Paddy Power Betfair is sponsoring Betting on Sports 2017, the second edition of the largest international sports and betting trade conference at Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington.
Ahead of the 12-15 September event, we spoke to the company’s Head of B2B Kieran Packman about what he is looking forward to at #boscon2017, his perfect sporting event, and which sports betting partnership has stood out over the last 12 months.
SBC: What are you looking forward to at Betting on Sports?
KP: Betting on Sports worked very well for us last year as a focal point in the calendar for meeting current and potential partners. The scale of the event seems to be growing with every year, so we’re looking forward to engaging with an even broader audience in 2017.
We appreciate the opportunity to be overtly outbound and utilise a comfortable meeting space. The agenda has some interesting names and I’m personally interested in some of the horse racing topics which have been expanded this year.
SBC: What are you promoting at Betting on Sports?
KP: One of the most exciting elements of Paddy Power Betfair B2B is the range of products and services that we can offer. Betting on Sports is the ideal event as it enables us to talk about our comprehensive offer to a wide spectrum of the sports and betting industry. We are always keen to engage with potential partners across our product range. Our fixed odds pricing and risk management is established as a market-leading offer, while we continue to improve in line with our B2C scale.
We will also be talking to partners about Airton Risk, which enables sporting organisations and sponsors to manage their risk exposure, our Exchange White Label product that allows partners to benefit from the global liquidity of the Betfair Exchange, and Infogol, which is a new added-value football data product providing unique bet-inducing content.
SBC: Where can betting work together more closely with sport?
KP: Paddy Power Betfair has a wide ranging and long-standing relationship with sporting bodies, not least as the business who led the way in terms of integrity and memorandums of understanding. It remains the case that it is a two-way street that proves most effective.
SBC: What sports betting partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
KP: Without too directly patting ourselves on the back, I really enjoyed the advert that our Sportsbet colleagues did with Ben Johnson, albeit the ASB disagreed. It’s also been interesting to see the latest wave of innovative player transfer announcements, often needing to be a blend of athlete, club, betting sponsor and apparel brand.
SBC: Describe your perfect sporting event
KP: Easy one, though one that’s very personal to me. Crystal Palace coming from behind to win the FA Cup Final at Wembley on a glorious sunny afternoon, watching with my dad and my son. Three generations of long suffering fans. We came close two years ago, unfortunately then we were on the wrong end of a Manchester United comeback. Hope springs eternal – it must as a Palace fan!
