group as a business analyst and has spent time as a part-time day trader specializing in derivatives. His key role is to provide strategic analysis, decision-making support and data-driven insights to our investees. In spare time he enjoys poker, cycling, and football.
Fabiola is co-founder and CEO of Caleta Gaming, a game development studio producing premium online and mobile gaming solutions that are primarily focused on the LATAM market.
She has a first degree in Information Systems and is skilled in math modeling, product management, game design, and leadership, whilst also being a bodyboarding surfer in her beautiful town of Florianopolis in Brasil.
Organizer of Crypto Hub Malta, outspoken blockchain-enthusiast with a background in environmental science.
Fredrik Kinge is the CEO and co-founder of ECI Media Management, a consultancy that support advertisers to maximize media efficiency and effectiveness. Drawing on his experience of more than 25 years in the industry, Fredrik has successfully developed ECI’s global office network. He has been instrumental in developing ECI’s global media performance auditing scoring measurement for leading advertisers around the world. Fredrik is a true media professional, gaining senior agency experience before founding ECI Media Management in 2000.
George brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience, with a focus on the professional gambling sector. He is immensely passionate & knowledgeable about all things DeFi & blockchain, founding LunaFi to ensure transparency and fairness for the end user.
Co-Founder of the performance marketing and affiliate company Nordic Affiliates ltd, with a strong presence in the Nordic Countries as well as licensed markets. Currently focusing mainly on the US market with OnlineGamblers.com. Håvard has a proven track record in the Affiliate marketing space, and is a result driven entrepreneur within the iGaming space.
Hilary Stewart-Jones has held a UK solicitor’s practising certificate for 33 years, qualifying as a litigator in the mid to late 1980’s but moved into wider corporate and commercial roles from the mid 1990’s. She became the head of legal for the gambling division in Ladbrokes Group in 1998 when the later still owned Hilton Hotels and a wide array of disparate regulated businesses worldwide, as well as the core betting shop estate, casinos and horse and dog tracks where she was exposed to a wide variety of corporate transactions. In 2000 she set up a gambling sector practice as a partner at BLP (now BCLP) and again at DLA Piper in 2011.
From 2013 she began combining private practice with board roles. She was Deputy Chairman at Playtech PLC and headed its Risk and Compliance Committee until she stepped down in 2015. She is currently the CEO of a UK licensed games and software house, Skywind Holdings Ltd and operator In Touch Games Ltd, as well as being an independent director on the Paysafe Group, where she chairs the Risk Oversight Committee. She also remains a consultant at Harris Hagan’s renowned practice, the Tier One rated gambling law firm in the UK.
Ian Turnbull is responsible for new revenue streams at global sports broadcaster DAZN. These include betting, NFT and ecommerce revenue lines. Ian’s previous roles include Global GTM Strategy for Betting at AWS, Director of Account Management at Microgaming and Head of B2B at Entain, where he worked for a number of years developing and executing the US market entry strategy, including the establishment of the BetMGM joint venture.
CEO/Founder of Vegas City Limited. James founded multiple districts in the Decentraland NFT LAND minting event in December 2017 including Vegas City. Under his leadership, Vegas City has become an accomplished web3 focused metaverse production studio who has created some of the most ambitious and best loved projects in Decentraland.
“Started out in the agency world which lead into advertising in online publishing.
To then be introduced to the iGaming industry through Kindred, before making the move to both Malta and Press Enter.
Data and Martech solutions have always been a prominent aspect of all my roles.”
Jean Michel is a tech entrepreneur & infosec enthusiast with a passion for blockchain.
He’s been obsessed with bitcoin philosophy since 2011, and successfully made it out alive from both Big Blue & World of Warcraft.
When he’s not building web3, he spends most of his time pwning and getting pwnd by noobs in MOBA’s, FPS’s and Echo VR ^^.
Jesper Kärrbrink, Background in e-commerce, media and gambling. Several CEO positions, among those; Svenska Spel AB and Mr Green Ltd. Co-founder of gaming studio Green Jade Games. Chairman in Pariplay Ltd, CEGO A/S and Internet Vikings AB. Author of three books and frequent speaker at different iGaming conferences and podcasts.
