iGaming Next Valetta: “Figuring out the future of iGaming”

Day 1 of iGaming Next Valetta was an exciting spectacle, and the event was off to a great start right with the first Keynote Panel focused on predictions in the industry, featuring Evolution CPO Todd Haushalter as the moderator and Robin Eirik Reed, CEO & Co-founder at Happyhour.io, and Tim Heath, General Partner at Yolo Investments, as speakers.

Haushalter made an outstanding introduction to the discussion, arguing that it takes courage to make predictions for the future, and promised that the predictions made during the panel would be revisited. This did not stop Reed or Heath from sharing their two cents on what the future may hold and how the industry may be changing over the next several years.

Heath started with a big one, predicting that Curacao, a popular jurisdiction where many online casino operators are based, will tighten its regulatory framework, forcing an exodus of operators who will go to, what he described, as worse jurisdictions. He was confident that the regulatory restructuring of Curacao would result in decisions that see fewer companies stick around after. Whether consumers or businesses would win was another matter altogether.

Reed did not hesitate to throw a big prediction of his own, though. He jumped at the conversation and said that Evolution would most likely seek to acquire Light & Wonder in the foreseeable future. His argument was that Light & Wonder has a lot to offer, including a strong market share in the United States, similar to Evolution’s, a good, strong focus on the lottery and sports betting business, excellent land-based standing and presence, and social casino business. Reed carried on and said that it would be highly unlikely for Evolution not to leverage its war chest and try to make another important acquisition in the US market.

Haushalter smiled politely and said, "no comment," obviously amused at how Reed was able to hit "a little too close to home." Another question followed with Haushalter keen to know if we weren’t living in the time of the Twitch streamer. He mentioned recent events and Twitch’s decision to ban a number of websites from the platform, including Roobet, Stake.com, among others, and asked whether other platforms, including YouTube, would follow suite.

Reed once again jumped at the question and said that there was aclear appetite for streaming. Streaming has become a matter where people can go and watch regular people, other people, play, and win money. ‘It’s exciting," Reed added. He said though that even if Twitch and other platforms chose to suspend gambling streams, that was okay – the industry could build its own solutions. In fact, it has already succeeded by introducing platforms such as Livespins which are set to dominate the future of the industry.

Heath was a little more skeptical of streamers in general. He said that it was definitely helpful in the context of the industry but added that he wasn’t convinced if it was great value. Reed politely interjected and reiterated that streamers can be very important to brand to which Heath acquiesced but said that he wasn’t too sure if it was good value given the actual numbers that are being poured into streamers to broadcast gambling products. Haushalter agreed that the numbers are pretty crazy, although he acknowledged that he had no hands-on experience with such deals.

The conversation then went on to talk about predictions once again – Haushalter wanted to know from his guests what would be different in five years. Those predictions, the moderator promised, would be revisited again in five years’ time at the iGaming Next stage in Valetta, Malta. Reed had an interesting prediction to make. He said that Aristocrat, an established land-based company will most likely seek to dominate the online space, and most likely succeed.

The discussion then focused on why Aristocrat would be one of the big names in five years’ time with Reed insisting that there is a lot this company can offer. It has a sprawling land-based business, he noted, that is now being digitalized, which is an important opportunity for it. It has a very strong social casual business, constantly growing content and innovative approach, he added.

Even though Aristocrat’s acquisition of Playtech fell through, the company is in a very good position to be a major player before long. This naturally led to the question about social casinos and whether gambling companies can convert the social traffic into real money players. Reed and Heath seemed to agree in the end that while possible, it seems like social casinos can generate a very good revenue on their own and that gambling companies were sometimes "lazy" to explore alternative roads.

Haushalter was also interested if online companies should start buying land-based ones. Both speakers seemed to think that the United States market was one where the land-based sector was too overwhelmingly developed so that big acquisitions would not be possible. Reed kept an open mind and said that there could be a chance for smaller-scale acquisitions from some online operators. But, ultimately, it seemed to him, that companies such as Las Vegas Sands and others will be seeking to expand their presence in the online segment more aggressively instead.

Heath and Reed both agreed that Macau’s gambling industry was going to lose some steam over the next year. Even Europe, with its tough regulatory headwinds, have become a difficult place to navigate. Reed said that if he were to launch a new operator in Europe right now, he would probably aim for Spain, Portugal, or Italy, and still need a very big budget indeed. There are other exciting markets, though.

The idea that Dubai could become the future capital of land-based gaming was floated as well, with the predictions proving truly tantalizing during the panel and the insights behind why those events would unfold remarkably insightful and logical. The panel continued on a similar tone with other smaller discussions ensuing around social casinos, their role in real money gambling, land-based gambling, and acquisitions.

Haushalter then decided to wrap up the panel, as time was running out, but asked the speakers what stock would be good to buy. Reed once again said that it would be Evolution’s. He argued that the stock was suppressed now but it will only increase in value. Heath joked that he would be buying Ethereum, but then again added that BetMakers is also a very good buy in his opinion.

As always, the speakers and their moderator seemed to agree that the best way to an investment portfolio is by diversifying it.

Image credit: iGaming Next