Adam heads-up Betsson Group’s Recruitment function Globally across all locations and departments. He’s been with the business for over 5 years where’s he’s been central to their talent acquisition and people growth strategy. With over 15 years in the industry he’s passionate about all things Recruitment with a special connection to emerging trends and developing high performing teams.
JOHN GORDON
CEO
Incentive Games
Website
Email
I sit a the top of Incentive Towers and ensure the geeks keep churning out top games (yes we pay people to create games, can you believe that). I am also in charge of the bean-flickers in the dungeon (they keep the lights out at the Towers). Now and then I get literally or virtually rolled out to bore people at i-Gaming/BROSS Reunited conferences.
Abby is currently the Vice President of Legal of Betsson AB and General Counsel of Betsson’s Operational Group, managing its legal, compliance and regulatory functions. Abby is an England and Wales qualified solicitor with over 10 years’ experience in media, e-commerce and the igaming sector across a number of multinational companies including NBC Universal and JD Sports PLC.
ABDALLA KABLAN
Chairman
Website
Email
Dr. Abdalla Kablan is an award winning serial entrepreneur, and Fintech expert. He specialises in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the design of complex systems. He is the CEO of Wyzer Ai and founder of Hippo Data, a Fintech and AI startup which was selected in 2016 to be a part of Microsoft Ventures, UK. Hippo Data’s VR platform was also featured at the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos. Furthermore, he is the founder of Scheduit, an intelligent business oriented matchmaking and professional networking platform.
Adam Kostyál is the Senior Vice President of the Global Listing Services and head of European Listings for Nasdaq. Besides the Nordic Exchanges, Nasdaq has approximately 200 companies that are either primarily listed or dual listed on Nasdaq in the USA. In addition Nasdaq has launched the Nasdaq Private Market which is an offering focused on supporting private growth companies in managing liquidity events. Adam has been with Nasdaq for the past 10 years. He started his career at OMX and has been in various commercial roles within the organization. Prior to his current role he had overall responsibility for Nasdaq Market Technology for the European, Central and Eastern European regions. Prior to Nasdaq, Adam held various positions with Enron, Cell Network and Bloomberg. He holds a BSc in Economics and Marketing from Vrije Universiteit de Bruxelles and speaks four languages including English, Swedish, Italian and French. He is also the father of five.
Adam is an Associate Director in the KPMG Economics team, where he has worked for the past six years. Adam has a passion for the economics of the gambling industry, and has worked with a number of clients on engagements in M&A, game design, simulation analyses and taxation. In M&A specifically, his work typically includes assisting clients seeking to achieve clearance from competition authorities during merger processes in the UK, EU and other jurisdictions, as well as assisting third parties taking an active interest in the outcome of a merger inquiry. He has also worked on the strategy side of deals.
ADAM SAVINSON
Head of Esports
Website
Email
Adam Savinson has been Head of Esports at Betway group, since May 2015. Adam’s passion for Esports and wealth of experience in Digital Marketing has helped drive Betway’s fast paced growth within the Esports Betting industry.
Adam has been connecting the best Global talent with the World’s leading employers for over 15 years. As Recruitment Manager for Betsson Group it’s his role to ensure Malta’s largest iGaming business is attracting the very best talent the market has to offer. During the last 3.5 years Adam has played a central role in enabling Betsson Group to drastically scale-up to meet the hiring demands of the business. Before Betsson, Adam split his recruitment career between specialist consultancies and running internal recruitment functions for companies primarily in the Digital and Tech space. Not necessarily the intended career route for this Politics and Journalism Grad but certainly one he’s never looked back on.
ADEKUNLE ADENIJI
Managing Director
betBonanza
Website
Email
Adekunle began his career in the gambling sector by writing and selling lottery ebooks when he was still completing his tertiary education. adekunle has been in the gaming industry for a decade now. He has also been part of two other very successful gaming companies in Nigeria before leaving to manage the operations of betBonanza. He is also a thought leader and a member of an editorial board of bettingafrica.com.
Adriaan is passionate about betting, gambling, technology and internet payment technology. He has designed and built a number of industrial strength systems and has over 20 years of experience operating online gambling sites including the world’s first online gaming site – plus lotto – launched in 1995.
Adriaan Brits is a marketing consultant, trusted business adviser and author of e-learning solutions for S&P500 clients. Many of his publications and thought leadership can be found at major outlets. With focus on digital marketing, analytics and media buying, Adriaan also helps mastermind affiliate development strategy.
Adrian is a successfull fintech investor and estate entrepreneur, spending more than 20 years building and developing companies. His experience include 30 tech start-ups mentored since 2014, 250 real estate transactions completed since 2008 and a long career in senior position. Adrian is eager to share his knowledge both as a keynote speaker and by providing marketing and business courses followed by more than 10,000 students since 2013.
Aideen Shortt started working in the gambling industry in 1999 when online sportsbooks and casinos were considered a worrisome experiment by the landbased operators who feared cannibalisation of revenues and damage to their brands. In the 20 years that followed she has held senior positions across the spectrum of development, supply-side and B2C operations, leading to an extremely broad experience that has provided knowledge and insight into every aspect of our industry as it stands today. She is a Partner Consultant in the Random Consulting Group and works with varied clients from start up companies to global behemoths.
Alan began his career as a banker and developed into an Information Systems Auditor to led the bank’s IT Audit section. In 2000 he began advising the first remote gaming companies to come to Malta, and continued to specialise in this field. In 2006 Alan decided to form Kyte Global
Team Leader, Creative, Managing Director, Marketing Professional and Industry Influencer with more than 17 years’ experience in Gaming and Entertainment Industry. Organizer of the most state-of-the-art exhibitions and networking events, passionate about helping an organization build brand awareness for maximum revenue potential in a global market. Love to help to shape the future.
Dr Alan Littler advises the national and international gambling industry as a member of the Gaming Practice. The focus of Alan’s work is for remote gambling operators and adjacent activities, such as social gaming. He also advises those providing services to the sector, e.g. particularly payment services providers, and covers regulatory developments in the lottery and casino markets. Current interests include issues concerning data protection and privacy around gambling. Alan has a strong academic background in European law, holding a LL.M. (cum laude) in European Community Law from Leiden University, and moreover having been awarded his PhD from Tilburg University for research on the regulation of gambling and EU law. His research was published under the title “Member States versus the European Union: The Regulation of Gambling“ by Martinus Nijhoff in 2011.
ALBERT AGUSTINOY
Partner
cuatrecasas
Website
Email
Mr. Agustinoy has ample experience in advising multinational ecommerce operators, particularly advising on regulatory, commercial and procedural matters for the gambling industry. He also has a strong background in intellectual property and new technologies, having participated as legal advisor in many commercial and litigation cases related to technological agreements, ecommerce, personal data protection, domain names, image rights, and industrial and intellectual property.
ALBERT CLIMENT
Founder
Oneblock Technologies
Website
Email
Founder of Bluesea Gaming, entrepreneurial, hands-on, and goal-oriented individual, with a knack for deal-making. Problem solver, and comfortable in complex business scenarios.
Project Manager at DAO.CASINO – decentralised public Ethereum based system for gambling industry. Aleksandra Fetisova is interested in self-organisation and decentralised infrastructure since 2012. She is an expert in the field of IT and fintech with eight years of experience in managing large projects. She had a degree in Business Management and Certificate of International Coach Federation. At the conference, the speaker will tell which opportunities are opened for gambling industry by decentralized blockchain technologies and other innovative P2P communication.
Alessandro Fried is the chairman of BtoBet. Being an entrepreneur, he designed, developed and launched many successful products in the international market. He was instrumental to create the first search engines for the Italian market, having immediate success. Due to his expertise in iGaming, Alessandro saw the birth of the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), obtaining the first European license in remote gaming. This served as a catalyst to expand the iGaming industry in Europe. Alessandro is widely recognized as a visionary in the iGaming sector and he is frequently invited to speak at national and international iGaming forms.
Alessandro Gherardi is the General Manager of Advice Global ltd, a world leader in email marketing and present in 12 countries. In the company since 2016, he manages a team of 6 people and has a special focus on the Brazilian market. Besides having dual citizenship (Italian and Brazilian), he has a great knowledge of the digital market in Brazil, especially in affiliate marketing. He was one of the speakers at the biggest Affiliate Marketing event in Latin America, Afiliados Brazil 2018. In this presentation learn the similarities and differences of how affiliation in Latin America, specifically in Brazil, differs from that in European markets such as UK and Nordics.
ALESSANDRO PIZZOLOTTO
Co-Founder and CEO
Stm Gaming
Website
Email
I have been working in the igaming industry for over ten years now, during which i Co-founded Gamerevolution S.r.l and today i can say that in Italy we are the leading company on online affiliation, with particular focus on poker. Over the years i sharpened my skills as a manager and as an executive which lead me to work on several projects gaming related. In 2017 i Co-Found STMGaming that quickly became Btobet Certified White Label Partner, and acquire the right to resell white label solution in Africa and Europe. We created a team of skilled professionals and created a ready to go package to accommodate all the needs of this ever growing market, from the corporate in need of a sportbetting solution, to a start up in need of a complete solution and services. With the support of Btobet we strive to improve our offering, we do this by improving our software every day, and by improving the level of the services we provide.
Editor of the Gioco News magazine – a leading publication in public gaming field – and of the online newspaper GioconNws.it. Considered among main experts in Italy in public gaming field, he attends major public debates on the subject in Italy and abroad. He is a teacher of various professional training courses on the subject of communication in gaming.
Alex Antsyferov, Head of Product Development at Trueplay. Has over five years of experience in developing IT products for the U.S. and Canada markets (dating, social, fin-tech apps), more than 10 product teams built from scratch. Since 2017, Alex leads a product development team and implements a business development strategy at Trueplay, a blockchain platform for transparent business between players, operators, game providers and affiliates in the iGaming industry. Alex is also in charge of expanding the company’s partner network with new game providers and regulators.
Alex joined KPMG Malta in 2005 after successfully completing his Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) Degree at the University of Malta. Following a number of years working within the Audit function, he joined the Risk Consulting Advisory team in 2013. He is an accountant by profession, holds the Practising Certificate in Auditing and is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor. Alex is a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants (MIA) and a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). Through his career at KPMG Malta, Alex obtained extensive experience in auditing, risk consulting advisory and internal audit. He currently leads the firm’s provision of Internal Audit Services to a diversified portfolio of local and international clients. He is also involved in the provision of regulatory advisory services to a number of banking and insurance clients. Alex has regularly provided technical training on a number of subjects including financial reporting standards and regulation. He currently serves as Secretary to the Committee of the Malta Forum for Internal Auditors.
ALEX COHEN
COO
Kalamba Games
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Email
Alex is COO and Co-founder of Kalamba games. He is a game design specialist who has developed many long-lasting hits throughout his career. An established thought leader and accomplished speaker, his main areas of interest include Statistical Modelling, User Interface Design and Game Mechanic development combined with a deep knowledge of the gaming industry as a whole.
ALEX KORNILOV
CEO & Founder at BETEGY
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Email
Started his first business at 18. In 2007 he won “Dragons Den” TV show and had his first steps for a big success in the tech industry. Since then he got involved in several “big data” projects. In 2012, he founded “BETEGY” which analyses statistical data and calculates football predictions with the highest accuracy on the market.
Alex Munteanu is the Founder and CEO of the fastest growing affiliate company, AXL AFFILIATES. He’s been working in the iGaming industry since 2006. Being a sports enthusiast and a professional tennis player, he managed to include AXL AFFILIATES in the top 10 worldwide affiliates, generating over 10.000 FTD’s per month. During the past few years he has dedicated a lot of resources on acquisitions and various investments in the casino and online betting industry.
ALEX SAKOTA
Founder
High Creative Ltd.
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Email
Alex Sakota is an experienced speaker, organising and taking part in various major SEO seminars in Malta. He specialises in Internet marketing services, including interactive advertising, pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, social, article and affiliate marketing, organic search engine marketing (including on and off site search engine optimization, organic searches and link popularity). As a founder of Growth Hacker and High Creative, Sakota is running network of websites that receive over 3 million unique visitors per month where over 90% of traffic comes from search engines. Due to his own initiative, Sakota developed a plan for opening a new multimedia center in Belgrade with the budget of 5M, which was supported and financed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Sakota has an extensive background of major computer software, hardware and LAN issues with expertise in SEO, including professional multimedia software on both Windows and Apple platforms.
ALEXANDER BORODICH
Founder & CEO
Universa
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Email
ALEXANDER FAZEL
CPO
SWISSBORG
Website
Email
ALEXANDER MARTIN
CEO
SKS365
Website
Email
Alexander Martin is the CEO of SKS365, an authorized sport betting and gaming operator, one among the leaders in the Italian betting market, where it operates under the Planetwin365 brand. Alexander was previously Chief New Media Officer and Executive Board Member of Gauselmann AG, holding the positions from 2014 to 2018. He brings a career of experience in both strategic leadership as well as sports betting, online gaming and digital transformation in multinational companies. Prior to 2014 he spent 15 years as Top Management Consultant at A.T. Kearney. During his long-standing international advisory activities he developed and established new business models in companies and markets inter alia on the basis of modern technologies.
Dr Alexander Pfeiffer is Head of the Centre for Applied Game Studies at Donau Universität Krems (Austria), partner at Picapipe GmbH (Austria) and B & P Ltd. (Malta). He has a broad and deep understanding in the fields of media and game studies, marketing & HR, emerging (VR/AR) and blockchain technologies. At SiGMA 2018, Dr. Pfeiffer will be present on two panels. In the first panel, he will present his insights and experiences in the world of esports, starting from his publication on the perception of esports, published almost 10 years ago. At the moment, Dr. Pfeiffer is designing and developing an academic Masters of Arts programme in esports. During his second appearance, Dr. Pfeiffer will discuss crypto-collectibles (as per his PhD dissertation), combining recent literature and research in the fields of sociology, collection studies, game studies and blockchain technology, in order to create a 360° eagle eye perspective on this topic.
ALEXANDER SUHOBOKOV
Head of Fintech
Dukascopy Bank
Website
Email
Alexander is responsible for the Fintech solutions at Dukascopy Bank. He manages the team that develops the digital banking infrastructure and integrates new crypto projects into traditional banking environment. Alexander is also in charge of banking solutions for external providers of crypto-related services, e.g. crypto brokers and exchanges. Alexander holds an MBA in Banking degree from the University of London and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and FRM (Financial Risk Manager) charterholder. Currently, Alexander pursues a PhD in Finance program at the University of Glasgow.
ALEXANDRE DREYFUS
CEO
Chiliz
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Email
Alexandre Dreyfus is the CEO and owner of the privately held Mediarex Sports & Entertainment which, in 2012, acquired the GlobalPokerIndex (GPI) and in 2013 TheHendonMob.com. With these acquisitions, the company became a leading digital hub for the poker industry with more than 4 million poker players per year making use of our services. It owns and operates the 12 year old largest live poker database with more than 270,000 events covered and 450,000 player profiles. Alexandre runs the Global Poker League (GPL) a new sport property with 400 hours of broadcast distributed by Twitch.tv, USA Today, Sina.com.cn and a few other digital outlets. GPL is a single-league entity with 12 franchises (New York Rounders, Hong Kong Stars, Las Vegas Moneymakers, etc.), contracting 72 of the best poker players in the world ($350mm of winnings) in a 20 week season, with a live final @ Wembley Arena in London.