Jesper has been in the gaming industry since the mid-2000s. Over the years he worked in senior positions in several gaming companies in Europe and Asia. He joined Betsson in 2013 as the managing director of its flagship brand, betsson.com. In 2015 he became Betsson’s Chief Commercial Officer and was then made acting CEO in September 2017. Just three months later, he was appointed as CEO for Betsson Operations. Jesper holds a Masters in International Business from EAE Business School (Barcelona) and a Bachelor in Marketing from BI Norwegian Business School (Oslo). Jesper is passionate about sports and gaming.
Joined Sportsbet in 2017 as Director of Sportsbet and with a fantastic team we have continued to innovate in the crypto space. Previously worked at William Hill in a variety of roles working with good people. Passionate about the industry, love strong competition as it can only benefit the customer.
An experienced brand- and marketing professional, with a proven and successful track record in building brands and putting marketing strategies into life, the over two decades of extensive experience from both brand- and agency side is an unique and valuable combination.
As the Global Director of Brand and Creative, in Betsson Group I’m accountable for the Groups multi brand portfolio, understanding and creating an overarching strategy, positioning and an organizational hierarchy and visibility into the market opportunity and to drive brand equity development of our brands.
Lee-Ann has been one of the forerunners of affiliate marketing as she entered the industry in early 2000’s when the internet was still new and mobile phones BIG. Her career has spanned managing blue chip brands across multiple verticals from retail and e-commerce to iGaming and Fintech. She’s the founder of AffiliateINSIDER an award-winning affiliate marketing agency (IGB Affiliate Rising Star 2021, Best Digital Agency 2022). She is the host of the award-winning Affiliate Marketing Podcast which charts regularly in the Top 50 Business News podcasts on Apple and Spotify and boasts the highest 5 Star Reviews in Affiliate Marketing podcast category. She has been voted as one of the Top 10 Most Influential Women in iGaming (2019), inaugurated as a member of the prestigious forbes.com Agency Council (2020) and features regularly in industry publications as a thought leader in Affiliate Marketing for publications such as The Drum, PerformanceIN, GPWA.org, IGB Affiliate and Forbes.com
Liam Mulvaney has over 11 years experience with the most established slot providers in the industry. Having held various positions in commercial and product teams, he been part of most regulated markets, including Italy and the United States over the years. He has recently co founded Blue Guru Games with Andrew Braithwaite with the aim to provide something fresh to the market of slots. Currently serves as Chief Business Development Officer of Blue Guru Games.
Liesbeth Oost is the Sustainability Manager at Aspire Global, the leading B2B-provider of iGaming solutions. She focuses on the sustainability strategy, at the heart of which is responsible gaming. Liesbeth has a Master’s degree in International Political Economy from the University of Groningen and is a Certified Investor Relations professional (CIR®). Before her career in online gaming, she worked at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Magnus is a life-long private investor who was one of the first Swedish investment bloggers. He contributes regularly in several Swedish publications and his book about focused investment strategy (in Swedish), published in late 2021, is Sweden’s bestselling book on the stock market since.
Marek started his career in financial services where he held senior and managerial roles in various areas including business development and sales. His passion for esports brought him to the industry, specifically to the betting vertical. Leveraging the newest technologies at Oddin.gg, Marek as Co-Founder and managing Director aims to significantly improve the engagement within esports betting and build partnerships that will shape the future of esports and esports betting.
Marek regularly speaks on topics around esports betting at industry conferences such as SBC, ESI, SIGMA, ASEAN and others. The topics mostly include:
– esports ecosystem overview: publishers, tournament organisers, data companies, major titles
– esports, the next big thing for casinos to bring young generations in
– esports, common myth: match-fixing & integrity, underaged, stream delay
– esports data, odds calculation and trading
– global trends and country trends when it comes to esports
– esports betting: history, present and future
– gaming vs. esports, esports vs. virtual and sporting simulators
– esports performance in times of covid
Marek was listed among 25 People to Watch in 2022, list put together by GGB Magazine.
GGB Magazine Announces the 20th Edition of 25 People to Watch
Martin has researched the iGaming industry for over 10 years. In that time he has helped iGaming clients across the world, from the biggest to the smallest, develop products, services and marketing material that have shaped the industry over the last decade by bringing the player’s voice to the fore.
