Thomas Igou – i-Gaming Forum – Spotlight on Nordic market diversity

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Thomas Igou

The i-Gaming Forum today returns to Stockholm, as industry delegates gather to discuss the latest factors, trends and regulatory impacts effecting the lucrative Scandinavian online betting markets.

SBC caught up with i-Gaming Forum Programme Director Thomas Igou to discuss this year’s conference and overall sector developments. Igou details how i-Gaming Forum aims to showcase the diversity of individual Nordic betting markets as European betting faces new industry challenges

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SBC: Hi Thomas, thanks for the interview. The i-Gaming Forum returns to Stockholm on the 13 April, coming into 2016 what will be the key agenda and discussion for your industry conference?

Thomas: We see that online gaming is at a tipping point, and we’ve designed the agenda for this year’s I-Gaming Forum to focus on three key areas. First is differentiation. More players are playing online games across a multitude of devices, but very few show actual brand loyalty. So how can the industry deliver a new playing experience based on innovative formats, to build customer retention? We’ll also look into regulatory updates, not only from the Nordics, but from Europe as a whole as things are expected to change in countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands, for example. Lastly, we’ll be looking at customer profiles: online gaming is now hitting the mass market, that means that profiling of existing but especially new customers, is critical for growth.

SBC: There can be no-doubt that Scandinavia has an appetite for igaming services, however looking at the overall business agenda how has discussion progressed on creating an efficient and open market conditions for European operators?

Thomas: At present, not much is happening in Scandinavia right now from the government side. However, we have an interesting session at the event from Martin Ipsen of the Danish Gambling Authority, who will share what has happened in Denmark since the liberalization of the market in 2012 as we’ve seen M&A’s as well as new license holders enter the market.

SBC: As a region Scandinavia is often wrongly grouped by the industry as one. As conference producers how have will you showcase individual states and their consumer intricacies and igaming habits?

Thomas:  We have a lot of participants coming from all Nordic countries, so discussions onsite will allow for everyone to share their point of view based on their region of activities. We also have an exciting keynote from Dr. Tom Chatfield, a renowned Technology Theorist who will take the reverse angle, on better understanding the psychology of gaming and how games engage the brain, in order to develop technologies that allow to bring everyone on board.

SBC: We have seen a number of successful European focused operators first originate from Scandinavian markets, from your team’s research why have these companies’ been successful at competing in a saturated market?

Thomas: Although Scandinavia is a small region in terms of population, it has many advantageous factors for gaming operators, and tech companies in general. First, it’s a very innovative and tech-savvy region (think Spotify, Skype…). It’s also a region with a very high penetration of smartphones and tablets, so almost everyone is equipped to play. Furthermore, it gets very cold and very dark for a long period of time in the winter, naturally you get less time to play “physical” games outside, and more time inside to play online or video games. It’s also a region that doesn’t use cash, and mobile payment is getting more and more traction, so all of these ingredients make it an ideal market for the industry.

SBC: Finally, what learnings do you want delegates attending the i-Gaming Forum to take away from the conference?

Thomas: What we want participants to get from the conference, first and foremost, is to challenge the way they are running their businesses today and the way they see the future of their industry. Regardless of how well their business is doing today, if you want to stay on top, you need to keep challenging yourself. And hopefully they will get inspired by the speakers, panelists, and peers to innovate and drive the industry

 


Source: SBC News

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