ALEXANDRE KECH
CEO
Onchain Custodian
Website
Email
ALEXEY SINYUSHKIN
COO - OLIMP BOOKMAKERS
Website
Email
Alexey Sinyushkin was involved in gaming industry in 2005 when joined Olimp Bookmakers. Playing a critical role in the establishment of the trading and operations departments within the business, Sinyushkin boasts a thorough knowledge of all aspects of a sports-betting business including trading, mathematical modelling, analytics, risk management, retail, payments, customer services, product management and marketing. He also has significant experience in working closely with global leading data, software and technology providers.
Dott.ssa Alexia Frendo B.Psy (Hons.) Malta, M.Sc (Rome) is an organizational psychologist who has worked in the HR sphere both in Malta and abroad for the past twelve years. She graduated in psychology from the University of Malta in 2002. In 2005 Alexia completed an academic and practical Masters programme in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. Currently, Alexia is Lead HR Business Partner within Kindred Group. She is an accomplished HR professional with over 12 years’ experience in the private sector. Alexia works with an international HR Team whom together enable managers to recruit, train and retain a high performing and motivated workforce. The HR Team focuses on developing and implementing on-boarding, training and development, performance management, employee retention, benefits management and employee relations policies and strategies. Alexia provides guidance and leadership to senior managers, paying particular attention to retention. She is also responsible for a number of initiatives that contribute to the Culture and Employee Experience, ensuring that Kindred is the Best Place to Work. She works closely with Engagement Groups set in every location to ensure that the employee’s voice is heard and suggestions are implemented in a timely manner. Alexia has lectured at the University of Malta and the Foundation for Human Resources Development. Moreover, she carried out research about the labour market for the Centre for Labour Studies (University of Malta). She is a member of the Malta Association of Work and Organizational Psychology and a HR Committee Member of the Malta Chamber Foundation (www.maltachamber.org.mt)
Alexia Smilovic is the Regulated Markets Product Owner at Net Entertainment and she will bring a wealth of experience to the regulatory conference at SiGMA 2015.
ALEXIS WICÉN
Co-Founder
Unibo
Website
Email
Alexis has a background in e-Sports, Computer Science, Sportsbetting and over twelve years working in iGaming with a focus on Casino. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Unibo, bringing real-time gamification to iGaming, as well as Scatters.com, an Online Casino.
Alice forms part of the core gaming team at KPMG and is dedicated to all aspects of the Gaming industry as a whole. Alice works cross-functionally alongside KPMG’s dedicated teams of individuals who provide industry focused assurance, tax and advisory services to a large and varied client base across the gaming industry. Alice’s main area of focus within the department lies in assisting companies in acquiring a Malta remote gaming license; assisting our clients throughout the entire process of application, or renewal, of the internet gaming license and undertaking the general liaison with the Malta Gaming Authority in this regard. Alice stays on top of the complex regulatory gaming landscape in order to be able to assist our clients in gaining a better understanding of the impact of such regulatory changes as well as helping to improve their ability to meet new and fast-developing regulatory expectations. Alice closely assists the gaming team with working numerous techniques to help raise the bar and champion Malta as the jurisdiction of choice, including holding regular meetings with the Regulator at the Malta Gaming Authority and other industry stakeholders and attending international conferences and events. Alice is heavily involved in the organisation of the annual KPMG Malta eSummit which brings together a host of keynote speakers and industry stakeholders to discuss the latest trends in eGaming and receive sector updates. Alice is currently playing a central role in kick-starting the KPMG #WeAllWantToPlay initiative out in Malta. This initiative aims to raise awareness around the issue of gender diversity in the gaming industry and sheds light on the opportunities and challenges facing women in the Gambling and Betting Sectors.
Alina is a passionate Romanian law qualified lawyer currently focusing her practice on gambling law. During the past years, she has assisted several gambling operators in obtaining their first online licenses in Romania, and provided day-to-day advice on various regulatory issues related to the organization and operation of their gambling activity. On the supply end, Alina has assisted various gambling suppliers to the B2C operators to include software and platform suppliers, payment processor, marketing affiliates as well as testing laboratories in the process of obtaining their first Class 2 licenses in Romania. Alina also provides assistance in relation to intellectual property law, advising clients in various industries on trademark and design rights, copyright and related rights matters, as well as consumer protection. She is a member of the Bucharest Bar.
ALINA YAKIREVICH
CMO
FONBET
Website
Email
Alina has extensive experience in all marketing areas – TV, Digital advertising, BTL-communications, printed and radio advertising, PR, SMM, SEO and context, contend and native advertising, as well as B2B marketing. Alina Yakirevich has reorganized and set up the work of FONBET marketing team in all divisions and established KPIs that reflect the most important business goals of the company.
Amandus has more than 13 years’ experience within the international tax and legal fields. Before joining Betsson he was an advisor with PWC. He has also held various specialist and management positions at the Swedish Tax Agency. Amandus has studied law and management at Uppsala and Adelaide Universities.
Amedeo brings with him both a high profile and wealth of experience across Business Operations, Digital & Affiliate Marketing in the Gaming, Crypto and Financial industries. He is a former Executive of Playtech Plc. and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Euro Partners and London Capital Group Plc. Today he is in charge of the Global Marketing and Business Operation of DX.EXCHANGE, Crypto Exchange Powered by Nasdaq’s Matching Engine Technology
Amy Camilleri Zahra is a resident academic at the University of Malta and is currently reading for a doctorate at the same university. Her research interests are gender and disability studies. Amy Camilleri obtained a Bachelor in Psychology (Hons) from the University of Malta in 2011 and she later obtained a Masters in Disability Studies from the University of Leeds in 2014. Amy Camilleri Zahra has worked as a consultant on disability rights with a number of private companies. She is also an experienced Disability Equality Trainer. Prior to joining the University of Malta she was employed by the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (Malta) and was in charge of the promotion, protection and monitoring of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is also a disability rights activist and was awarded the Junior Chamber International Award for Personal Achievement in 2006, the Youth of the Year Award by Kerygma in 2008, the US Ambassador's Women of Courage Award in 2016 and the Global Goals Junior Chamber International Award in 2016 for her work and activism in the disability sector. Amy Camilleri Zahra has also worked with a number of private companies as a motivational speaker based on her own personal experience.
– age: 43 – nationality: Slovak – education: Studied mathematics and physics on the University of Comeniana in Bratislava and later postgradual study from number theory/math – previous work: CEO of e-group Slovakia – technical division of the mother company from Spain, working only with male programmers – currently: CEO of Kootac, lottery operator from Malta. Offering secondary lottery and lottery messenger service.
Ana-Maria is a Partner at NNDKP, a pioneer of business law in Romania. She co-heads the Gaming and Consumer Protection & Advertising practices of the Firm together with Cosmina Simion and is also the Partner coordinating the IP and Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare practices. Aside from her legal work and managerial responsibilities for the past 15 years with the Firm, she was involved in initiatives regarding NNDKP’s day-to-day life, which included roles such as the Partner championing its marketing activity, IT activity, lawyers’ professional development and internal procedures. In the gaming field, she has been guiding betting & gaming companies, solution providers for the gaming industry, marketing affiliates, other companies with interest in this sector, as well as industry relevant associations, on the full range of regulatory and operational gaming aspects, including by providing assistance and representation before the Romanian regulator. Over the past years, she has played an active role in the process of drafting the primary and secondary gaming legislation. Ana-Maria also participates in the official meetings held by the Consultative Council of the Romanian regulator, which address important issues related to the development of the local market. Complementarily, she is a regular contributor to industry dedicated publications.
ANDRE XUEREB
Associate Professor
University of Malta
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Email
ANDREA BELLEZA
VP of EU and Asia Pacific Markets
KaFe Rocks
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Email
Andrea with KaFe Rocks since the very beginning, has contributed to the growth of the company thanks to a unique set of skills developed in several international experiences. Demonstrated history of efficiently working in local startups as well as organizations that operates globally, focusing on Quality Assurance, Management and Marketing.
ANDREA D. DOMINGO
Chairwoman & CEO
PAGCOR
Website
Email
ANDREA ROSSI
Managing Director Southern Europe and Latin America
Andrea Rossi is the Commercial Director for Southern Europe and LatAm region for Betsson Group. Andrea has been in the iGaming industry for 15 years and in 2012 joined Betsson as Casino Manager for the Group’s Italian brand, StarCasino.it, nowadays considered the number one online casino in Italy. Along the years Andrea expanded his commercial responsibilities in the Spanish and LatAm markets. His motto is “If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.”
Dr. Andreas Glarner has a legal background in technology and works primarily for international companies in the technology and Internet sector. He heads MME’s gaming group and is a member of IMGL. In addition to his gaming practice, Andreas Glarner has extensive experience in the areas of fintech, blockchain technology applications and e-payments in legal, regulatory and compliance perspective. As an expert on legal questions at the interface between technology and regulations, Andreas Glarner is a regular speaker at international conferences and frequently publishes on topics related to his areas of activity.
ANDREW BATEY
Co-founder
Beatdapp
Website
Email
Andrew is the Co-founder of Beatdapp. Previously, Andrew helped launch and promote multiple top 10 (iTunes & Billboard chart) musicians, major brands, and successful web properties. Andrew has served as an executive at various global technology companies including Head of Growth at EasyMarkit and CMO at Spinlister.
Andrew is practice head within Odgers Berndtson, responsible for promoting the firm’s global capabilities within the gaming market. Based in London, he co-ordinates the Odgers Berndtson international network to deliver local and global searches whilst also leading on all searches within Europe. Prior to joining Odgers Berndtson, Andrew spend eight years running teams within a UK listed executive recruitment business, handling senior search and selection assignments in the technology/online, consumer goods and financial services industries in the UK and Europe.
Andrew is the Managing Partner of GVZH Advocates and heads the firm’s Corporate and Banking & Finance Practice, being actively involved in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, licensing of financial services businesses with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and asset-financing transactions. He is particularly active in advising businesses within the TMT space, having pioneered the licensing of various fintech operators in Malta, and led various corporate acquisitions which most notably include the sale of Malta’s largest quad telecoms player and a number of significant online gaming operators. Andrew currently holds the position of Council Member of the Institute for Financial Services Practitioners. Andrew graduated from the University of Malta in 1999 (Doctorate of Laws) and subsequently pursued a Masters of Law degree at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) in the areas of Company Law, Financial Services Regulation, The Law of International Finance and International Trade Law, which he completed successfully in 2000.
Andrew McCarron has been writing about the gambling industry since 1998. After completing a journalism degree at the University of Central Lancashire, during which he worked in a South Manchester betting shop, he joined the coin-op titles Coinslot International and Euroslot Worldwide. In 2004, McCarron became the founding editor of Betting Business, oversaw the change to Betting Business interactive in 2010 and has since been in charge of driving the magazine’s editorial content and advising on group events. During this time, he has helped establish the magazine internationally as one of the leading authorities on betting and gaming matters. As well as developing an extensive network of both land-based and online contacts, he is also an advisor to social betting operator Oddslife.
ANDREW W SCOTT
Vice Chairman & CEO
Inside Asian Gaming
Website
Email
Born in Australia, Andrew is a gaming industry expert and media publisher, commentator and journalist who moved to Hong Kong in 2005 and then Macau in 2009, when he founded O MEDIA, one of Macau’s largest media companies. O MEDIA’s flagship asset is Inside Asian Gaming (IAG), which was founded in 2005 and is the premier B2B media brand covering the Asian integrated resort, entertainment and gaming industry. IAG also produces business and social events and has a consulting business. IAG launched IAG Japan in January 2019 to cover the burgeoning IR industry in Japan. IAG publishes a daily email newsletter titled IAG Breakfast Briefing every weekday in English, traditional Chinese and Japanese, and a monthly magazine in two bilingual versions: English with Chinese, and English with Japanese. O MEDIA also owns a range of other B2C and B2B digital and print media products across numerous channels including print, websites, social media platforms, cloud readers, eDMs and more. Andrew is very active in the local Macau community and was the 2014 Macau Person of the Year.
ANDY BLACKBURN
Marketing Professional
Website
Email
Andy is a 20-year iGaming veteran having worked for or with some of the biggest names in the industry. For the last 10 years he has run GameOn Marketing, a marketing and PR agency specialising in the iGaming industry. When not working, he’s usually found watching or refereeing rugby.
As Bit8’s chief executive officer, Angelo Dalli is responsible for leading the company’s product development, business and technology strategy. Angelo co-founded Bit8 with Keith Galea and Brian Fenech after identifying the need for an intelligent backend system that positively impacts the operator’s bottom line while providing an awesome player experience. Angelo has joined Bit8 as its CEO in 2013 and has led the company through its initial growth phase and its first external financing round.
Anna is a senior commercial and regulatory lawyer at CMS, specialising in gambling, data protection, consumer law and advertising. Anna advises on the full range of operational and regulatory matters, including compliance and regulatory issues, advertising, software licensing, white label agreements, sponsorship and affiliate arrangements. She has significant experience of Gambling Commission investigations and licence reviews and represented a number of clients in relation to the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the sector.
ANNALISE AZZOPARDI
Customer Insights Analyst at Melita
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Email
ANNIE SIARA
CEO & Founder
86 CONNECTS
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Email
Annie is a proven entrepreneur within the leisure and hospitality sectors internationally. Prior to 86 Connects Annie delivered enterprise technology to the integrated resorts opening in Asia. Currently focused on 86 Connects. Delivering sales and marketing strategy for integrated resorts, hospitality, and retail industries into the Chinese consumer markets
ANTON GOLUB
CEO & Founder
Flovtec
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Email
Anton Golub is the founder & CEO of flovtec, a Swiss liquidity provider for digital assets. flovtec offers liquidity solutions for tokens & exchanges, and investment products for institutional investors. He co-founded Lykke, a semi-decentralized exchange and issued worlds’ first security token. Prior to Lykke, he was a high-frequency trader.
Anton is a Director of Greenlaw Limited, which provides advice to companies operating in or investing into gambling sector. Anton is also a founding partner and member of the Investment Committee for the Novia Fund, which makes investments in growth opportunities in the international gaming sector. Anton is a shareholder of and currently serves as a board member of market leading youth research, marketing and social gaming platform software development business, Dubit Limited, and is also an investor in and board member of the RMG casino operator, Ever Adventure Limited. Anton is also an investor in and serves as an advisor to the social casino operator, Wedge Buster Inc, the betting community platform, Betfect.com, and the lottery operator, NEKTR. Anton holds a MA Hons in History from Oxford University and an MSc in Investment from CASS Business School. Anton has served as an Editor of iGaming Business magazine since 2004.
Successful entrepreneur, Forex trader with more than 10 years experience. Has a higher economic education. Strong business development professional focused in Business, Management, Marketing. An experienced investor in crypto-currencies in the early stages. Deep knowledge of the algorithms of search engines, the experience of successful, promotion of sites on competitive requests, the ability to analyze large amounts of information and draw conclusions, knowledge of Internet marketing and advertising, and the main software products for website promotion. Skills in working with content management systems, teamwork and leadership.
Anton is a strategic and creative thinker developing scalable solutions to derive max value from Sizmek’s technology and services. He plays a key role in developing and managing gaming clients accounts with a strong global focus. Anton works cross-functionally with the sales and product teams developing the best solutions for key client targets and their agencies.