With 2 decades of experience in digital markets, Martin has a passion and drive to help organizations flourish. Through both internal and external strategic analysis, he can drive positive improvement in performance, as well as help identify new business opportunities. Always remaining one step ahead, Martin empowers organizations to truly perform and drive revenue and growth.
Martina Åkerlund, CEO of sports tech company Triggy. 20 years of experience from banking and finance as a Management Consultant and in senior positions including CMO and Head of Regulatory Reporting in organizations such as Nasdaq, Swedbank and SEB.
Gaming, FinTech & Music Industry Professional with international experience working with a number of award winning casinos, brands, festivals, products, live events and influencers.
Mitchell is the CMO at Future Anthem. A 25+ year technology veteran passionate about data, AI, marketing and brand. Retired Maltese DJ.
Business Development Crypto and Metaverse Gaming.
Nicola is a Global brand and creative director at PokerStars responsible for the brand’s overall global strategy as well as 360 creative executions across products and markets. With Martin Nieri, she also oversaw the rebranding of PokerStars in 2019. Prior to that she spent years in the agency world working her way up to executive strategy director. This saw her work across a range of agency types including brand consultancies, ad agencies and performance marketing businesses working on accounts ranging from Red Bull to the BBC World Service.
Pallavi started her igaming journey at PartyGaming in 2003. During her 13 years there, she headed the PartyPoker affiliate team, played a vital part in the successful launch of Danske Spil Casino, won WiG’s 2012 Industry Achiever of the Year award and moved to NJ, USA to manage Borgata Casino. In 2016 she moved to NetEnt where she managed some of the biggest accounts for the company.
Pallavi founded NetGaming in 2019 – one of the fastest growing casino games studios.
Peter Heneghan is a Senior Associate at Bettor Capital, a venture capital firm focused on B2B suppliers to the real-money online gaming space.
“I am Rikke Refsgaard Larsen. I was born 28 years ago in Copenhagen and have lived in Amsterdam for the past year. I am Lead HR Consultant at Better Collective where I am also the proud Chair of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board which was established in 2021.
I am driven by curiosity, and I believe that as an organization we should never stop being curious about our differences, no matter what any numbers tell us. Our focus must be on how we foster an inclusive work environment where we keep exploring what differs in our current individual understandings of the world.”
Mr. Chhabra is the President of Tekkorp Capital and advisor to and investor in companies in the global gambling industry. Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) (now part of Flutter Entertainment) and William Hill (now part of Caesars Entertainment), and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra was also founder-CEO of FOX Bet, a U.S. Joint Venture between The Stars Group and Fox Corporation. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across all aspects of the digital gaming value chain.
Russell Mifsud is KPMG Malta’s Gaming Director. Russell has been involved with gaming and leisure businesses in advisory for his entire professional career and is a subject matter professional across the KPMG International network. Russell provides insight on industry externalities and commercial strategy for KPMG and our Gaming clientele across borders. Regulation, Growth Strategies, Responsible Gaming, Jurisdictional Assessments, Risk Consulting, ESG strategy and M&A are some of the key themes that he services operators, suppliers, affiliates and regulators within.
He is a founding member of a core group of professionals whom specialise in Gaming across the KPMG network globally. He leads multiple teams, budgets and deliverables for a portfolio of top tier organisations. Russell works closely with the Audit, Tax & Advisory teams locally and internationally in order to assist with identifying risks and opportunities, with a view to adding strategic direction to the industry and its stakeholders.
Russell has helped establish KPMG Malta as a Centre of Excellence across the KPMG global network and is at the forefront of emerging market opportunities. Russell has recently been listed as an ‘Emerging Leader of Gaming (ELG) 40 Under 40’ in the US.His broad experience from having advised clients on corporate strategy, whilst serving as a subject matter professional across service lines gives him a unique perspective. He sits on the management board of the Malta Remote Gaming Council (MRGC) and is a Silicon Valletta board member. He founded the KPMG Malta eSummit and the KPMG Gaming Faculty.
Roger Parkes has been involved in the gambling industry for over thirty years. He has been a regulator for more than 13 years and as an operator in the on-line and off-line sectors in jurisdictions including New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Greece, Alderney and the UK. He has also been involved in the regulatory testing of internet-based gaming systems in Australia, Isle of Man and Alderney and was also involved with developing the Alderney remote gambling standards.
