Matej Novota: "CasinoBeats Malta showed us where crypto and fiat casinos stand"

Matej Novota recently returned from CasinoBeats Summit Malta 2023, which he attended as a guest speaker for one of the panels, "Crypto vs. FIAT casino: is the gap narrowing." Matej, who is Casino Guru’s Head of Data and Complaints, had interesting insights to bring as part of his deeper understanding of the crypto and player side. Matej explained the significance of CasinoBeats Summit and spoke about his own participation in the event. Here is what he had to say. His recent trip to Malta comes on the tail of a similar one to Italy where he attended the Online Casino Summit Italia.

Q: Matej, CasinoBeats Summit Malta 2023 was one of the most significant iGaming events on the calendar. Why was it important to you?

After a very successful CasinoBeats Summit Barcelona 2021 and 2022 we also decided to participate in the CasinoBeats Summit Malta. Malta is a gaming hub and HQ for many casinos and besides my panel, it was a great opportunity to meet with important people from the industry that I appreciate and with whom I have been able to exchange know-how and catch up.

Although CasinoBeats Summit is generally a smaller event than most other gatherings in Malta, I hold it to be an important stop on the calendar as it's a good opportunity to catch up and take a good look at where the industry is headed over the coming months.

Q: You were invited as a speaker on a panel discussing FIAT currencies versus cryptocurrencies. What were the main takeaways of the "Crypto vs. FIAT casino: is the gap narrowing" panel and did you and other panellists find consensus?

On our panel, there were two crypto casino representatives, one fiat casino representative, and a moderator and I was representing the affiliates. It was a very balanced discussion about the advantages and disadvantages and why these casinos can be challenging to implement or fully bring to market. I was arguing from the point of view of the players and affiliates.

Essentially, I touched on what I think should concern the industry in general – who the crypto and FIAT players are, and how they are similar and different at the same time. So, for crypto players – we have usually younger players and yes, there is a correlation between crypto owners and crypto gamblers, who are indeed very active in casino communities.

Some consumers are motivated by the idea of staying anonymous, which is definitely a thing. Of course, how fast crypto casinos will grow will depend on regulation and how popular the crypto market is itself – they are like a wild west right now, but this will most likely be changing over the coming years. There are benefits for the players, evidently even now – fast withdrawals that are irreversible, which is actually not too great when you consider that seedy characters try to target these casinos. Another issue I see is the current state of AML in crypto casinos. On the flipside, we have the blockchain technology, which could significantly improve the casinos transparency in the future if we can utilize the potential of this technology.

I am confident that decades from now, crypto casinos will most likely be dominant, but this prediction will also be contingent on whether regulation allows for these casinos to grow so quickly. Basically, if cryptocurrencies are dominant so would casinos. There is definitely a level of uncertainty about this, but I feel fairly positive it will be overcome.

Q: How has the industry changed comparing this year's and last year’s editions of the event – did you notice that more attention is being put into a specific area?

I hadn’t attended the Maltese summit before but generally speaking yes, the industry is more and more curious about how regulators react to crypto and crypto casinos, and this is definitely becoming an important topic and focal point of discussions.

A few years back, crypto casinos were seen with a higher level of mistrust even among industry stakeholders, especially those that operate in heavily regulated markets. The scope of using crypto in such markets is limited to this day, but even those companies, I think, are now beginning to examine how crypto can be integrated – regulation permitting – into their own products and offers.

I think that it’s not just about CasinoBeats Summit – all the events I have been attending have been talking a lot about crypto. It’s not as if that is the front and center discussion at every event, but it’s definitely a topic that is gathering momentum.

Q: What did you find the most interesting about the event that you think made your trip to Malta valuable and worthwhile?

Of course, I am very grateful that I could participate in the Summit as a speaker. I am very happy when I can contribute to the debate and share some of my ideas, which I have spent time on working and researching.

Apart from the panel, I was able to spend some time with our partners and personally discuss the issues we have which are very important in this industry. I would argue that our industry is one of the relationships and good rapport with the right partners, and I hold an event such as CasinoBeats Summit is doubly important because of the opportunity to nurture such relationships.

There is a business consideration as well, which is why these companies converge on events hosted by CasinoBeats, but it’s also good to see a lot of innovation and regulatory compliance being talked about honestly and openly.

Clearly, my trip to this year’s edition was more focused on data about crypto casinos, but it’s important to build connections in the affiliate landscape and ensure that your product is known and there is awareness of it. When you combine this with data-driven insights, which I believe I brought to CasinoBeats Summit 2023, the results can be very meaningful and worthwhile.

Q: What panels do you think you would like to participate in for the upcoming 2024 event if the opportunity arises?

I would like to participate. For me, it is a great opportunity to be at the centre of all this action and learn about the future of the industry firsthand and from the people who actually contribute to the monumental shifts and changes in the market.

As to my future attendance at the event, I would not mind attending or/and participating in panels that discuss statistics about player complaints, trends in gambling in general, responsible gambling, crypto regulation, and German market regulation.

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