Antonello has been involved in the iGaming and eSecurity indusry for over 10 years. With a Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information Systems, together with a Masters Degree in Information Technology specialising in Information Security from the University of Liverpool, Antonello currently occupies the role of Fraud Project Manager at Greentube. Before joining Greentube Antonello worked at Betfair where he initially led and managed the Fraud team and later was also responsible for the identification, implementation and up keeping of all fraud systems. Prior to that, Antonello had a key role at the Information Society Secretariat within the Ministry for Investment, Industry and IT where he held the role of Project Coordinator particularly responsible for nationwide eSecurity projects including the establishment of a National Trustmark aimed at highlighting business trustworthiness and subsequently improving the eCommerce sector in Malta. Antonello is also a local councilor in his locality, Hamrun.
Antonio Zanghi is the Founder and Managing Director at Maxima Compliance, where he leads a growing team working across a wide portfolio of gaming clients. An experienced compliance professional, he was a regulatory compliance manager at international gaming giant IGT and has also directed compliance efforts at the likes of Yahoo! Daily Fantasy Sport, Red Tiger Gaming and the CasinoCoin Foundation.
ANTTI ALATALO
Marketing Director & Co-Founder
Cashcow ltd
Website
Email
I'm one of the founders of Cashcow. I've been in SEO since 2014 and entered the Igaming industry in 2016. Cashcow is well-known for its flagship product Casino Professor, which is an award-winning affiliate site. We currently operate across various countries and have expanded outside of gaming.
I have worked in many segments in Brazil including transportation (Alston), gaming (Unidesa, IGT) and consulting. Currently Advisor at Pay4Fun and Director at Expense Reduction Analysts. Strong experience in the e-commerce sector, including product development, marketing, payment processing, and administration. BBA and MBA.
ARIEL WEISS
CEO of n00b
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Email
Ariel is the CEO of n00b, an eSports startup aiming to make eSports accessible for non-professional gamers as regular sports are for everybody. With over 18 years of experience in the software and hi-tech business, From early career roles in the elite tech unit of the Israeli Defence Forces leading command & control system development, to start-up, C-suite leadership roles in the edTech as well as the eSports space, Ariel has long held an appreciation of how technology can change the world.
ARTJOMS SPIRIDONOVS
CEO - DAOGroup
DAOGroup
Website
Email
He served key managerial roles in leading iGaming companies for more than ten years and launched successful products in various areas, including live casino, social casino, RNG games and risk analysis systems.
Assaf Stieglitz is a gaming entrepreneur at heart and a software engineer by qualification. He entered the online gaming industry in 2003 establishing odds1x2.com, an odds comparison operation based on artificial intelligence algorithms. Since then, his company has sent him into key markets and lucrative verticals in the affiliation world. Recently his company launched PlayWiseCasino.com based on a unique rating system – called “Wise Rating” – which targets players looking for honest reviews of online casinos with an edge. Assaf is a frequent speaker at i-Gaming conferences and always enjoys sharing his extensive industry knowledge and experience with fellow affiliates, operators, business owners and regulators.
ATHANASIOS-THANOS MARINOS
Betting and Gaming Entrepreneur
Website
Email
Throughout his career , in executive positions within international leading operators in the betting and gaming industry, he has earned a successful track record in managing complex business initiatives,and delivering exceptional rather than expected results. Business development from Russia to Turkey and from Africa to the UK he always enjoys delivering to the market solutions that work and do have a significant impact to the Operators.
Having over 15 years of experience in the gambling industry, the Co-Founder and COO of Campeón Gaming Partners, has worked for 10 years at betfair.com and 3 years at neteller.com. During his career, he has led innumerous projects, specializing in payment solutions, managed teams and successfully developed the businesses he has worked for.
BABATUNDE IBIDAPO-OBE
Partner Akin Ibidapo-Obe & Co
Website
Email
Tunde advises on deals bringing international companies into the Nigerian gaming industry and provides legal support to a number of local gaming operators. His area of expertise is the regulatory framework, and optmial operational structure of Gaming operators. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Betting in Africa
BARTOSZ ANDRUSZANIEC
Advisor Xerus Consulting
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Email
Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw and a member of the District Chamber of Legal Advisers. Specializes in gambling law and provides advisory services to leading international gambling operators. Works in a wide range of cases regarding the gambling sector, provides advisory services within the scope pf regulatory and consumer issues, advertising and promotion law, and conducts administrative and court proceedings. Participates in procedures for the license to organize mutual bets. Has extensive expertise in transactions covering the participation in the biggest transactions on the Polish market. Gained qualifications working for leading international law firms. Provided advisory services to one of the biggest UK real estate funds in the process of assets sale (including real estate and shopping centers). Conducted transactions of banks merges, sale of shares of a mobile telephony operator, and sale of a cinema network. Acquired practice in current corporate service, law of contracts, and real estate law.
As VP R&D @ Tomobox Israel, Baruchi is responsible for the development and delivery of the company’s AI based platform. Baruchi brings to Tomobox over 14 years of experience in developing ML, Data analysis, and NLU based systems of both text and voice, and a 25 years experience in coding.
BEATA YOUNG
Founder of WomenOnIT
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Email
I am a serial entrepreneur from Poland as well an active figure in the startup scene generally and specifically working with women. I am Chairman and a cofounder of Mission: Torun , the startup community in Kujawsko-Pomorskie province, based in the city where Copernicus was born. Building on that innovative legacy, I am the local coordinator for women in technology group Geek Girls Carrots and am MD of the tech cafe space Hanza Cafe from which I have mentored women and startups from around the region. Recently I have cofunded the local crowdfunding platform HanzaTrade to encourage the community to start their own ventures for prosperity of us all!
BEATRICE COLLECT
Managing Director
Chiliz
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Email
Béatrice is the Managing Director of Chiliz Blockchain Campus, the epicenter of Blockchain in Malta. Beatrice is focused on growing the Blockchain Community on the island and acts as a key node for Blockchain entrepreneurs.
BEN BRADTKE
Co-Founder & Managing Director - Product & Marketing
Ben Bradtke is a gamer by heart. Having spent his teenage days playing early esports, he turned his passion for games to his profession. His Netflix is called Twitch.tv, his football is called CSGO. Before launching esportsbetting.com, Ben was Head of Marketing at Dojo Madness, a VC-backed esports big data startup building gamer tools and providing B2B esports services such as esports odds. He believes that the future of esports betting is based on an integrity-first approach to guarantee long-term growth. Educating the audience about regulated betting & supporting esports is the key to breaking into this industry. To sum it up: An esports strategist that is passionate about brand building in the esports ecosystem.
Ben Carlotti is the Managing Director and Co Founder of the first European Fantasy Football game, called Oulala (www.oulala.com). Launched in 2013, Oulala has launched its monetized version in October 2015, and is now ready to commercialize the first daily fantasy sports BtoB solution to iGaming operators. Ben has been active in Fantasy Sports since 2010, when researching the promising American DFS industry and looking for the best ways to adapt its best practices to the European market
BEN GOERTZEL
CEO
SingularityNET
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Email
BEN LEE
Managing Partner
IGamiX Management & Consulting Ltd
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Email
Casino start-up specialist with a marketing orientation. To create new gaming concepts and properties which are geared towards customer service as opposed operations-driven. Intimate with the Asian customer market segments including the VIPs.
Benjamin Föckersperger (30) is a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in establishing profitable businesses. His major areas of expertise lay in Business Development, Fundraising, and Entrepreneurship with a focus on internet businesses, (i)gaming, crypto currency, and emerging technologies. He is currently involved in Business Development and Consultancy Roles in several of his ventures, such as esports.com,jackpot.de, myjackpot.com, fantasysport.com and privately doing angel investments, coaching as well as M&A consulting through his Foeckersperger Ventures and Blue Terra Ventures. He has founded and sold several companies since the age of 17 with Whow Games GmbH / Jackpot.de being the recent-most company he has successfully sold.
o Malta to get involved in the world of real estate, eager to make changes through his passion for the built environment and experiences overseas. He has been involved in the real estate business from a very early age; officially started gaining experience as an agent at the age of 17. Upon his return to Malta, late 2012 both Ms Grech & Mr Grech knew that it was time to give their business a new edge and offer higher quality services with access to an international network. Sara Grech Ltd. a household name locally and enjoying a good reputation co-branded with Engel & Völkers a premium international real estate brand. Following months of preparation, the new business model unique to the real estate industry offering agents better training and a more dynamic platform has now been implemented and proving to be a success. “Our objectives were clear”, says Mr Grech, “and that was to provide the most successful platform for a real-estate agent, to be both professional and passionate about their work and to offer the highest standards of service to their clients. Engel & Völkers has helped us to do just that. A globally established German brand dealing in Premium Real Estate as well as Yacht brokerage. With its proven successful systems and strategies, we are very honoured to have taken on the real estate brand and Mr. Völkers himself is a great inspiration. I am lucky to be surrounded by leaders who are professional and established.” “Management is about doing things right, while leadership is about doing the right things. Having been involved from the very beginning of our vision, I feel that I have been preparing for this role my entire life. My passion, energy and focus to make certain that the Engel & Völkers Sara Grech brand achieves its goals and objectives are without end. I know that I will have many challenges, but I believe that by maintaining my integrity and passion, I will be able to steadily adapt our vision and strategically guide the business forward to continue the success my mother enjoyed,” stated Benjamin Tabone Grech, Engel & Völkers Sara Grech’s COO. “The community of iGaming companies in Malta has been growing, and an essential part to many of these businesses is their premises and the lodging of their employees. I am looking forward to giving our company’s view on what the local real estate market has to offer.”
Bernard Marantelli grew up in an Australian bookmaking family and has been a successful player of multi-leg pools bets for over a decade. In 2013 Bernard launched Colossus Bets, featuring the weekly £10,000,000 Colossus and a series of other life-changing sports pools with cash-out throughout. Since then the firm has signed deals for the distribution of its pools across 5 continents, to operators including Betfair, Ladbrokes, Betclic and more than 20 others. The firm has won a number of industry awards for innovation and been granted a series of patents in relation to cash-out across all forms of betting and gaming. This IP and technology was used to launch the world’s first cash-out slot, ‘Colossus Fracpot’ in September 2015, and will soon be used to enable cash-out on North American horseracing pools through a deal with Woodbine Entertainment Group.
Along with his position at PPAG, Bill Pascrell III (more commonly known as BP3) has been the Passaic County Counsel since his unanimous appointment by the Passaic County Freeholder Board in 1998 as well again again for a fourth term in 2007. BP3 has also served as a key insider and adviser to John Kerry’s National Presidential campaign. He has also been an esteemed advisor to U.S. Senator and Governor Jon Corzine, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Congressman Robert Roe, Herb Klein and Albio Sires as well as Governor James E. McGreevey. BP3 played an instrumental role in both McGreevey campaigns, one being McGreevey’s narrow defeat to Christine Todd Whitman in 1997 and the other is his landslide victory over Bret Schundler in 2001.
Co-Founder and CEO of GameCo, inventor of the Video Game Gambling Machine (VMG™), which combines the fun and interactivity of video games with the thrill and anticipation of gambling. Also co-founded The Gamer Agency, the premiere independent esports production company, which was acquired in 2017. An award-winning Executive Producer and Game Designer with over twenty years’ experience developing digital entertainment. Have produced over 4,000 projects for world-renowned entertainment, business, and fine arts clients such as Blizzard Entertainment, Ubisoft, DreamWorks, Mattel, Sony, Disney, Nickelodeon, DIRECTV, Warner Bros., and The Guggenheim and Whitney Museums. Work has been recognized with numerous awards including the 16th Annual GGB Gaming & Technology Awards Silver Medal, an RIAA Platinum album, and IGN Editor’s Choice Award. An active member of the Producers Guild Of America (PGA) formerly serving on multiple boards and co-chair of the 2014 and 2015 Produced By: New York conferences.
I am strongly focused on the mission and objectives and I am known as a person who delivers. I have a mix of true numbers oriented analytical mindset, strategic perspective and a management style that enables talented people to grow and shine. I thrive in entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial situations and perform well in crisis situations where change is critical.
BOB SCHMIDT
Chief Data Officer- Sharket LLC
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Email
Bob is experienced in advertising, public relations and internet marketing. He is a published author with “The Geek’s Guide to Internet Business Success” (Wiley/VNR 1997). Bob’s range of activity includes campaign supervision, management and database marketing for B2C and B2B companies.
BORIS CHAIKIN
CEO
Soft2Bet
Website
Email
With a passion for creating new products and 19 years working in the iGaming industry, Soft2Bet’s CEO, Boris Chaikin, has a wealth of experience in building and managing teams in areas such as marketing, customer support, CRM and general operations. Mr Chaikin has previously held the roles of Marketing Director and General Manager at the B2B sportsbook and platform provider OffsideGaming for over five years out of his 10 years with the company.
Bradley J. Wiskirchen is the CEO of Keynetics and Kount and the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Clickbank. Wiskirchen joined Keynetics in 2005. His skills and experience in business, technology and law give Keynetics an edge in strategic planning and negotiation in the Internet sector. Under his guidance Keynetics has become one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest privately held technology companies. Kount has become the premier fraud prevention solution for card-not-present merchants, and affiliate marketing giant ClickBank has grown to be one of the world’s largest online retailers. Among his many industry and community involvements, Wiskirchen serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Salt Lake City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He is also the co-founder and former Chair of the Idaho Software Employers Alliance (ISEA) which merged with the Idaho Technology Council (ITC) in 2010. Additionally, Wiskirchen has held board positions with the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, Boise State University Office of Technology Transfer, FUNDSY, Discovery Center of Idaho, Intermountain Venture Forum and many other organizations. Prior to joining Keynetics, Wiskirchen was a partner in the law firm of Holland & Hart, where he managed the firm’s Business Entities and Transactions Practice Group. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions, technology transfer and licensing and debt and equity financings. He was awarded a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. Experience – Brad is a dynamic and expert speaker. He has been asked to speak at several events and conference each year on the topic of fraud and fraud mitigation, including Merchant Risk Council (both US and Europe), Money 20/20, Direct Response Forum, MasterCard Academy of Risk (US and Europe), and our own Kount Fraud 360 World Tour.
Brian has been a Senior Consultant for SEDO for over 8 years. He manages the a SEDO auction platform and specializes in high-value, stealth transactions geared towards the gambling industry. Outside of SEDO, he is a former professional athlete in Europe, and enjoys any competitive activities.
BROCK PIERCE
Founder & Chairman
INTEGRO FOUNDATION
Website
Email
Brock Pierce is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with an extensive track record of founding, advising and investing in disruptive businesses. He’s credited with pioneering the market for digital currency and has raised more than $5B for companies he has founded. Pierce is the Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of DNA Advisors, Block.one, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin (first ICO). Block.one was created in 2017 and has sold over $4B tokens in the EOS crowdsale making it the largest ever. Blockchain Capital was founded in 2013 and is the first sector-focused venture fund that invests solely in Blockchain technology companies. Pierce led the firm through the first ICO of a venture fund, which created the first security token. Blockchain Capital has made more than 100 investments in the sector across its four funds. The firm was named the most active FinTech Venture Fund by Pitchbook. Tether is the first stable coin and asset backed token. Pierce is an early investor in Bitcoin and one of the largest investors in the Ethereum crowdsale. He is the founder of IMI Exchange, the world’s leading digital currency marketplace for games, with annual sales exceeding $1B and investors such as Goldman Sachs, which was sold in 2016 for more than $100M. Pierce founded ZAM, one of the world’s largest media properties for gamers, which was acquired by Tencent in 2012. He founded IGE, the pioneer of digital currency in online games, achieving revenues exceeding $100 million in 2006 and sold in 2007. Pierce is also a co-founder of D10e, GoCoin, Blade Payments, Five Delta (sold NASDAQ: SRAX), Xfire 2.0, Playsino, Evertune, GamesTV, and DEN. He also advises Airswap, Bancor, BitGo, BitGuild, BlockV, Bloq, Element Group, Metronome, Shyft, and tZERO. Pierce is faculty at the Singularity University and is a sought-after speaker who has spoken at the Milken Global Conference, Mobile World Congress, Wired, INK, Stanford, USC, and UCLA.