Since moving to the northern hemisphere, Roger has worked for the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, the UK Gambling Commission to assist in developing the UK’s internet gambling regime, LCCP and technical standards, then joined Betfair as Director of Group Compliance.
He left to co-found Gambling Integrity Services with internationally respected responsible gambling expert, Malcolm Bruce, where he consulted widely to international regulators and multi-jurisdictional operators.
He returned to the Gambling Commission to assist in the transition to the new regulatory regime in 2014 then joined Betway and is currently Director of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs with Board responsibities for compliance, AML, DP, licensing and responsible gambling for the business across all international markets and jurisdictions.
Roger is a member of a number of UK professional security organisations. He was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Compliance Achievement Award from Vixio Compliance, speaks regularly at conferences on compliance and regulatory issues, and is a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law.
“I joined the Gaming industry in 2004 and have worked almost exclusively within the sector for my whole working life. I began life working in the UK market with some of the industry heavyweights before moving to Malta in 2009 to focus more specifically in iGaming, with a strong focus towards casino.
Over the years I’ve been involved in numerous B2C and B2B organisations, from start-up phase through to IPO, and some Tier 1 listed entities. All this experience has led me to my latest position as CCO of Rootz, an explosive growth B2C casino operator focused on regulated markets. “
Shelley Hannah is Relax Gaming’s Director of Casino Products, operating at the helm of all studio partnership/aggregation offerings. During her 4 years with the company, her role has been instrumental in developing the Powered by Relax and Silver Bullet business streams, a direct reflection of the 9+years of aggregation experience she brings to the table.
Hannah boasts a strong technical background spanning two decades and flexed these skills in the orchestration of Relax’s fast and straightforward aggregation/integration processes. Supported by her own hand-selected team of experts, she has made a significant contribution to the overall success of the company.
“I have worked in the online Entertainment / Gaming Industry since 2015.
In 2019 I was able to bring my passion for Inclusion to the fore as I was seconded to be Entain’s Global Inclusion manager for 11 months. In this role, I created and published their global Trans Inclusion Policy.
I joined Lottoland in 2021 as Learning & Development Partner and am very proud and excited to be leading on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.
My inclusion work began when I came out as trans in 2011 whilst I was working for the UK Police Service as an Information, Intelligence & Investigation Trainer.
I have been Vice-Chair of the National Trans Police Association (NTPA) & led engagement with the UK Police service. This included Training delivery to several regional Force areas, NHS Trusts, the Police Federation and the Police Superintendent’s Association.
I also submitted evidence to the Leveson Enquiry via Trans Media Watch and wrote Transgender Information Handling Guidelines for the Police National Computer (UK Wide) and reviewed and amended trans related legislation to guide the processing of trans people in police custody.
I have a background in Activism and bring that passion and commitment to my corporate life.”
Tanja Dimitrijevic has been involved in distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrencies space since 2018. She specialises in distributed ledger technology, financial services and fintech with a special focus on regulatory and governance compliance and anti-money laundering issues. She has assisted a number of clients launching ICOs and IEOs and a number of crypto exchanges and VFA service providers applying for licences from the MFSA. Tanja is a former member of the executive committee of the business section within the Malta Chamber of Commerce dedicated to VFA Agents. Moreover, in her current role, Tanja deals with all corporate and commercial matters including corporate governance, employment and general company law.
Tsachi Maimon has been prevalent in the iGaming industry since 2008, having previously worked at Playtech before joining Aspire Global as a board member and CEO in 2013.
Bringing with him a wealth of industry knowledge, Tsachi has played a key role in the major developments the company has seen. Some of these include listing the company on the Nasdaq stock exchange, as well as the acquisition of games aggregator Pariplay and sportsbook supplier BtoBet. His leadership largely contributed to Aspire Global’s solid positioning as one of today’s most prominent iGaming B2B suppliers.
Tsachi holds an M.A in Business Studies from the College of Management (COMAS) in Israel and is an all-round sports fan with a penchant for tennis.
Co-founder & Managing Director of Sportingbet South Africa, Partner at Greatodds.com; A Pan-African business with operations in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and South Africa, & Board Member at WC Bookmakers Association.
Tyrone is a pioneering member of the online sports betting industry in South Africa. Launching South Africa’s first online sportsbook in 2007, he is passionate about developing the credibility of online sports betting in Africa and has a deep understanding of the industry and African marketplace.
