With only a few more days until the inaugural SBC Digital Summit, we’ve been catching up with the event sponsors.
SBC spoke with David McDowell, CEO of FSB , who explained that he is most looking forward to the Betting on Sports America track, and added that online gaming companies must remember to prioritise social responsibility.
What are you looking forward to at the SBC Digital Summit?
Frankly I’m still trying to figure out how the digital networking thing works. There will be some great speakers and we are excited to participate as a sponsor; the SBC team always does a great job with their conferences.
What would be your biggest bit of advice for betting and gaming businesses trying to mitigate the impact of COVID-19?
For our online colleagues promoting RNG content, remember your social responsibility comes first and don’t get greedy. The loss of sports is temporary but your reputation is long lasting.
What are you promoting at SBC Digital Summit?
Our retail sports betting solutions are our latest products to launch, in particular our Self-Service betting terminals. Retail sports betting is long overdue for an upgrade and FSB wants to be the partner of choice for anyone looking to install an omni-channel solution.
What industry innovation will capture the most attention in 2020?
A self-serving answer, but FSB just produced the Remote Darts League as a response to the suspension of live sports. The project covered the entire value chain of sports and sports betting; everything from the event production through to the consumer betting experience and was delivered in just two weeks and delivered to hundreds of bookmakers around the globe.
The project included producing the events, live data collection, real-time video insertion of the scoreboards, in-play pricing models, data distribution, low-latency video distribution, trading and streaming video integration into the UX. No other innovation project in the industry will be as comprehensive or timely this year.
Which operator has impressed you the most in 2020?
Being based in the UK, we are continually presented with a negative picture of the industry from the politicians and media and all-to-regular £10M+ fines or licence suspensions. The grey/black market operators don’t attract the same headlines, but you couldn’t put them forward.
When you add political betting mishaps in West Virginia it makes it really tough to give out any awards, so I will have to abstain from voting this year.
What sports betting partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
One of the brands I am watching is Foxbet. Richard Flint did such a great job with Skybet that media companies finally realised they have an unfair advantage when it comes to customer acquisition. Murdoch’s attempt to replicate this with SunBet was a huge failure and quickly dismantled. His next attempt with Foxbet also looks great on paper, but it has the opportunity to go either way.
Which parts of the conference agenda have caught your eye?
Definitely the Betting on Sports America session on Thursday with a focus on Tribal Gaming. The big corporates have made their moves and the digital operators have acquired their market access; it feels like the next wave of excitement will come from the tribal operators.