Bruce Merati is cofounder of BC Technologies, a sportsbook system provider and CEO of Uplay1, a gaming IP company. BC Technologies is a Nevada licensed manufacturer and distributor and has licensed BetConstruct’s sports wagering software for the U.S. market. Bruce Merati has over 20 years of gaming and sports wagering technology experience.
After being in the payments industry since 2003, with various senior roles particularly with High Risk Merchants, in 2017 Bryan co-founded Hexopay. Hexopay Limited is a global leading payments company specifically focused on gambling and managed risk sectors. We operate secure 3rd generation proprietary technology platform that enable operators to accept local payment options, over multiple channels anywhere in the world.
Burak is a Google & Youtube advertising consultant who works full time as a PPC Strategist in Casumo online casino. He has a decade of PPC consulting experience at a global scale with shaping client strategies and campaigns from scratch. He has successfully led PPC efforts in companies of various sizes in highly competitive industries.
CALVIN AYRE
Founder of Ayre Group
Ayre Group
Website
Email
Calvin Ayre is well known in the gaming industry as the founder of the Bodog brand but spends most of his time devoted to the promotion of the original Bitcoin protocol, Bitcoin SV (BSV). BSV offers gaming companies the perfect payment solution, unlike the other dark coins in the crypto-sphere, in that it is an immutable ledger, it scales to levels close to the of VISA, offers very low transactions fees and cuts out charge backs. He is founder of CoinGeek.com a news portal offering further detail on why BSV is the future of blockchain technology.
CALVIN CHENG
Chairman of the Board
Retech Group
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Email
Calvin Cheng is a technology, media and entertainment entrepreneur in Asia. He was a shareholder of Singapore’s leading luxury events company Lumina, and the number 1 youth magazine in Singapore Juice magazine. Calvin also founded Jue Rui Bao Si, which owned a soft skills corporate training company in China. Jue Rui Bao Si merged with China’s Retech Group in 2015 to form China’s leading online corporate training company. He then led Retech to an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2017, in one of the largest tech floats on the ASX that year. Previously, Calvin was the Head of Elite Model Management for Asia. Calvin was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum at Davos, and was an appointed Parliamentarian in the Parliament of the Republic of Singapore.
Carl has been part of the Malta Gaming Authority’s legal team for close to four years after three years of training in the field of criminal law, and occupies the position of Deputy General Counsel. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta in 2014 and was admitted to the bar in 2015. His main areas of work include providing advice on matters relating to gaming regulation, general legal and international affairs, and dispute resolution. Carl is also heavily involved in policy matters and the current impetus on cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology in the gaming industry, and is one of the principal drafters of the new gaming regulatory framework in Malta.
Once joined to BOSS. Gaming solutions, she perfectly obtained executive management and brought a huge value to the company’s software development and marketing activity. She is now responsible for the business development process and customer relationship management as well as the coordination of partner negotiations and the implementation of business plans for new market areas
CELINE MOILLE
Lawyer & Partner
The international law firm YELLAW
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Lawyer and partner at the international law firm YELLAW, as well as Ph.D in private international law, Céline Moille is today at the heart of her firm’s FinTech department. For many years, Céline has also been a lecturer at the University of Lyon. Convinced that LegalTech is the best way to bring legal support to corporations, Céline was one of the founding members of Dodo Bank in 2017 and Mon Cher Maître in 2020.
CHAMS EJJAOUANI
Director,Marketing South Europe
Website
Email
Chams began his career in Digital agencies as Account Director where he advised SMB and Enterprise accounts on their digital strategies. Following that, Chams joined the brands side where he is now working in the SaaS industry since 10 years to leverage Digital and Marketing to help developing the business.
CHARLES HERISSON
CEO
BetAdvisor
Website
Email
Charles has over 20 years’ experience working in the betting and gambling industry. Charles loves to inspire entrepreneurs and business communities to create and share trusted opportunities; to scout and connect talents; to improve and leverage the knowledge to generate personal and social value. He is currently Owner and CEO at Betadvisor.com working with Tipsters and Professional Punters, Syndicates and Affiliates, Betting Operators and new Start-Ups across the world, advising on all new opportunities of the gaming industry. Betadvisor is a UK company that provides professional sports betting advice. Established in 2010, Betadvisor is an international organization present with 1000+ advisors,1000+ affiliates and partner of more than 125,000 customers in over 80 countries. Betadvisor rapid growth is driven by technological innovation and a deep understanding of our clients’ business needs. Betadvisor is the leading provider of tipster services to the betting industry. As former rugby player, Charles loves Team working and Cooperation. He wrote 2 books about Win-Win Strategies and Global Cooperation introduced by the past Italian Prime Minister and President of the European Commission Romano Prodi. Charles did his Study In Italy and Canada. He holds a honors degree in Politics Science.
CHARLES HERISSON
CEO
Betadvisor.com
Website
Email
Charles has over 20 years’ experience working in the betting and gambling industry. He is currently Owner and CEO at Betadvisor.com working with Tipsters, Affiliates, Betting Operators and new Start-Ups across the world, advising on all new opportunities of the gaming industry. Betadvisor is a Uk company that provides professional sports betting advice. Established in 2010, Betadvisor is an international organization present with 1000+ advisors, partners of more than 125,000 customers in over 80 countries.
Having completed her PhD in Engineering Science from University of Oxford Chloe was later invited to present my research at NASA and Houses of Parliament. Now a researcher with blockchain innovators nChain Chloe has concentrated in KYC identity management on the blockchain. More pertinently to the gaming industry she has also created ‘provably fair N-player card games’ by using provably fair random number generators (RNGs) to play card games on the blockchain.’
Founder and Business Development Director at 4ThePlayer.com
Website
Email
Chris Ash sold Ash Gaming, to Playtech in 2011.. Whilst working for Playtech Chris also ran the content aggregation business and assisted with M+A. His new content business 4 The Player has just launched it’s first products with great success. Chris is a board member of AIM listed content business Gaming Realms and advisor to Blue Ribbon.
CHRIS BONET
Vice President, Head of Legal
MFA
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Email
Dr Chris Bonett is a Maltese sports lawyer, currently serving as Vice President and Head of the Legal and Football Governance Department of the Malta Football Association. Set up the Malta FA legal department in 2010, which department incorporates the player registration and TMS unit, the club licensing unit and the disciplinary unit. Currently a member of the UEFA Control Ethics and Disciplinary Boday and a UEFA match delegate. Regularly assists the Parliamentary Secretariat for Research and Innovation, Youth and Sport, and is in charge of the reform on the Commercialisation of Sports Facilities. Is also contributing on the drafting of the new National Sports Policy and represents the Government of Malta on the Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS). A sports litigator, having successfully assisted numerous Maltese football clubs in front of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and the Court of Arbitration for Sport of Lausanne, Switzerland. Specialised in the field of anti-maniupulation of sports competitions, he has obtained the degree of Master of Law in Sports Law at the De Montfort University of Leicester, United Kingdom, after authoring and defending a dissertation entitled ‘FIXing the Beautiful Game: A critical analysis on the legal, regulatory and investigative mechanisms to combat match-fixing in football’. A member of the British Association for Sports and the Law (BASL) and lectures third-year Bachelor of Law degree students at the University of Malta in the study-unit entitled ‘International and EU Sports Law’. Specialisations: Sports Employment Law, Media Rights and Intellectual Property, Sports Regulatory and Sports Integrity.
I am the CEO of BlockTechnology.ai, an organisation specialising in blockchain and AI technologies. From our first project, which was the development of a medical AI capable of diagnosing up to 14 different medical conditions from X-Rays, through to the development of a revolutionary blockchain technology capable of operating with zero fees, no miners and much more, I am passionate about the design and implementation of these world-changing technologies. Specifically, I am results driven. The field offers much promise and I have a mission to ensure it is supported by the substance of real-world projects.
Chris is a commercial and regulatory lawyer, concentrating on providing UK regulatory and compliance advice to various stakeholders in the online gambling and gaming industries. Chris acts for some of the industry’s leading operators and suppliers, as well as smaller start-up companies, advising on the regulation and marketing of betting and gaming products. Chris also regularly advises businesses looking to expand into new markets, and has particular expertise in helping businesses understand the legal and regulatory implications associated with operating in regulated and unregulated markets.
Chris Grech is an Accountant with a special interest in technology, financial markets and Blockchain. Over the past 11 years, Chris worked in tax at PwC and in various roles at a MeDirect Bank – including regulatory, finance, strategy and project management.
CHRIS HARLEY
Business Development - Asian Logic
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Email
Highly motivated individual with experience of delivering successful projects focused on opportunities in countries that have regulated betting and gaming (South Africa, China, & Denmark).
CHRIS KISSACK
Esports specialist
SMP Esports
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Email
A self-confessed geek, Chris has worked in the tech and digital industry all of his career. Chris currently heads up SMP Esports, a dedicated specialist division within the global corporate service provider, the SMP Group. Chris supports esports brands, Orgs, athletes, and TO’s worldwide with corporate and structuring solutions. He is recognised in the esports space for his long beard and topknot, plus his enthusiasm and knowledge of both the esports ecosystem and the videogame world.
CHRIS NIKOLOPOULOS
CCO
BETBEY
Website
Email
Chris is very experienced in providing high-value, complex, software solutions for companies with fast-evolving needs within the iGaming sector. His know-how focuses but is not limited to: Sales policies, Account Management, iGaming operations, and legislation, online gambling workflows (both casino and sportsbook), Business Analytics as well as Trading & Risk Management. Chris holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the National Technical University of Athens as an Electrical & Computer Engineer while he has working experience in various iGaming companies such as Altenar, Playson, and EveryMatrix before taking over the Chief Commercial Officer role in BETBY.
For over a decade, Chris has been working closely with some of the world’s leading gaming and forex brands, helping them implement online growth strategies. Prior to joining emerchantpay, he worked at Worldpay where he was responsible for some of the largest UK focused sports betting and casino operator acquisitions.
CHRIS THOMAS
Head of Digital Assets
Swissquote Bank
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Email
A proud Scot, lover of the outdoors, and financial markets innovation, Chris leads the institutional digital assets propositions at Swissquote. Swissquote’s pioneering and innovative attitude towards crypto trading and investing aligns with Chris’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. Prior to Swissquote, Chris founded an institutional crypto-assets custodial solution, held the role of Head of European Innovation at Fidelity and had roles in Fixed Income Sales & Trading in European Investment Banks.
Christer Jansson is CEO of Confident Approach, a human resources firm specializing in HR training, psychometric testing and optimization of human resources. Christer is also a certified Belbin trainer, focusing on sales call reluctance, selling style profiling, analaysis of trainer as well as career styles inventory among others. Christer specializes in helping sales people and sales organizations to raise their productivity. More calls, visits, closing etc he has two delivery options: in-house trainers, training companies in the research, concepts and tools. It´s a very cost effective way. Christer also runs a number of specialized open workshops per year for sales managers and trainers that want to understand more about the psychology of sales call reluctance. Overall efficiency and efficacy is enhanced by adopting Christer’s training methods, irrespective of department.
CHRISTIAN RAPANI
Rechtsanwalt/Attorney at Law
Website
Email
Dr. Christian Rapani founded his law firm in Graz in 2013. One of his key topics of consultancy are issues regarding gaming and betting law with a special focus on B2B and B2C online gaming and betting offers. He provides guidance in various licensing procedures and advises clients on Austrian regulatory requirements and developments affecting their business activities.
With 18 years’ experience in international corporate advisory and business development, M&A, Christian Tirabassi advises private equity funds, investment banks, company focusing in the international betting & gambling industry,including technologies both mobile, online and offline. Based between Europe (London – Rome) and USA (Miami), Christian has a deep knowledge and understanding of the technologies related to the international betting and gaming industry where he has executed a number of M&A deals since 1997. Christian Tirabassi is the founding partner of Ficom Leisure a leading international advisory and consultancy company specialized in corporate advisory, business consultancy and investment related services from its locations in London, Rome, Madrid, Malta and Miami. Christian studied a postgraduate course in International Business Strategies at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.
CHRISTINA COMBEN
Cryptocurrency Journalist & Content Creator
Cointelegraph Magazine
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Email
Christina Comben is a cryptocurrency journalist and content creator who’s passionate about continued learning, emerging tech, and starting important conversations. She has written for many publications in the space including CCN, CryptoSlate, and Bitcoinist, and is currently a feature writer for Cointelegraph Magazine and a consultant to OKEx.
Cíara has recently moved to Malta to take on the role of Product Director – Gaming for Betsson Group. Previously, she was Head of Gaming and later Interim Director of Gaming at William Hill in Gibraltar after stints in similar roles in the Rank Group and Paddy Power Betfair. She has a wealth of experience in B2C operations across Tier 1 Operators, and her strength lies in bringing customer feedback, data and product capability together to deliver a great on site experience.
Claire has been a key player in the online gaming industry since 2006. Starting in Affiliate Management, she has worked for many prestigious iGaming companies over the years, before joining leading affiliate network Ihre Consulting in 2010. Currently, as the COO of Ihre, Claire runs all aspects of the business from managing affiliate and operator contracts and relationships, to managing social media, email marketing and company strategy and reporting. She has been speaking in events around the globe, and is known as a fun and professional team player to work with.
Claudine Borg Azzopardi is a qualified counselling psychologist, executive coach, and facilitator with fifteen years of well-rounded learning and expertise behind her. Her career started off in the UK and she is now based in Malta as an Associate at Baton&Baton. Claudine has worked both nationally and internationally within private and public-sector organisations with individuals from diverse cultures and nationalities. Her approach helps unlock higher levels of individual and collective performance by engaging senior leaders and teams in deeper conversations about the issues that matter right now whilst staying connected to the bigger goal. Through her work, Claudine creates more conscious leaders and teams, building greater understanding of one’s leadership brand and awareness of where the gaps are towards building and developing one’s potential to the full.
Clemence is the General Manager of MyAffiliates, an Affiliate Marketing Software company that provides a large number of major global companies in the gaming and forex industries with the ability to manage their affiliate program. Clemence has an extensive experience in varying aspects of the industry from affiliate management to affiliate software technology companies .
CLIVE HAWKSWOOD
Chairman
RAIG
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CONOR O'DONOVAN
Betting Consultant
GoAfrica Partners
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As an Africa focused technology investor and a CEO for two multi-territory Sportsbetting Operators across East & West Africa, Conor has developed a deep knowledge of the African gaming & mobile technology sectors, and is experienced across M&A, Licensing & Regulation, Go-To-Market & Market Entry, Product Development, Operations and Media & Marketing Management. Leveraging this expertise, he founded GoAfrica (www.GoAfricaParters.com) in 2020; an end-to-end management consultancy for Operators & Platform providers looking to do business in Africa. GoAfrica partner with clients to provide turn-key market entry solutions; delivered transparently, professionally and drama-free! With 10+ years in the gaming sector as a whole, Conor has worked across Lotteries & Social Gaming in both Europe and the Caribbean, but Africa is the future
Corinne Gatt obtained her Masters Degree in Computer and Communications Law from Queen Mary, University of London in 2010 after graduating Doctor of Laws in 2009. Corinne has been working with the Lotteries and Gaming Authority since 2011, forming part of the legal department. She has been heavily involved in the regulation of online gaming and the drafting of legislation to ensure transparency within the Maltese sector and to safeguard players’ interest within a solid regulatory framework. Corinne has been instrumental in a number of legal and regulatory initiatives including the recent setting up of the Responsible Gaming Foundation. In February 2014, Corinne was appointed as the MGA’s EU & External Affairs Manager. In this capacity, Corinne oversees all EU and international arising matters and is the liaison between the MGA, the EU and other international institutions as well as foreign jurisdictions.