Tyrone studied Computer Science at Natal Technikon and served as Chairman of the Western Cape Bookmakers Association for 8 years. He is a key role player in bringing South Africa up to standard with the latest trends in legal and regulated online gaming and is a frequent contributor, as a Captain of Industry, in the South African houses of Parliament.
Doing and enjoying SEO since 2003 with extensive experience in the most competitive markets and verticals. CO-founder and CEO of Mamuta Media providing Black Hat PPC and SEO services.
Adam Rosenberg is currently Senior Advisor to Blackstone for the Gaming and Leisure sector. He is also currently Special Advisor to GameCo, LLC, a gaming technology company focused on video game gambling, where he is a Board Observer and previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer.
From 2014 to 2021, Mr. Rosenberg was Managing Director and Global Head of Gaming & Leisure at Fortress Investment Group, an alternative asset manager with extensive experience making private equity investments into, lending to and owning casinos, slot routes, slot machine manufacturers, lottery providers, internet gaming companies, sports betting platforms and other gaming and gaming technology-related businesses in the United States and around the world.
Ai Ishii, Business Development Executive at IT solution provider, nChain. Promoting technologies such as blockchain and machine learning to help industries take a proactive approach to consumer protection while making it effortless and cost-effective for businesses. Leading efforts in iGaming, identity management, and financial services.
Swedish-born Alexander Stevendahl started playing poker when he finished school. He then moved on to becoming a poker affiliate before investing in Videoslots in 2011. He is the founder and current Chief Executive Officer at Videoslots.
Andrea Saliba is Director of People & Culture at Hero Gaming, a multi-brand iGaming Operator based in Malta & Sweden. He has over 7 years of HR experience, working both agency side and in-house, gaining valuable cross-cultural & international work experience within fast-paced and dynamic industries. He is experienced across various HR functions, with a focus on Employee Experience & Engagement, Performance Management, People Analytics, Talent Acquisition & Onboarding, Organisational Development, Reward & Recognition, Hybrid Workplaces and Learning & Development. Andrea holds a MSc in Human Resource Management and Training from the University of Leicester.
Professor Brenda Murphy has over 25 years’ experience and expertise in gender-focused research, teaching, activism, and community engagement. She is a founding member, and Professor in the Department of Gender & Sexualities at the University of Malta, where she is involved in the design and delivery of postgraduate programmes, and gender mainstreaming in academia and civil society. Her personal research is located around gender equality and mainstreaming and gendered places and spaces.
The exciting possibility of having another medium to channel her creativity and curiosity to learn led Caroline to delve into website and content creation more than 15 years ago. For the past 8 years, Caroline has been working in one of the biggest iGaming companies, Betsson Group. Entering the sector first as a Customer Support agent and being promoted quickly to a Team lead position but soon enough switched department to her real passion, SEO, where she had different roles, including SEO Specialist, SEO Marketing Owner, Global Strategist, and of latest – Head of SEO where she leads an incredible global team of more than 18 people and is responsible for SEO over Betsson Group’s portfolio of brands and markets. Her passion lies in creating agile strategies that bring the most effective results in a niche with constant change.
Caroline advocates that SEO should be at the forefront of involvement when it comes to online brand positioning. She is an avid book reader with a newly found interest in blockchain and crypto.
“SEO is the heart of the function involved in creating and positioning a website online”
Dr Christopher Dalli is the CEO of online casino operator L&L Europe Limited. Prior to joining L&L, Dr Dalli was a Partner at Gonzi & Associates, Advocates, a law firm specialising in commercial and technological matters, where he led the Gaming department and assisted a number of top operators with their licensing and operational needs. Dr Dalli is also a legal expert on the National Anti-Doping Panel.
Conleth Byrne is the Product Director of SIS (Sports Information Services), the leading supplier of 24/7 live betting services. With over 25 years’ experience in senior roles within the betting and gaming industry, including Ladbrokes, Better Bet, IGT, and the Football Pools.
Conleth leads the management and development of the evolving SIS product portfolio, which has expanded into esports with SIS Competitive Gaming, as well as the acquisition and enhancement of 49’s Live Number Draws, which complement SIS’s high-quality horse and greyhound racing content.
