Zona de Azar Spain – SBC Summit Barcelona: Responsible Gambling at the Core of the Agenda

Spain.- September 8th 2022 www.zonadeazar.com Hundreds of player safety professionals will gather at SBC Summit Barcelona September 20-22 to share their gambling harm prevention strategies and help improve the industry’s understanding of the subject of responsible gambling.

Companies like Mindway, DealMeOut, YGAM, Betknowmore, FEJAR, Gordon Moody, GamCare, Gamban, and Epic Risk Management will be exhibiting in the dedicated ‘Player Protection’ area to share their experience designing and implementing responsible gambling strategies.

Rasmus Sojmark, CEO & Founder of SBC, said: “We have built a separate ‘Player Protection Stage’ to host discussions on the ever-important issue of problem gambling. The industry needs to remain vigilant in educating itself on harm prevention strategies, especially given the highly-fragmented ecosystem we’re experiencing.”

Highlights from the agenda include:

Rasmus Kjærgaard (CEO, Mindway AI) will deliver a presentation on how operators can leverage artificial intelligence to support their player protection efforts. Kjærgaard will introduce the SBC Summit Barcelona audience to the ‘virtual psychologist’ approach that the company has adopted through GameScanner — their award-winning artificial intelligence solution based on neuroscience. The Mindway AI CEO will also expand on how US operators can leverage the experience of the European regulated markets for problem gambling detention and intervention.

Speaking of the US, another panel session will focus on the challenges faced by US operators striving to achieve the perfect balance between player protection and growth in an environment where everyone is jostling for market supremacy. Bill Pascrell III (Partner, Princeton Public Affairs Group), Alan Feldman (Distinguished Fellow, Responsible Gaming, UNLV | Senior Advisor, MGM Resorts International), Dan Spencer (Director of Safer Gambling, EPIC Risk Management), Brianne Doura-Schawohl (Founder & CEO, Doura-Schawohl Consulting LLC) and Jaime Debono (Managing Director, iGaming Academy) will be among the speakers covering the topic.

Four high-level speakers will explore the controversial topic of affordability checks that has sparked a heated debate in the industry. Shelley White (CEO, Responsible Gambling Council), Warren Russell (Founder & CEO, W2), Šimon Vincze (Sustainable and Safer Gambling Lead, Casino Guru), and Matthew Hickey (CEO, Gordon Moody) will share their views on the prospect of compulsory affordability checks in certain European jurisdictions, viewed by some as detrimental to player safety and an incentive to unlicensed operators.

Maarten Haijer (Secretary General, EGBA), Morten Ronde (Founder & Managing Director, Nordic Gambling), David Foster (Director of International Regulatory Affairs, Entain), Ievgeniia Derbal (Chief Legal Officer, Parimatch Tech), Robert Zammit (Partner, WH Partners) will discuss the toughening of regulations that could signal the end of the gambling liberalisation era. The panellists will dig deeper into the new realities that demand costly player registries, data-sharing schemes and heightened KYC and compliance checks.

The Review of the UK Gambling Act 2005 will be at the epicentre of the discussion between Guy Harding (Commercial Strategy & Safer Gambling Director, OddsChecker), Sophie Platts (Head of Safer Gambling and External Affairs, Entain Group), Adam Doyle (Head of Gaming, TruNarrative) and Tom Banks (Head of Corporate Affairs UK/ Global, Kindred). The speakers will explore how the review disrupted the terms of play in the UK gambling markets and how operators deal with further regulatory adjustments.

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com