Corinne Valletta joined Betsson Group in May 2017, taking up the role of Head of Regulatory Affairs and Group Compliance. She is responsible to oversee all licensing and compliance activities in the various regulated markets where Betsson Group has obtained a licence, as well as to manage regulatory risk and advise the Group on the same. Corinne also coordinates Betsson’s lobby efforts on a local and international level, participating in local and global organisations to maintain close relations with the various players in the industry. Corinne has been following international affairs in the gaming industry for a number of years. She previously held the position of Head of EU and International Affairs at the Malta Gaming Authority, where she participated in the European Commission’s Expert Group for Gambling Services and other similar fora. She is particularly interested in the horizontal influences on regulation of the industry such as anti-money laundering, anti-sports corruption and data protection. Corinne graduated Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 2009 and obtained her Masters Degree in Computer and Communications Law from Queen Mary University of London in 2011.
COSMINA SIMION
Co-Managing Partner Simion & Baciu
Simion & Baciu
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By formation, Cosmina is an intellectual property, regulatory and technology lawyer with more than 20 years of professional experience, with expertise in various industries, with an emphasis on the media and entertainment, online and gaming industries. Prior to setting up Simion & Baciu, Cosmina was an intellectual property partner and co-head of the gambling, consumer and advertising practices at the largest and oldest law firm in Romania. She combines her strong advisory expertise acquired during her coordination roles in leading law firms with the specific approach built during her in-house role (at a US group, leader in the regional media sector). Throughout her career she coordinated teams of specialists in complex licensing procedures, acquisitions and tenders. In the gaming field, Cosmina’s experience encompasses the full range of regulatory and operational gaming aspects for betting and gaming operators, software & platform suppliers, financial services providers, auditors & certifiers, industry relevant associations or marketing affiliates, including representing clients in front of the Romanian regulator and has been actively involved in the review and drafting of the Romanian gaming legal framework. Recognized by clients for her broad media regulatory experience, Cosmina regularly contributes to domestic and international working groups seeking to improve the business and regulatory approaches in the industries she is active in. She is a regular contributor to specialized publications and lecturer on gaming, IP, social media and digital matters and is ranked as Leading Individual by Legal 500 in the Gaming Field and Recommended in Intellectual Property and TMT. She is also General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law (“IMGL”), a not for profit association comprising over 340 members globally. Its members are recognized as the leading experts in their jurisdictions and are involved in most material gambling sector developments and issues worldwide.
Cristiano is the Group Head of Gaming at Kindred. He has been in the gaming industry since 2007 and he has been with Kindred Group for the last four years. He focuses his work on the development of the Casino, Bingo, Poker and Lottery product, across all brands and markets. He is also responsible for the B2B relationship, commercial agreements, and activities.Over the last 20 years, Kindred Group has brought together 11 of Europe’s most successful online gambling brands (Including Unibet and 32Red) – forming one of the largest online gambling companies in the world. Kindred offers 25 million customers a great form of digital entertainment, fine-tuned to present an unforgettable experience in a safe and fair environment every day. And while our best years are still ahead, it’s important to remember how far we’ve come.Gaming industry is going through one of the challenging, unexpected and exciting times. New regulations bring opportunities together with delivery delays and strong headaches. I am happy to be part of Sigma because it is a rare occasion to have together all the iGaming decision-makers, to have a feel of the market from the inside and seriously think about the future of our industry, putting aside all the issues that the competition brings with it. I will do my part.
CRISTINA ROMERO
Partner
LOYRA
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Cristina oversees LOYRA's international department and specializes in regulated industries, gaming and gambling and cannabis law. She speaks Spanish, English, German, French and Portuguese. She is a member of IAGA and has published sector specific articles. She is a teacher at the IE Business School of Madrid ([www.ie.edu]www.ie.edu) LLM Program since 2012. Cristina has been ranked as "leading individual" in the Chambers and Partners Global Directory 2020.
Curt has been working in the ICT industry in access of 20 years and is the co-founder and managing director of Kinetix IT Solutions. Throughout his career he has been involved in a variety projects assisting local and foreign organizations coming from various industries with the design, implementation and support of IT systems. This involvement has exposed him to different IT roles as well as technologies. His current focus is developing client relationships and becoming a strategic partner for their digital transformation journey.
CURTIS MATLOCK
CEO
Proto
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Curtis Matlock is the co-founder and CEO of Proto, which developed the first AI-driven player support & protection solution for online gaming markets in the Global South. Proto uses localized natural language processing with cross-lingual understanding to process player queries via messaging apps & feature phones and detect trends in misconduct across gaming ecosystems. Curtis is a recipient of the Huayu Scholarship for Chinese language studies at the National Taiwan University and a graduate in politics & government from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Damian is the co-founder of KnowMeNow, a blockchain based Digitial ID Wallet, and also the founder of QGen, an award winning global KYC and KYB solution provider. Damian has over 25 years experience in compliance and payments for regulated financial businesses including Barclays Merchant Services, Omnipay, and MasterCard.
Damian has experience in projects and C-level appointments traversing 22 years in IT, Consulting, Government, Telecoms, Estate, Automotive, Manufacturing and Gaming industries. He headed major IT projects with global players including Microsoft, IBM, HP & Cisco. Throughout his career also led major programmes, reforms, financial turnarounds and large-scale digital and engineering projects. He has extensive product design experience leading him to launch products for Continental Group, Audi, VW and McLaren. Damian holds postgraduate education in business management and international regulation.
Dan is the founder of danray.me and aside from doing SEO consulting, he has created his own courses to help other SEOs learn his white hat link building techniques and also has a Facebook community of over 3500 SEOs and white hat link builders.
DANA FARRUGIA
CEO of Tech.mt
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Dana Farrugia is the CEO of Tech.mt, a foundation established in partnership between the Government of Malta and The Malta Chamber of Commerce to promote the National strategy for Technology & Innovation. She is engaged in ensuring sector growth for technology and innovation, primarily focusing on AI, blockchain, IOT, cloud services, data analytics, software development, robotics, cyber security and research on innovative solutions. Dana Farrugia has worked in the telecoms industry for fourteen years, mainly shaping the mobile, fixed, internet, tv, fiber and IP networks in Malta. She has also worked at the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses for six years where she has developed an in-depth understanding of the needs of different local industries and also gained a sound exposure on the potential of various international markets. Dana Farrugia is also a Director at Malta Enterprise and at the Malta Start-up Foundation.
Since 2016 dedicated to the Blockchain and Decentralisation focussed on bringing real world companies to the Blockchain in 4 verticals: entertainment, gaming, real estate and retail. A co-founder of Blockchainsmokers and the Atari Token and Platform Network.
Daniel has worked in banking and payments for over 11 years with positions across the payment industry in acquiring, payment gateways and card issuing. His career has taken him from HSBC, to PayPoint, to American Express before joining Ethoca as EMEA Regional Sales Director in 2014. In his role at Ethoca, Daniel is responsible for driving scale and growth in the UK and across Europe. He works consultatively with merchants to understand their business and help them discover how Ethoca’s unparalleled card issuer and merchant network of confirmed fraud notifications stops fraud, reduces chargebacks and increases revenue.
DANIELE ALFONSO
Head of Gaming
TransUnion (formerly iovation)
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For over 15 years Daniele has been at the leading edge of iGaming and Digital Marketing, helping operators to navigate the risks and customer experience challenges involved in safely transacting with customers in the digital channels. From the early days, specialising in Customer & User Experience, then through internet and digital marketing companies, using data assets and content to maximise the players and users’ journey, and now with iovation Daniele continues the career theme of 'making the internet a safer place'. Daniele has helped hundreds of companies to realise and exploit their digital channels, enabling their customers to deliver service and experience excellence. Daniele's expertise stemming from the years of experience with Flixmedia, Racing Post and now iovation has covered players authentication, omnichannel betting and Fraud Prevention. In an industry where abusers and fraudsters must be stopped while keeping the players’ journey frictionless, Daniele's knowledge and understanding has been crucial to client’s projects and process success.
My name is Darin Oliver and I’m a founder and Managing Director of Blockdraw Capital Limited. I have over 20 years working in senior roles with major international banks. From Jan 2012 until Oct 2015 I was Deputy Director of Licensing and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission where I was responsible for licensing and investigations of new and ongoing licensees. Only a regulator with the sort of access I had can obtain the kind of information I leaned during by my 3.5 years with the AGCC. If you are looking for someone who can piece the viel of secrecy and can show you how online casinos have the opportunity to take advantage of players, then you have ciné to the right place. The time has come for me to reviel the dirty secrets within the industry so I have commuted myself to sharing all that I know with anyone interred in leaning!
A world-leading expert in conversion optimisation, Dave has spent the last six years delivering huge website revenue increases for over 50 companies including Sportingbet, Betsson and Orange Group. An expert in the affiliate and gaming industries he has worked with some of the world’s leading affiliate sites and increased conversion rates for some of the world’s leading casinos.
Finance Veteran with over 14 years of trading experience. Responsible for structuring multiple institutional trading setups for banks, high frequency traders, family offices and prop traders. Instrumental in the setting up multiple crypto asset funds used by institutions and individual investors.
David Flak is the director of Oulala Network, the BtoB subsiduary of Oulala Games. He graduated from HEC School of Management, with a specialization in entrepreneurship. He wrote his thesis on the Real Money Fantasy Football phenomenon. Before working in the iGaming industry, David Flak worked in financial markets at HSBC, as an Equity Derivatives Sales, and at Deutsche Bank as a Debt Capital Markets Analyst. He learned there how to deal with clients in a very dynamic and stressful atmosphere. Real jack of all trades, he also founded his first company in the education field at 22 and sold it a year after. Meanwhile, he found some time to write three books.Today, David is fully focused on Oulala Network, bringing his passion and skills to find new business opportunities. He is constantly in relation with european football clubs, sponsors and medias in order to develop Oulala Network. His commitment to his work also makes him travel a lot across Europe to connect with iGaming companies.
With a background in Physics and Mathematics, Mr. Flynn started his career in Gaming when, in 2003, he took up the role of Customer Service Manager at PokerRoom.com, managing the rapid growth of the business, later as VP of Ongame Network, the creation of the largest B2B Poker Network. The company was sold in December 2005 to Bwin, for €475m. Since then Mr. Flynn has held numerous Management Roles including Head of Operations, at Microgaming, CEO at NYX Interactive, later merged with NextGen Gaming to form NYX Gaming Group and sold to Scientific Games in December 2017 for €500m. He then moved on to the position of CEO – Operations at Jackpotjoy Group managing the expansion of VeraJohn, until March 2019, when he became Co-founder and CEO of the innovative B2B supplier, Swintt, based in Malta.
David is Head of Regulatory Affairs at GVC Group in London where he is responsible for leading the company’s regulatory engagement efforts in a number of international jurisdictions. Prior to joining GVC, David spent four and a half years as Public Affairs Manager at Paddy Power Betfair. Before joining the gambling industry, David also spent time working in the sports sector for a leading trade association and in Brussels as an advisor in the European Parliament.
An Irishman currently living in Malta, David spent seven years in college studying Arts, Philosophy and Screenwriting – the perfect preparation for a career in poker! He started playing professionally in 2006, building up a roll playing online SNGs and live MTTs in Connecticut. After Black Friday, he returned to hometown of Dublin where he segued into online MTTs and Satellites and became a regular on the European live circuit. David has made $700,000 profit online. He has also cashed 92 times in 19 different countries for over $400,000 including 56 final tables and 9 wins. His biggest result came in 2009 when he chopped the Full Tilt Espana Series – Barcelona for €80K. David is a coach, staker, blogger and Twitch-streamer for Unibet Poker. He has commentated at The Irish Open, MPN main events and umpteen Unibet Opens. David became a Unibet Ambassador in March of 2017.
DAVID LAURANCE FOSTER
Head of Regulatory Affairs
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David is Head of Regulatory Affairs at GVC Group in London where he is responsible for leading the company’s regulatory engagement efforts in a number of international jurisdictions. Prior to joining GVC, David spent four and a half years as Public Affairs Manager at Paddy Power Betfair. Before joining the gambling industry, David also spent time working in the sports sector for a leading trade association and in Brussels as an advisor in the European Parliament.
David Levy is Director of Business Development for the XL Media Group. David is responsible for driving business development, strategic partnerships, and market growth strategies. In this capacity he oversees all merger and acquisition activities. David has been involved in affiliate activities for more than 10 years, having managed affiliate programs at Mansion, PartyGaming and, just prior to joining XL Media in 2014, bwin.party. David holds a BA with honors in Political Science from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
DAVID MAHON
Inventor & CEO at Full Color
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David Mahon is a Las Vegas based inventor and developer of the world’s first and only new class of card and casino gaming called Full Color® Games featuring Full Color® Cards that creates a brand new way to play all of the world’s most popular casino games.
I am a partner and a member of Wiggin’s Corporate and Betting and Gaming groups. I advise clients on a full range of corporate, commercial and regulatory matters, principally across the gambling and technology sectors, as well as providing general strategic advice. In terms of my corporate practice, I have a wealth of experience in advising companies across all aspects of their legal requirements, including private and public M&A transactions, joint ventures, fundraisings and re-organisations. I was previously General Counsel and Group Head of Legal at Playtech plc (the FTSE 250 software and services supplier to the gambling industry). Prior to that I was a corporate finance partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP with a particular focus on M&A activity within the hotels, leisure and gambling industries. I am a versatile and experienced lawyer with strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills coupled with a proven track record providing sound, clear and practical advice on legal and regulatory matters.
DAVID ORBAN
Managing Partner
Network Society Ventures
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David is the Founder and Managing Partner of Network Society Ventures, a seed stage global investment firm focused on innovative startups at the intersection of exponential technologies and decentralized networks. He is an investor, entrepreneur, author, speaker, early adopter of Bitcoin, and thought leader of the global technology landscape.
David joined KPMG in 2002 and has worked on numerous advisory assignments, both locally and overseas. Throughout his career he has assisted clients in successfully raising debt and equity finance and in valuing shares and businesses. He is actively involved in numerous business negotiations and has a lead role in the firm’s Merger and Acquisition service offering. He has also participated on vendor and buy-side due diligence assignments for which he has worked within the local and foreign practices of KPMG. His engagement portfolio has led him to work at the heart of strategy within a number of businesses, helping them throughout the process of considering strategic options, articulation of plans and their subsequent implementation and monitoring. David has provided various training sessions on corporate finance, accounting and business related topics to clients and at public seminars.