Corey has an extensive background in econometrics and statistics, and is a Partner at t2 Marketing International. He has worked on some of the most innovative data-oriented campaigns for both online and brick and mortar operators, speaks on his work and research at events around the world, and is a member of a number of tech-facing advisory boards. He is also the author of Marketing to Millennial For Dummies, and a contributing author of Digital Marketing All-In One For Dummies.
Chairman and CEO of Olympic Entertainment Group and OlyBet Group, the leading providers of casino and leisure entertainment across nine Eurozone markets including Estonia, Croatia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Spain with more than 140 casinos and hotels and more than 80 sports bars including the Hilton Tallinn Park, Voodoo Grill Restaurants and the OlyBet sports betting and online brand.
Prior to Olympic, Corey was the founder and leader of North Sea Gaming BV, a sector-focused advisory firm working with global private equity to source and complete high potential deals. He has partnered with and consulted to 4 of the 10 largest global private equity firms including CVC Capital Partners and Advent International where he is an operating partner and advised on its Enjoy SA investment. Corey advised Novalpina Capital on its acquisition of Olympic Entertainment Group.
Corey has 20+ years of senior leadership and development experience working in gaming and hospitality with leading companies such as Harrah’s Entertainment, Caesars, Skycity Entertainment, Rush Street Gaming and Aristocrat Technologies.
He has opened and/or managed 5 large-scale casinos with $1 million+ per day revenues, led multi-country P&L results across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and served on advisory boards of leading manufacturers Aristocrat, Bally, IGT Australia and Konami Gaming.
Daniel Gunba Founder / CEO of NFT project TRIIONFT owner of the first Multiverse land by Digital Village where we are building P2E game. Founder of Production company. 7 years on the market. Hosted master class in portrait photography in Malta; Hosted master class in photography basics in Riga, Latvia.
David Flynn is a Management Executive with over 19 years iGaming experience in the Online Gaming market.
Entering the online poker business, Ongame in 2003, David quickly progressed to VP Director of Ongame Network. After a period of rapid growth the Ongame business was sold to Bwin (now Entain) in 2006 for €475m. After 3 years as Head of Operations at Microgaming, David moved back to Sweden for the role of CEO at NYX Interactive, launching both the Open Platform System (OPS) and Open Gaming System (OGS), whereupon the business merged with Nextgen Gaming to become NYX Gaming Group. Within NYX Gaming Group, David held the role of CCO, with a particular focus on the growth of NYX OGS until the business was sold to Scientific Games for €500m in late 2017. Over to the Operator side as CEO Operations for JPJ Group plc, with a main focus on the brand VeraJohn, until early 2019 where he joined Glitnor Group. As Group CEO, David is now responsible for the strategic direction of Glitnor Group, encompassing its customer facing brands, Luckycasino and Happycasino, its rapidly growing B2B vertical Swintt and the most recent additions Leading affiliate business KaFe Rocks and Time2Play.
David is currently Director of International Regulatory Affairs at Entain, based in London, where he is responsible for the development and delivery of the Group’s regulatory affairs and political engagement strategy across a number of European and ROW jurisdictions. Prior to this, he spent four years working at Flutter in a similar international policy and regulatory role. He also sits on the Board of a number of industry trade bodies and associations, including the European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA), Dutch Online Gambling Association (NOGA) and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).
Football Media is a leading global digital advertising and sponsorship agency with a platform of over 100 million global monthly users across football sites and social media channels.
Football Media works with brands across multiple sectors including i-gaming, planning and implementing global digital advertising campaigns and sponsorship activations.
Football Media helps brands to secure and manage sponsorships and partnerships, with football clubs across the world, ambassador partnerships with sports music and entertainment stars, Women’s football teams and e-sports teams.
Emily Micallef has worked within the HR community since 2015, working across all levels of the organizations in industries such as Financial Services (EY), Brand Consultancy (BRND WGN)and most recently, Igaming with Greentube. Currently acting Head of People Strategy and Operations at Happyhour.io supporting 6 start-ups navigate their People Operations, Recruitment and general HR functions. Emily places a strong focus on building HR practices to suit specific organizations, putting people operations at the heart of all operations to contribute to overall business success.
Emira has been working within the recruitment sector since 2007 and has experience from working on different levels: operational, tactical and strategic.
