Key talking points from the event

Day one of ICE in Barcelona has come and gone and we're dizzy from the lights and mania of over 50,000 industry folk descending on the city's Fira Gran Via venue. For those missing out, we've curated a handy curated roundup of quotes and comments overheard by the iGB team throughout the day. Hopefully this will help stave off the FOMO for those not attending this year.

"For smaller guys targeting more than one regulated market [at a time] will be extremely challenging. I imagine smaller operators will stay very tactical and go where the money is, which is the grey markets. To build big brands in regulated markets today requires billions, rather than a start-up's millions" - Sam Brown, CEO, Rootz

In a fireside chat hosted by the iGB @ ICE Studio, Brown spoke on the difficulties on competing against tier one operators as a smaller and newer company. He said this was particularly challenging in regulated markets which are becoming extremely expensive to enter. Although Rootz operates its proprietary technology, Brown said the mammoth marketing spends of its competitors makes it very difficult to navigate some markets like Ontario.

'We have seen a substantial decrease in the volume of play as a result of the stake limits we put in place in October. Based on October and November's data we expect [stake limits have resulted in] a more or less 20% decrease in market [activity]" - Michel Groothuizen. chair, KSA

Speaking exclusively to iGB Dutch regulator chief Groothuizen said the Dutch market had seen an approximate 20% drop in activity since implementing deposit limits for online players in October 2024. He expects more in-depth data to be processed in the next few weeks.

“If there’s no cooperation, there’s no way you can fight illegal gambling”- Bashir Are, chair of Lagos state lotteries and gaming authority

Regulators and fraud experts debated ways to mitigate the growing global threat of the black market in a World Regulatory Briefing panel session. Similarly chair for the french regulator, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, said the illegal market was threatening the legitimacy of the legal market. They agreed there is a long road ahead.

"If I was a regulator still, I’d say you need to bring more to the table. How are you going to help us in going after the illegal market? How can we collaboratively work against the illegal market? Big data, big tech, big industry … what I am suggesting is that (big tech) can help us to solve problems." - Dave Rebuck, ex-director, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE)

Rush Street Interactive's Laura McAllister Cox led a discussion about how "big tech" can help the gambling industry move forward. A stress point for all stakeholders is that the amount of data collected through gambling companies is massive, and so far, there has been no efficient way to parse and then apply it. Among the panelists was Jason Clairmont of Principal Evangelist, Betting & Gaming, part of Amazon Web Services.

Tune in tomorrow for the Day two roundup!