David drives new products, strategy, and innovation, working as a consultant for gaming operators and product suppliers, and running an iGaming incubator – www.igamingideas.com David has 14 years experience in the gambling and technology sectors. He works across many iGaming verticals including Sports Betting, Horse Racing, Virtual Sports, Casino, and Lottery. He has experience deploying strategies, products and solutions across UK/Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. David helps startups to revenue, handholding them ‘leanly’ through the process of business strategy, product development, B2B networking, fundraising, regulation, launch, growth, and hopefully to exit. The iGaming Ideas startups have won numerous awards including the EiG launchpad three times, several EGR B2B awards, and twice runner up at the GiGSE launchpad. David himself was named in the 2012 Gaming Intelligence Hot 50 as a “Superstar Supplier”. Through his career David has worked with many of the World’s leading gaming operators including: ALC, Betdaq, Bet Fred, Bet365, Bonza Gaming, Boylesports, Danske Spil, FDJ, Globet, Goldbet, Health Lottery, Ladbrokes, Loterie Nationale, MyBet, Paddy Power, Polla Chile, Rank Interactive, Rational Group, Singapore Pools, Skybet, Sporting Bet, Stan James, Stanley Bet, Swiss Loro, Unibet, Veikkaus, Victor Chandler, and William Hill. David has spoken, moderated, and chaired at conferences and events all over the world including ICE Totally Gaming in London, Bet Markets in Vienna, European Lotteries Sports Betting Seminars in Munich and Lausanne, World Lotteries Symposium in Uruguay, iGaming Asia in Macau, Gambling Technology Strategies in London, GiGse in San Francisco, the iGaming SuperShow in Amsterdam, EiG in Berlin, Future iGaming in London and Gaming in Holland in Amsterdam.
David is a Canadian National Wrestling Champion and 1984 Canadian Olympic Team Member GEOPERKS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC Hawaii, California, Toronto, London, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, India Worlds fastest Blockchain Technology! G-COIN$ founded by David Vaz, Chairman/CEO of GEOPERKS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS with over 15 years deploying several million dollar projects in the Banking, Media/Entertainment, Telecom & Wireless Industries as a Lead Consultant and Advisor for Fortune 500 Companies. He has advised and consulted for Nortel Networks, Wells Fargo Bank, BofA, Wyrify, Haracoin, Ravn, V-SatCast, Edge Spectrum, SoHo Loft Media Group, LDJ Capital on projects relating to Block Chain, Smart Contracts, Tokenization, Offshore Banking Formations/Structure(s), Merchant Banking, Pre-Paid Visa/Master Card Loyalty Rewards Program Architect, LAN/WAN ATM Encryption, Security, DATA ANALYTICS, AI MACHINE LEARNING, Smart City Deployments with a Specialization on Government/Sovereign Nation(s) Banking, Media and Security Consultant in Asia, Africa, Australia, USA and Canada.
Based in Liechtenstein with American roots, Demelza previously managed a Cayman-based venture capital fund that invests in blockchain startups and a Liechtenstein-based fund that invests in gold and crypto assets. She taught at the University of Liechtenstein and was awarded Forbes 30 Under 30. Previously, she did her Master's in Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics, and prior to that she was U.S. Dept. of State Fulbright Scholar. She is currently the Director of Research at Cointelegraph.
DENIS MCQUADE
Aurum Solutions Scotland
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DENISE DE GAETANO
AI & Blockchain Specialist
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Denise De Gaetano is a Data Scientist, Business consultant, and Entrepreneur with more than 11 years of experience working within various industries. Her skills and expertise have helped with the transformation of data investments into actionable business results through the visioning and implementation of Big Data, Web Presence, Content Publishing, and Enterprise Search solutions. She was also involved in business strategies providing a superior engagement experience through a combination of business acumen, intellectual curiosity, a collaborative work style, and strong partnerships with award-winning vendors.
Diana Rotaru is COO of BlockChip, a revolutionary iGaming platform powered by blockchain and AI technologies. Diana has accumulated a wealth of industry expertise working for some of the world’s biggest iGaming brands. She is an affiliate marketing and branding expert, having managed many highly profitable affiliate networks and campaigns over a hugely successful 10-year career. Highly experienced in online gaming, affiliate marketing and branding, she specialise in building and managing key B2B and B2C partnerships, helping the organisation achieve its ambitious goals.
An award-winning global consumer-facing creative innovation entrepreneur. International experience working across the advertising, entertainment technology, consumer product and video game industry lending his knowledge in gamification, product innovation, and human-centered design thinking skills to drive change management at Fortune 500 brands. Dil-Dominé has worked for major brands like; Disney, Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures, IMAX, THQ, Vivendi Universal Games, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, TribalDDB, and SapientNitro. He’s exited from two startups and currently, he is focusing on solving consumer adoption of blockchain and creating connected worlds with non-fungible tokens/digital collectibles.
DIMITRI B
Busniess Intelligent Manager
betinvest
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Dmitri has spent last 6 years working with international tech companies consulting them on brand development and communications strategies. At TVBET Dmitri is responsible for acquiring new partners and growing business on emerging markets in EMEA and Asia regions by developing innovative approaches within online gaming industry.
DIMITRIJ GEDE
Founder & CEO
Anagram Compliance
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Dimitrij Gede is the Principal and founder of Anagram Compliance, specialised AML Compliance and Technology Advisory firm, bridging the traditional finance to a modern digital economy. He provides professional compliance services utilising existing financial infrastructure and leverage of capabilities of Fintech and Regtech. Previously, he lead the creation of a KYC department at Deutsche Bank and gained in-depth experience working as a Compliance Officer at a FTSE 250 listed subsidiary in Luxembourg. Apart from his activities in Blockchain and Compliance associations Dimitrij is actively engaged in regulatory policy for Luxembourg and has spoken publicly on AML regulation and compliance in EU and Asia. He is listed as top 100 EU blockchain expert by Frankfurt School of Finance.
Dimitris Litsikakis holds a BSc in Information Technology from Piraeus University and a MSc in Project Management from Lancaster University. He worked at IBM UK as a Project Manager delivering large scale IT projects. He then joined Edenred Greece as Digital Transformation Manager where he led the entire digitalization of the company’s solution offering, issuing hundreds of thousands of MasterCard cards to beneficiaries. In 2018 he was appointed Country Manager Greece, Cyprus & Malta for Revolut the fastest growing FinTech based in London. Having secured $336M in funding, Revolut has an impressive $1,7B valuation. With 2.5 million users across Europe, Revolut processed more than 150 million transactions with a total volume transaction of over $22 billion to date, providing the fastest, safest and easiest way to get innovative banking services with a mobile-first approach. Since 2014, he also acts as Athens Chapter Director for Startup Grind, the largest entrepreneurship community in the world.
Dimitris has over 18 years’ experience in ERP & CRM solutions, participated in business analysis sessions for strategic implementations, provided consulting services in major Corporations and presented in multiple seminars across CEE. He has been with Microsoft since 2008, and worked as a Sales and Partner Lead for Microsoft Business Solutions in several countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Dmitry is a data-driven Chief Marketing Officer with over 10 years of marketing experience and a proven record in building global teams, growing profits and implementing high-growth marketing, eCommerce, digital and product development strategies within biggest gaming companies and enterprising start-ups. With a background in Consumer Psychology, Dmitry is passionate about the practical applications of behavioral economics and psychology to business and marketing. He has been instrumental in driving awareness and adoption of blockchain technology to tier-one gaming brands and is a frequent speaker at gaming conferences, events, and forums.
Dinos Stranomitis was born in 1969 in Greece. He attended engineering studies in Athens Greece and in Newcaslte England as Naval Architect and Marine Engineer. After 2 years in the Navy and 4 years exercising engineering in Far East, he moved to gaming industry as a manager in various gaming companies, mainly in the Trading and Operations departments. On 2014 he is partner and co-founder of Altenar Ltd, offering a fully managed Sports Betting solution, growing rapidly year over year, gaining significant market share. Since 2007 lives permanent in Malta with his wife and two little daughters.
DMITRY BELIANIN
CMO
Parimatch International
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DMITRY STAROSTENKOV
CEO
Evenbet Gaming
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Dmitry Starostenkov has been managing EvenBet Gaming since the company foundation in 2001 and acquired an excellent expertise in launching and running the iGaming projects in both established and emerging markets. Now the company works from three offices in Malta, Russia, and the USA. Under Dmitry’s leadership, in 2019 EvenBet Gaming has started an ambitious online poker network in Latin and South America which has engaged over 10 operators in the first three months after the start.
Don Bush is an experienced Marketing leader who has worked in several management roles within the technology segment for more than 20 years, spanning hardware/software manufacturers and as a partner in two top technology marketing agencies. Known for leading several successful product launches and marketing programs for dozens of companies around the world such as Citi, HP, IBM, Kodak, Motorola and Weyerhaeuser and co-authoring the seminar series, “Common Launch Disasters and How to Avoid Them.” Don Bush works with online retailers, industry analysts, consultants, law enforcement and trade associations to determine best practices, trends in the market place and the latest threats to ecommerce businesses. He have been a regular speaker on fraud topics at several industry events in the U.S. and Europe including: Merchant Risk Council, CardNotPresent.com, Shop.org, MasterCard Academy of Risk, eTail and Internet Retailing conferences. Don leads all Marketing, Media Relations and external communication efforts at Kount, which helps businesses boost sales by reducing fraud. The company protects some of the world’s best-known brands with an all-in-one fraud and risk management solution that functions completely behind the scenes and seamless to the customer, while providing comprehensive fraud protection.
Donal is the Commercial Development Manager at Paddy Power Betfairs B2B division. Paddy Power Betfair is the largest listed online gambling company in the world with an extensive retail presence across Ireland and the UK in addition to an online reach across multiple international jurisdictions. Paddy Power Betfair B2B division is responsible for identifying international expansion opportunities in partnership with strong domestic operators. PPBF B2B operate across multiple regions where we look to drive growth in our partners sports betting businesses by combining the global scale of the PPBF trading capabilities with the local strength and expertise of our international partners. The B2B division currently has partnerships across four international jurisdictions including the PMU in France, British Columbia Lottery Corporation in Canada, Nike in Slovakia and Reta in Spain.
Craig Wright is an inventor, computer scientist and businessman, who is one of the earliest minds behind Bitcoin. He is the Chief Scientist at nChain, research and development company involved in bitcoin and blockchain technologies. His vision is to transform how the world conducts all transactions – using the blockchain’s distributed, decentralised ledger that chronologically records transactions in an immutable way – and to grow the bitcoin network to its full potential as a transformative technology platform.
Dr Ian Gauci is the Partner responsible for Communications, Media and Technology within GTG Advocates. He is engaged primarily in electronic communications, information society, data protection, gaming and gambling matters, whilst also focusing on consumer law, competition law, broadcasting law, cyber law, e-commerce, m-commerce, e-health, e-payment, information technology, new technologies, unfair commercial practices and misleading advertising. In 2017, In 2017, GTG Advocates and Avviza co-founded Afilexion Alliance, a full services firm providing legal, compliance, back office and corporate services, with Dr Gauci being one of the founding partners of Afilexion. Dr Gauci provides legal, regulatory and strategic advice to operators in the gaming industry, content providers, electronic communications providers, data centers, e-commerce providers, payment institutions and software providers. He also advised and assisted in mergers and acquisitions and represented clients in local and cross-border negotiations, mediation and arbitration. Dr Gauci holds substantial experience in drafting international commercial and technology contracts, including platform and hardware agreements, sourcing, outsourcing and software license agreements, sponsorship agreements, product and service supply, distribution, franchising and broadcasting agreements. Dr Gauci is also one of the leading lawyers on Data Protection Law, whereby he has built a specific service offering on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Dr Gauci also provides consultancy on legal matters related to blockchain technology and crypto-currencies. He also assisted the Maltese Government on issues dealing with E-Commerce and E-Trust certification as well as assisted the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). Prior to joining the GTG Advocates Dr Gauci was the regulatory and legal advisor for the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) and co-authored the Maltese Electronic Communications Framework. Dr Gauci also lectures Communications Law at the University of Malta.
DR MICHAEL MUSCAT
Partner
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Michael graduated with a doctorate degree from the University of Malta and has since specialised in commercial law, with a strong focus on international structuring. He is heavily experienced in working with private multinational law firms, the Swiss banking sector and, most recently, in advising iGaming operators and software providers on regulated markets, tax structuring and contractual matters. Michael’s client portfolio includes multinational corporates, iGaming affiliates, gaming operators and providers, as well as multiple regulated and unregulated entities.
Dr MICHAEL MUSCAT
Partner
iGamingColombia.com
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Michael graduated with a doctorate degree from the University of Malta and has since specialised in commercial law, with a strong focus on international structuring. He is heavily experienced in working with private multinational law firms, the Swiss banking sector and, most recently, in advising iGaming operators and software providers on regulated markets, tax structuring and contractual matters. Michael’s client portfolio includes multinational corporates, iGaming affiliates, gaming operators and providers, as well as multiple regulated and unregulated entities.
Peter Hongler is an associate in the Tax Team. He is working in the fields of domestic and international corporate tax as well as individual tax. He focuses particularly on national and international corporate reorganisations, restructurings, structured finance, financial and insurance products as well as private clients. Besides, he is a lecturer in tax law at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). Peter Hongler was educated at the Universities of Bern (MLaw 2008) and Zurich (Dr. iur. 2011). He worked as a research assistant of Prof. Dr. Madeleine Simonek at the Universities of Zurich and Lucerne. Before joining Walder Wyss, he was a guest researcher at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. During this time, he received a scholarship by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Dr. Antonio Ghio is a partner at Fenech & Fenech Advocates and heads its TMT Law Department. He destroyed his first computer at the age of seven and his professional life has solely revolved around ICT law issues, trying to find solutions to the constant struggle existing between law and technology, both inside and outside of the courtrooms. Ghio lectures ICT law and Cyber Crime at the University of Malta and held the position of Chairman of the Malta Communications Authority after having served as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of years. He also served as EU Digital Champion for Malta. Antonio has an LL.D from the University of Malta where he specialised on legal aspects of Internet security and online privacy as well as an LL.M from Strathclyde University. Ghio is a founding member and current President of the Malta Information Technology Law Association – MITLA. Antonio is also a member of the International Technology Law Association, sits on the board of the Malta Law Academy and is a Full Fellow of the European Law Institute. Ghio is the Malta contributor for Electronic Signatures in Law (Cambridge University Press) and author of the Malta chapter of Data Protection: Laws of the World (Sweet and Maxwell).
Dr. ELAINE DUTTON
Head of HR and Employment Advisory Services
CSB Group
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Elaine has been an active HR professional since 2011. Her career experience spans across the public and private sectors and in diverse industries, including, i-Gaming, Telecommunication, Manufacturing, Hospitality and the Health and Social Services. For over 10 years she was also a regular lecturer with the University of Malta. Elaine achieved her PhD in Psychology from Brunel University, London, in 2017. Her PhD research looked into the experience of Maltese mothers in juggling work, family and their personal health.
DR. FRANKLIN CACHIA
Senior Manager Tax & Regulated Industries
CSB Group
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Franklin is an experienced lawyer with main areas of practice being International and Maltese Tax Law, Financial Services Law and VFA & Blockchain Law. He heads the Tax and Regulated Industries Unit at CSB Group. Franklin is an experienced tax and accounting lecturer and skilled in Transfer Pricing, Managed Funds, Legal Writing, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and Corporate Governance. Strong education background in Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency.