Previous experience from working as a recruitment consultant, within HR, as an organizational consultant and as a provider of psychometric tools. 10 years within commercial roles, as a consultant and/or as a leader.
Dr. Fabian Masurat, a Tech/Data/Gaming Lawyer from Taylor Wessing.
Dr. Fabian Masurat is a member of the Technology, Media & Telecoms Practice Area.
His main areas of expertise are data protection, IT contracts and gambling law.
Dr. Fabian Masurat is a certified money laundering officer and lecturer at FOM University in the field of IT law and compliance.
With over 25 years’ experience working in HR, Fiona has amassed a wealth of HR skills and knowledge in a variety of areas and industries.
Fiona’s HR background has seen her work within global organisations with offices around the world. She has gained HR experience in Australia, the UK, the US, and Malta.
Prior to her current role as CHRO at Catena Media, and member of the senior management team, Fiona worked with such reputable organisations as Morgan Stanley, GFI Software and Ernst & Young.
Her extensive CV has seen her working across all HR-related disciplines, with an emphasis on talent management and leadership development, driven by her interest and qualification in executive coaching.
George Rover is the Managing Partner of Princeton Global Strategies, LLC (PGS), a strategic advisory firm specialising in all aspects of land-based and online casino and sports betting law and policy, including investigations, licensing, casino operations, internal controls, AML, and corporate compliance. Prior to establishing PGS, Rover served for 25 years as a Deputy Attorney General and then an Assistant Attorney with the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General.
He joined the New Jersey State Attorney General’s Office in 1992 as a Deputy Attorney General in the Office of Legal Affairs and thereafter in 1995 Rover served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. In January 1999, he was promoted to Assistant Attorney General and named the Special Assistant to the Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE). In August 2011, Rover was appointed Deputy Director of the NJDGE and placed in charge of its Atlantic City office until his retirement in November 2016.
Gustaf Hoffstedt is the Secretary General of BOS, the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, since 2015. Among the association’s members are all major private operators and suppliers that operate in Sweden. Prior to joining BOS, Gustaf served as a Member of the Swedish Parliament for the Moderate party, and as vice mayor and chairman of the Social board in his constituency Gotland before that.
Gustaf has fought for the abolition of the Swedish gambling monopoly and the implementation of a licensing system for more than a decade. He is pleased with the Swedish reregulation but at the same time concerned about political attempts to drastically change the newly implemented regulation.
Gustaf resides in Uppsala with his family. In his leisure time, he enjoys hiking in the mountains of northern Scandinavia.
Ivana has over 12 years experience in SEO working in some of the most competitive niches, she has been working with iGaming for the last 6 years. Ivana was previously at William Hill/Mr Green international, Catena media and Betsson. Her biggest passion within SEO is the technical part of the channel as she loves resolving difficult issues and seeing the positive impact of the fixes. Ivana is also a well seasoned conference speaker, covering several conferences in Africa, America and Europe. Ivana is an author of the original SEO test – Can you rank a website using only nofollow links? which she has published in 2 parts with a 1 year follow up on the links and websites performance. She enjoys writing and publishing on SEO and marketing topics and is a recurring judge on the industry popular iGaming idol for the SEO category.
Jake Evans is an NCTJ-accredited gambling industry journalist and commentator. He has covered the global online gambling sector for leading trade publications since 2017. He joined iGaming NEXT as Managing Editor in 2021 and has been pivotal in raising iGaming NEXT’s profile as a reputable news source for the iGaming industry.
Jamison Selby is a dynamic, player-focused, online gaming executive with many years of experience leading cross-disciplinary design and production teams in the creation, marketing and live operation of multiplayer games and interactive entertainment. He has deep experience with iGaming, real money gambling and skill games. He has launched more than 70 real money titles in the highly regulated U.S. market. He is a named inventor on dozens of industry patents. He has managed business relations and strategy across the globe and is a respected international speaker with a worldwide network across the games and gaming industries. As SVP of Games & Marketing at Game Play Network, he leads GPN’s B2C iGaming efforts and their online casino, b spot. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children who are just beginning to design games of their own.