DR. JESSE “AGGROED” REICH
CEO
Splinterlands
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Dr. Jesse “aggroed” Reich aggroed is the CEO and Co-Founder of Splinterlands. It’s the number one blockchain game in the world and one of the most popular apps in all of crypto. skype handle: blairjesseellynreich
Dr. Joerg Hofmann is the group leader of the firm’s Gaming & Betting Law Practice and Immediate Past President of the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL), the pre-eminent global gambling law networking and educational organization shaping the future of gaming law. A highly recognized expert in the field, Dr. Hofmann has been consistently ranked as a “Leading Individual” in Gaming & Gambling by Chambers Global since 2011 and is the only German Lawyer listed among “Germany’s Best Lawyers” in the category “Gaming Law” by Handelsblatt and BestLawyers in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, Dr. Hofmann received the award “Gaming Law – Lawyer of the Year in Germany – 2015” from Global Law Experts. He has also repeatedly been listed in Who’sWhoLegal for sport and entertainment in Germany. Jörg Hofmann of Melchers has an “unrivalled reputation” and impresses clients with his “careful handling” and “sound advice”(Who’sWhoLegal Germany 2016) Heidelberg-based Jörg Hofmann of Melchers is a widely admired practitioner and the current president of the International Masters of Gaming Law. He has extensive experience in advising on regulatory compliance as well as licensing issues.(Chambers Global 2015) High knowledge in regulation licensing and taxation as well as at the forefront of developments in social media gaming. Well connected to regulators(Chambers Global 2015) Jörg Hofmann is another influential player in the German market. He is rated for his balanced practice, which covers both online and terrestrial gaming. ‘I think the world of him’, said one peer (Chambers Global 2011) Dr. Hofmann regularly acts as speaker and moderator at renowned international gaming law conferences and serves as a member of the editorial board of “Gaming Law Review and Economics”. He also serves as a member of the iGaming Industry Counsel for Clarion Events and publishes regularly in leading industry journals and publications including “The International Comparative Legal Guide to Gambling 2016 Edition – Germany”.
Dr. Ola Wiklund is the Keith Richards of Scandinavian and European Gaming law, he will be around forever. His industry-expertise ranges from commercial and regulatory to M&A. He is also advising private operators in the Health Care-sector. He has acted as counsel in proceedings before the European Courts in Luxemburg and has represented clients in the European Commission and the Swedish Competition Authority. He is acting for clients in a number of pending high profile monopoly EC law suits (gaming, tax and alcohol) against the Swedish government. He has also acted for clients in two of the major infrastructural public procurements in Sweden; new communication system for the police, fire brigade etc (RAKEL) and traffic congestion charges for the City of Stockholm, as well as an arbitrator in telecom cases. This year, Ola has participated in the IMGL (International Masters of Gaming Law) Nordic Panel in Prague presented by Advocate Tal Itzhak Ron. He has been advising gaming clients for 18 years and published several books and articles in the field.
Dr. Simona Camilleri – Head of Legal at Cubits, a leading crypto payment provider, cyrpto wallet and marketplace to the gaming industry, and also for Booming Games, an up and coming game developer. Dr. Simona Camilleri spent 6 years as UK counsel for Scientific Games based in the London office, and another 5 years as Head of Legal for the Betclic Everest Group between London and Malta. During this time, she was a founding member sitting on the Executive Board for the Malta Chamber of Commerce in the Remote Gaming Division where she was consulting on behalf of industry to amend laws and also promote the industry and provide incentives from government. In addition to this position, Simona also was part of the Executive Board for Gaming Malta which is entrusted with position and marketing Malta as a center for excellent in gaming.
DR. STASI BARAN
COO
nQube Data Science
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Dr. Stasi Baran is a Co-founder and COO of nQube Data Science. She received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba in 2016, where she specialized in applications of non-linear optimization methods. She holds a B.Sc. in physics and an M.Sc. in astrophysics. Stasi uses her multi-disciplinary background to find and develop suitable applications for nQube’s advanced artificial intelligence technology in the casino industry. Her combined interests in large-scale data modeling problems and the gaming industry have helped to develop nQube’s AI-based slot floor optimization and player segmentation solutions.
DWAYNE MITHOE
CEO
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Dwayne has over a decade of experience with Cloud, Software, and Infrastructural services. He runs a consultancy agency, is the CEO of the start-up; Impulze – a Data Analytics Ecosystem, and is a founder at TheCrypto.Community. He is passionate about people, technology, and communication. The two biggest questions that nourish his interest are; How can technology truly benefit humans? And what is the next step?
DYLAN SEYCHELL
Assistant Lecturer
University of Malta
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EARLE G. HALL
CEO
AXES.
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Earle G. Hall is an internationally recognized entrepreneur, visionary, and innovator in several fields of technology and neuroscience. Earle is the CEO of AXES.ai, a cloud-based information management system for the Casino Industry. Earle is the Vice-Chairperson of the International Gaming Standards Association and focuses on ethical AI, blockchain standards, and integral, traceable data.
Ebbe Groes, 51, is Chief Executive Officer and the main shareholder of EveryMatrix. Ebbe founded BetBrain.com 2001, a leading odds comparison site which itself was a spin off from robot technology company Kapow, which he co-founded in 1998. EveryMatrix was founded, with Stian Hornsletten, in 2008. EveryMatrix provides a fully managed sportsbook, a back end system for player and payments handling, and an advanced casino games aggregation application. He holds an MSc and PhD in Economics and in the past has worked at the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the gaming industry. Edouard spent 6 years at Facebook within the Global Sales Organisation. Skilled in Digital Strategy, Sales, Management, and Marketing Strategy. Strong business development professional with a Master’s degree focused in Management from Toulouse Business School.
EDUARDO AGUILERA
developer at The Coingaming Group
The Coingaming Group
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Eduardo Aguilera is a developer at The Coingaming Group, dedicated to creating and maintaining an in-house system which integrates a range of payment service providers and cryptocurrencies in a unified manner across various iGaming brands. Currently, he is working with such brands as Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino.io helping them to elevate their offerings and reach new audiences.
EDUARDO BINGOSOFT
BingoSoft Managing Director
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EDUARDO CARLEZZO
Founding Partner Carlezzo Advogados
Carlezzo Advogados
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Eduardo Carlezzo is an attorney at law and founding partner of Carlezzo Advogados (Brazil). He has an MBA in Business and Economics Law (FGV) and is the author of the book “Business Sports Law” (2004). Since 2002 his legal practice has been exclusively dedicated to football and more, recently, to iGaming business. Combining technology with sport, Eduardo has acted in the representation of clients in transactions related to the gaming industry and its competitions, besides advising foreign sports betting companies in their insertion in the Brazilian market
The idea is to go from data to information to understanding. A perfectionist developing automation systems based on concepts of statistics, physics and psychology. Came to iGaming with degree in machine learning, strong background in business intelligence in finance industry and passion for gaming. Introduced unseen analytical techniques to 3 top iGaming companies before starting data science consultancy firm.
Edwina Licari is the Chief Officer Legal, EU and International Affairs of the MGA. Edwina is responsible for legal affairs, international relations, bilateral relationships with other gaming regulators and relevant entities worldwide relating to the Gaming Industry, together with the relevant EU institutions. Edwina also chairs the Supervisory Council of the MGA which is entrusted to supervise and review the regulatory objectives of the MGA underpinning the regulatory framework in force. Edwina holds a Doctorate in Law from the University of Malta and a Masters in Information Technology and Communications Law from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Having joined the Legal Department of the MGA in 2008, her practice and experience covers the whole spectrum of gaming and betting-related activities (both online and land-based), together with International and European gaming-related regulatory and legal affairs. Throughout her career, Edwina has gained working experience in private practice and various directorships in other Government entities. Edwina is a member of the Chamber of Advocates (Malta), as well as of a number of gaming related associations namely, the Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF), the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR), the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) and the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA). She is also a regular speaker at international conferences related to gaming and regulatory issues.
Eirik Kristiansen is the CEO & Co-Founder of Pixel Digital who operates Pixel.bet, a frontier in the esports betting market. With a mobile first approach and decades of experience at the highest level they lead the way into the future of the esports and iGaming intertwinement. Eirik have played at the highest level of several games over the years, and also hosted Europe’s largest national poker tournament for over a decade. Eirik is consistently contributing to esports panels all over the world to educate and share his passion for esports.
EIRIK KRISTIANSEN
CEO
Pixel Digital
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Eirik Kristiansen the CEO & Co-Founder of Pixel.bet, a frontier in the esports betting market, is consistently speaking and contributing to panels all over the world to educate and share his passion for everything esport and gaming. With a mobile first approach and decades of experience at the highest level, Pixel.bet lead the way into the future of esports and iGaming intertwinement. Vast amounts of experience from being a former professional player and a visionary entrepreneur, ensures that any topic always stays exciting and educational.
Working with some of the greatest acquisition teams on earth has thought me that the road to KicsAss execution goes through a lot of meticulous groundwork. I’ve been honored to take part of some very successful growth phases, joining forces with various types of leaders and teams. I love being in the trenches getting my hand dirty, while flying high at 10,000 feet setting the strategy and finding the sweet spot between scale and profitability. My passion lies in relationships and marketing, my calling lies in building teams that can achieve incredible results.
Elaine has over 9 years’ experience in the affiliate industry. Having been appointed as Head of Affiliate at Global Gaming last year, she recently launched Global Gaming Affiliates that offers brands such as NinjaCasino.com and SpelLandet.com.
Elisa Krantz is the founder and Managing Director of Baton&Baton. She has 15 years’ experience of working with global leading FTSE1OO companies across a range of industries, including financial services, consulting, telecoms, energy, entertainment and leisure. She also works extensively with entrepreneurial start-ups and SMEs striving to become global leaders in their field. Ellie was tasked by YSC (a global leadership consuItancy firm) to found their India business in 2OO9 which she then grew and headed for 2 years. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Malta, after which she was awarded the Chevening scholarship and obtained an MSc in Occupational Psychology from the University of London. Her passion lies in working with individuals and teams to develop their potential, harness their strengths and build their distinctive ‘edge’. Her international experience has helped her to develop a nuanced insight into cultural differences and the challenges leaders navigate as they transition into new roles, contexts and organisations. She brings energy, curiosity, a willingness to test assumptions and explore possibilities to help her clients reconcile individual and team needs with the bigger picture in an authentic and fulfilling way.
Elaine joined KPMG in 2017 bringing almost thirty years’ experience in the financial services industry on the Isle of Man. During this time she has worked for the Isle of Man financial regulator as well as holding senior management positions within the retail and banking sectors in financial crime, risk and compliance. Elaine has extensive experience in the assessment and practical application of a wide range of requirements on a multi-jurisdictional basis. She is also highly experienced in conducting AML/CFT benchmarking assessment visits, developing and implementing risk and compliance frameworks, corporate governance controls and compliance monitoring programmes; focussing on the establishment of practical, risk-based compliance solutions for clients.
Eric Benz, Managing Director at Cryptopay, has been involved in the ‘payments technology sector’ for the best part of a decade and has delivered retail payment solutions for the world’s largest merchant brands transforming the way in which they sell and ship to their worldwide customers. Eric continues to lead innovative Pay-Tech solutions for the rapidly emerging digital currency and mobile wallet markets. His specialties lye in providing and integrating a wide range of merchant services in combination with accelerating brand and product development.
Eric has over 25 years experience working in various Information Technology functions covering the entire spectrum of the systems development lifecycle, IT project management, IT strategy, selection and implementation of IT solutions, process re-engineering, IT risk management, learning strategies and change management. Eric is responsible for a team of professionals engaged on IT Advisory projects covering IT project management , systems implementation, business intelligence, data & analytics, IT assurance, IT governance and IT security within the Financial Services, Transportation and Gaming sectors. His main focus is the bridging of the technology / business gap and can relate well to the C-level within organisations. Eric founded the KPMG CIO Agenda in Malta which brings together CIOs and CTOs into a community to exchange ideas, explore emerging trends and question avant garde technologies.
I want to smile as much as possible – This is a rule I live by. The more I smile, the more the world smiles back at me. I believe in people – I think that everyone has a good heart. Everyone has their story and everyone is trying their best. I’m an impatient optimist – I truly think the world is becoming better and better for each day. I just want the progress to happen faster! I want to make a difference. I want the world to change faster and I want the world to be even better than it is. If I can help, then that’s what I want to do.
Esteban van Goor is a tax lawyer in the indirect tax department at Baker & McKenzie, Amsterdam. He specializes in VAT and GST aspects within the digital economy (amongst which bitcoin, gaming and iGaming). Combining his knowledge of technology and VAT/GST has allowed him a unique understanding of tech businesses, which has enabled him to provide clients with an industry-focused, customized approach. He is currently working on a PhD on the VAT treatment of e-services within EU VAT law (including bitcoin and iGaming). His experience in VAT/GST ranges from addressing issues related to sales structuring, to assisting clients in discussions with tax authorities and writing opinions or position papers for lawmakers on the VAT/GST treatment of blockchain, bitcoin and iGaming. Mr Van Goor also provides guidance to various tech start-ups on VAT/GST (general tax) matters and he is a frequent speaker on these topics at technology-related conferences. He is a member of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers (NOB)
Eugen Platon is the SEO Manager at Guts.com (part of the Gaming Innovation Group – GiG). With an SEO experience of more than 8 years, optimizing in highly competitive industries, Eugen is a Master Certified in SEO by MarketMotive. Eugen’s graduated Computer Science Faculty of Technical University of Iasi (Romania) and he’s holding few other important certifications in Mobile Marketing, Web Analytics, and Conversion Rate Optimization, just to name the most important ones. With deep roots in computer science, Eugen’s developed knowledge and acquired competencies into digital marketing areas within the companies he worked for into competitive industries, optimising websites globally and locally, from strategy to execution and reporting, improving the main KPI’s but also companies bottom line. Passionate about leadership and machine learning along with his main competencies in SEO and Web Analytics are his focus these days. He is constantly looking for ways to improve strategies and results into evolving and continuously changing field of SEO. When he’s not working or reading, he is passionate about radio-controlled helicopters and the new wave of mini-drones.
Evan Spytma is the CEO of eBET, a live mobile casino supplier based in Manila. He has over 18 years of leadership experience in Asia’s fastest-growing mobile markets. Before joining eBET, Mr. Spytma held executive positions in leading interactive gaming companies such as Electronic Arts, PopCap Games, and Unity Technologies.
Evgeny is a true visionary, seasoned business expert focused on digital assets investing, FinTech development, and affiliate marketing since 2013. He has entered the space by contributing to the inception of multiple projects in the cryptocurrency industry in 2014 and 2016. More recently, his broad experience in DLT and formidable approach to business has resulted in the creation of the Sp8de idea and its application to practical use cases that create value globally. He envisions the future of the technology to become an integral part of everyone’s life as scaling efforts attract more and more intellectual capital.
Ewa is the person responsible for the firm’s relations with the members of Ally Law, an international association of firms, the only member of which from Poland is Izabella Żyglicka i Wspólnicy law firm. As a Member of the Management Board, Vice-President of Ally Law and the main coordinator of relations with this organization, she participates in international delegate conferences
Fabien is a Digital Architect working on Blockchain, Smart Contracts and IoTs. After a decade in the media industry, Fabien decided to leave his last job at Google to become an entrepreneur to consult for companies on the implementation of cutting-edge infrastructures. He also has a secret life as a quantum physicist working on green technologies.