Dr Joerg Hofmann is Head of the Betting and Gaming Group at Melchers Law Firm in Germany. He is Past President of the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) and lectures gaming law at the University of Heidelberg. Joerg has been consistently ranked as a “Leading Individual” in Gaming & Gambling by Chambers Global since 2011 and has been listed among “Germany’s Best Lawyers” in the category “Gaming Law” by Handelsblatt and BestLawyers since 2014. Joerg is based in Heidelberg. He regularly speaks at leading gaming law conferences around the world and frequently publishes articles in international journals. In addition, Joerg was awarded the global “Entertainment Lawyer of the Year 2020” award by Who’s Who Legal. He has been advising on gambling law for over 26 years.
“I sit at the top of Incentive Towers and ensure the geeks keep churning out top games.
I am also in charge of the bean-counters in the dungeon (they keep the lights out at the Towers).
Now and then I get literally or virtually rolled out to bore people at i-Gaming conferences.”
John Gordon is the CEO of Incentive Games, an Edinburgh-based provider of both Free-To-Play and Pay-To-Play games.
John Mallia is the Director of Gaming at Trustly, a leading global provider of account-to-account payments. John spent over 10 years working with gaming operators prior to joining Trustly and brings a wealth of experience from the operator side of the business.
Jonathan is an investor and builder in the world of generative NFTs. Having recently helped build projects across many chains, he sees a multichain future ahead. He specializes in tokenonmics, community building, and finding the ‘why’ each project needs.
When he isn’t looking at art online, he’s probably running or bouldering.
Over the years of running his own business and through employment, one of the biggest challenges Joseph Muscat has faced is management, clients, and contractors struggling to work with dedicated and hard-working team members who don’t seem to fit because they are neurodivergent, also known as having learning difficulties. As a person with learning difficulties himself, he has become an advocate for individuals who don’t know how to develop the skillset needed to succeed and champion neurodiversity in the workplace.
Dr. Joseph F. Borg is an Advocate and Partner at WH Partners, heading the Blockchain Advisory and the Gaming and Gambling Advisory sections within the firm. He also practices in the areas of Esports, Sports, Technology, Telecoms and Intellectual Property Law. Joe is ranked by Chambers and Partners in Fintech and is also recommended as a leading individual in Fintech by Legal500. He also lectures Gaming Law at the University of Malta. Joe is the Chairperson of the Committee on payments and cryptocurrencies within the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) organisation.
Prof. Joshua Ellul is Director of the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Malta. The Centre for DLT developed and runs a world-first multidisciplinary Masters in Blockchain and DLT which takes in students having backgrounds in computer science, law, finance and economics.
Justin Dellario is the Managing Director of Esports at Entain. His current focus involves evaluating opportunities for the overall esports, gaming, and interactive entertainment business at Entain, while simultaneously planning and executing Unikrn’s re-launch in 2022. Prior to Entain and Unikrn, Justin was the VP of Esports and Original Content at Twitch, where he oversaw competitive gaming, content production, and related technical development for the world’s largest video game live streaming platform. Justin has worked with game developers, tournament organizers, professional teams, and broadcasters to direct the business, strategy, and operation of esports leagues, tournaments, and circuits globally. Prior to Twitch, Justin served as Head of Global Esports for gaming hardware developer, Razer, where he developed the company’s sponsorship and marketing campaigns.
Founder and CEO of a new venture -BeyondPlay which has secured GBP 1.7M in funding in 2021 and has since built solid brand awareness within Igaming, securing SBC and EGR award nominations as well as being featured in Yahoo news, UK Tech News and Sifted. The highly anticipated product offering consisting of a multiplayer Saas technology for slots as well as a custom Jackpot offering is nearing its exclusive product launch with LeoVegas group brands in the fall of 2022.
Karolina is also active as podcast host for iGaming Next featuring high calibre industry and non-industry guests. Passionate and outspoken gender diversity ambassador for the iGaming Industry.
Over 15 years of experience in the global land-based and online Real-Money Gaming Industry, including leadership roles for LeoVegas Group, Betsson Group and SG Digital as well as consultancy placements for William Hill Group. Seasoned online casino and product expert, recognised for championing innovation and delivering many industry-first product features and concepts. Leveraging a strong network of connections, also worked as a broker and M&A advisor. Voted Top 10 Most Influential Women in the Online Gaming Industry by IGB in 2018, featured in Facebook’s “She talks games” campaign and nominated for the UK National Diversity Awards in 2021.