FARIS OWEIS
Co-founder
Instigation Protocol
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Faris is the co-founder of Instigation Protocol. He collaborates with blockchain organizations, city stakeholders, and Fortune 500 enterprises helping them create new economic models to more equitably distribute value with citizens. Faris is also co-chair for Blockchain for Impact, a UN Office of Partnerships initiative to support governments in emerging markets leverage emergent technology. He’s also won mega-infrastructure projects in the Middle East, run a content series with heads of state across Europe, and developed a global youth ambassador program to educate communities on the impact of Big Tech.
FELIX MAGO
Co-Founder
Dash NEXT
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Felix is Co-Founder of Dash NEXT & Dash Thailand. Dash is the leading cryptocurrency for real-life payments. Dash Next is focused on biz-dev and partnerships. Dash Thailand has established the first crypto payment ecosystem in Asia. He published the “Bitcoin Handbook” and is Co-Founder of FUTERIO and the Blocktech Institute.
A former Google senior support engineer and Google Search Quality analyst, Fili Wiese is a renowned SEO expert for successful recovery of penalized websites, technical and international SEO consulting, in-depth backlink analysis and empowering clients with SEO workshops. As part of SearchBrothers.com Fili is on the DeepCrawl Advisory Board, acts as an official brand ambassador for Majestic and frequently speaks at online marketing events such as SEOktoberfest, BrightonSEO, SMX, SES, London Affiliate Conference and Performance Marketing Insights. Before becoming an international SEO consultant, Fili tackled Web Spam on the Google Search Quality team and Click Spam on the Google Ad Traffic Quality team for seven years. On both teams he was a senior team member and the driving force behind spam policy creation and enforcement, external communication and internal tools development.
Filip is a Marketing and Sales Expert that helps online businesses engage more, and sell more. Thanks to his clients’ trust and satisfaction, he put his mark on growing MaxTraffic – where he serves as Head of Marketing – almost 100% every year since joining. Now he shares benefits of the biggest trend of internet marketing of the this year, and reveals ways of getting sustainable results in the world of ad-blindness and increased privacy protection.
FIONA EWINS BROWN
CHRO at CatenaMedia
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Fiona Ewins Brown occupies the position of Director-Human Resources of Catena Media plc. In the past she held the position of Director-Talent Management & Human Resources at GFI Software Development Ltd. and Director-Human Resources at Morgan Stanley Equity Finance (Malta) Ltd
FLAVIEN GUILLOCHEAU
CEO
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Flavien is the CEO of PandaScore, the first Esports data and odds provider leveraging Artificial Intelligence to create a market leading offer in Esports. He created the company in 2015 to solve the need for data in Esports. They are working with top esports teams, media and bookmakers all over the world.
FOYE JOHNSON
Executive Director
Western Sportbet Nigeria Limited (Westernbet)
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FOYE Johnson Adewale is currently an Executive Director of Western Sportbet Nigeria Limited (Westernbet) with over 20years of experience in Marketing, Customer Service, Technical Support, Retail Operations, Training and Business Development ranging from the Educational sector, Hotel and Hospitality Management, Information Technology, Telecommunication and Gaming Sector. Prior to his appointment in Western Sportbet Nigeria Limited, he had been privileged to be one of the pioneers of the two big brands in the gaming industry in Nigeria mainly KC Gaming Network Limited popularly called (Bet9ja) and SV Gaming Limited also popularly called (Betking) where he assisted to push the revenue generation from zero to nine-digit figure monthly within the first year of operation of the both brands. He has also worked with international brands like MTN Nigeria Communication Limited. His strong passion is in business development and capacity building of any team to higher productivity.
Fran Moisa is the Co-founder of Malta’s sophisticated and well respected commercial recruitment business Nicholls Moisa and if that wasn’t enough for Fran, She has now taken on a dual role and become Managing Director of the iGaming sector’s boldest, most colourful and everyone’s favourite recruitment specialist – iGaming Elite.
VacancyCentre (operated by CSB Group) is a small yet remarkably effective recruitment business servicing the resources needed by organisations of all sizes across a wide range of industry sectors, namely Financial Services, Legal & Compliance, Gaming & IT, Administration, and Sales & Marketing. With grounded experience of 30 years in the recruitment sector, VacancyCentre knows exactly how to reach the best people to fill almost any position. We pride ourselves in delivering an unrivalled candidate experience to ensure we create an ethos that our clients feel confident will represent them in the best possible way. The foundation of our success is based on treating both candidates and clients as valued customers. We seek to establish trust and respect by providing an excellent recruitment service to our clients and being trusted career advisors to our candidates.
FRANCINA MOISA
Director of NichollsMoisa
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FRANCISCO VIDAL
COO
Sortis&Golden Lion Casinos
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Francisco is a gaming professional and international speaker/trainer on casino operations and human resources management topics. Mr. Vidal is a specialist on: change management, setting up operations, new technologies applied to land based operations, CRM systems, and executive education for the gaming industry. He has experience in 8 different international markets (UK, USA, Spain, Dominican Republic, Peru, Panama, Mexico, Croatia), is an expert on the Latin America gaming industry and has studied in some of the most respected universities in the world: University of Nevada Reno, London School of Economics and Political Science, Stanford Graduate School of Business, etc. Nowadays, Francisco is in charge of a land based casino group in Panama, being one of his main areas of attention the range of skills needed to thrive on the gaming industry and the tools and training schemes needed to adquire them. He is an absolute believer on lifelong learning both in the personal and professional areas and he will come to SIGMA 2017 to share his views on the topic “Workforce of the 21st Century”.
FRANK HERLOD
Business Development Manager
Emirat
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Frank Herold joined the Management Board of EMIRAT AG in 2018 and is responsible for Business Development. Before that the 50-year-old sales professional worked as Managing Director and Sales Director for several global and local media companies. EMIRAT AG, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Munich/Germany is an internationally active risk management company. The company designs and financially secures competitions, sports bonus, marketing and sales promotion campaigns. EMIRAT AG cooperates with renowned partner companies worldwide.
FRANKIE ROCHE
Salesforce Country Manager Malta & Cyprus
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FRANKLIN CACHIA
Senior Manager Tax & Regulated Industries at CSB Group
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Experienced Lecturer with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. Skilled in Transfer Pricing, Managed Funds, Legal Writing, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and Corporate Governance. Strong education professional with a Introduction to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies Diploma focused in Bitcoin, Blockchain, Crypotcurrency from Centre of Excellence Online Ltd .
After graduating from medical school in the USA, Frederick soon found his true passion in entrepreneurship in diverse industries. For the past 15 years this entrepreneurship passion has focused primarily on FinTech where he founded his company ITEX Integrated Services in 2003. ITEX has been at the forefront of the cashless Nigeria drive as well as financial inclusion initiatives, while also providing core systems to NIBSS and many banks in the country and across Africa. Drawing from years of pan-African experience through ITEX, Frederick has recently founded an online ecommerce B2B startup called Afrimart to address the shortcomings in intra-African trade.
FREDRIC E. GUSHIN
Managing Director
Spectrum Gaming Group
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Fredric Gushin founded Spectrum Gaming Group in 1993 after working 13 years for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (“DGE”), where he was promoted to Assistant Director and Assistant Attorney General. At the DGE, Gushin oversaw the openings of 12 Atlantic City casino hotels and managed civil and administrative litigation before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. He personally argued more than 50 cases before the Commission. Gushin has worked with a variety of private-sector and governmental clients since founding Spectrum. He has advised private casino developers on compliance, AML, operational and management issues and provided gaming expertise to a number of gaming jurisdictions over the years. He also served as a Commissioner with the Oneida Indian Nation Gaming Commission that regulates the Turning Stone Resort Casino near Syracuse, NY. Gushin has worked with private sector clients throughout the United States, the Caribbean, South America, Asia and Europe on a wide range of issues. As Assistant Director and Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, he oversaw all compliance related issues regarding New Jersey’s multibillion-dollar gaming industry including security and surveillance, development and compliance with accounting and internal control procedures and development of emergency plans to respond to incidents occurring in casino. With Spectrum, Gushin has led engagements evaluating casino operations for compliance (including AML Services) for private sector and governmental clients for over 30 years. He is a former US Treasury Interim Advisor. Additionally, while serving as Assistant Director for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, he worked on a task force to implement amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act when it determined that casinos were considered financial institutions in 1986 to 1988. Gushin has served clients throughout Asia including in Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Saipan, Guam, South Korea and the Philippines. He has managed all Spectrum’s Asian engagements including feasibility and marketing studies, public policy analysis, drafting of gaming laws and regulation, AML compliance and gaming related investigations for a diverse mix of governments and private sector clients. Gushin has led Spectrum’s 15-year regulatory association with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Casino Regulatory Authority in Singapore. He also served a 14-month consultancy for the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission as gaming advisor. Gushin received his BA from the American University School of Government and Public Administration in 1970, his Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University in 1973, and his Masters from American University in 1979
Frieder Backu is Partner with SSW Schneider Schiffer Weihermüller, one of the leading German law firms in the field of information technology law. He studied law at the universities of Munich and London. Following Backu’s studies at university he passed an education as certified expert for tax law and for information technology law. His focus is online and information technology law. Since 2002 Backu consults and represents international gaming companies with respect to their business activities in Germany. He is co-author and editor of the monthly journal Der IT-Rechtsberater (IT Law Specialist, www.itrb.de) and author of numerous publications in the field of IT and taxes. Backu lectures regularly in the field of IT. He is Member of the German Bar Association, Munich Bar Association and the Information Technology Working Group of the German Bar Association (DAV IT).
Funsho Ajibade is the co founder and CMO of BBI Pages, The first global blockchain & crypto related business directory. A marketer and entrepreneur by profession, he previously held positions at Yell and numerous media companies before creating bbipages.com to help grow the blockchain & crypto community by offering free advertising solutions. Funsho now interviews blockchain business owners to get an insight into what their projects do and to help them promote their services to the correct audiences.
Gabriel holds a Bachelor’s and a Master degree in Mathematics. He developed, during the last 8 years, a deep knowledge on big data related technologies and platforms. Moreover, he has over twenty years of experience in various executive positions in technology companies. Some of them, that are now public companies, were technically driven from early stage to pre-IPO stages. As Forcive (www.forcive.com) Chief Technology Officer, Gabriel is responsible for leading the company’s product development, business and technology strategy. Gabriel co-founded Forcive with the aim to build a new generation of big data management platform with specific focus on real time hyper scalable ingestion and big data operationalization capabilities. Gabriel has joined Forcive as its CTO in 2011 and has led the company through its initial growth phase and its first external financing round. Gabriel is very strong speaker on Real time and big data operationalization strategy so if there is an option please do consider.
GAL EHRLICH
Group Chief Technology & Product Development
Fortuna Entertainment Group
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Group Chief Technology & Product Development Gal has more than 17 years of experience in leading operations in world-wide corporates. In his last role he has holding senior management position in the leasing gaming platform provider Playtech.
GALI HARTUV
Head of VIP
10bet
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Gali has 8 years of VIP management experience behind him. Having worked on both regulated and unregulated markets, with a focus on sports, casino and poker he is an expert in his field. Gali has worked as Head of VIP in regions including UK, South Africa, Australia and America amongst others.
Gary R. Beal has been in the Search Engine Optimization field for 15 years. He attended Ohio State University in the US and holds a Masters Degree in Biometrics and Mathematical Statistics. Gary has spoken at Search Engine Strategies (SES) conferences, SMX London, EIG, G2E Vegas, Casino Affiliate Program/Conference (CAP & CAC) conferences around Europe, Social Networking and Dating conferences such as iDating and iGaming as well as the NMA show in London, and that was just in 2007. Gary has also been on 4 expert SEO panels and has written specialised articles for multiple online marketing publications. His sessions are always the favourite according to attendees.
Gavin Brown is an Associate Professor in Financial Economics at Manchester Metropolitan University where he is a member of The Future Economies Research Centre. He teaches and speaks at investment banks internationally but particularly in London and New York. He is a Non-Executive Director and Co-founder of start-up crypto-assets fund. He specialises in FinTech, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptoassets and Blockchain.
Dr. Gege Gatt is a digital entrepreneur, an IT-Law specialist and an experienced Director serving on a number of company boards. He’s passionate about digital transformation and strategy. He is the co-founder and CEO of EBO an Artificial Intelligence product which is disrupting the customer service industry by enabling automation and personalizing engagement. He’s a Director at ICON: a software development company serving markets in central and northern Europe. ICON is a Microsoft Partner, a Google Partner, and an ISO9001 certified company.
Genia Gurevitz – LLB, Graduated from Tel Aviv University, Heads the APAC and Baltics-based operations of Tal Ron, Drihem & Co. in Singapore and in Tallinn, assisting the legal team and its clients with banking, incorporation and regulatory needs in the blockchain, crypto and financial services industries.
GEORG WASHINGTON
CEO
Synergy Blue
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Georg Washington, CEO of Synergy Blue, is an entrepreneurial pioneer in the IT and gaming industries. His passion for vintage arcades and the desire to progress the gambling industry led Georg to focus on skill-based gaming; and, with his team, he invented the HAWG® System and games to accompany it. The team’s hybrid brainchild reimagines the gambling experience for a new generation of players, like Georg. Prior to Synergy Blue, Georg founded Synergy Information Solutions, a leading technology provider specializing in gaming and tribal gaming enterprises. He led the entity from startup to an award winning industry competitor, which continues to thrive to this day. In Georg’s spare time he enjoys working on Synergy Blue projects in-between rounds of PUBG.
Georg Westin, from Casino Saga, is a broad leader that has a big interest in both the business and the technical/product development part of running successful companies. Westin can discuss detailed business strategies as well as how to handle large scale IT projects due to my history in both fields. Georg Westin has a long experience and a track record of positions in extremely successful companies and have recruited 50+ persons and created highly effective teams showing performance far above average. He believes in improving organizations and people one step at the time and rarely have a “revolutionary” approach, he finds great people and give them the motivation and environment to create great things. Georg Westin enjoys working in organizations with high growth rate and exciting business and love the challenge of making technology and product development create high business growth. He has worked in the i-gaming industry for the past 10 years since it has given the fast moving environment I find most interesting. Specialties: I-gaming, management, recruitment, business strategies, software architecture, web entrepreneurial strategies
GEORGE PAYNE
CEO
GatePay
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George Payne is CEO and Co-Founder of GatePay, a fintech company optimizing payments across the globe. Prior to GatePay, he founded companies in the fashion and politics spaces. Alongside GatePay, George also sits on the board of several companies in the blockchain space and beyond.
George Shamugia, the CEO and co-founder of Singular has an educational background in Computer Science and a deep understanding of the FinTech industry. George has more than 10 years of experience within the iGaming industry with a special focus on Platform development with high scalability demands. Shamugia holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of East London and has wide experience with Mobile APP developments. He is particularly knowledgeable in building applications for next billion users across Africa and other emerging markets. Although holding a managerial position within the company, he is actively engaged in the development of the company’s technological vision and architecture
Gerald Fenech is one of the most renowned journalists in the blockchain, crypto and iGaming space. He is well established in all fields and is currently a contributor for Forbes, an assistant producer at Bloxlive TV, as well as a freelance editor for SiGMA and the Malta Blockchain Summit. Gerald has a considerable network of contacts in the space and is also very active on social media.
Gergely Czoboly is a tax lawyer and senior lecturer with a primary focus on international and European tax law. He works at the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy as an international tax consultant and at the Corvinus University of Budapest as a senior lecturer. He is the Hungarian delegate to the OECD Working Party on Aggressive Tax Planning (WP11) and the Task Force on Digital Economy (TFDE). He is also participating regularly the EU Council working parties on international tax issues. His main fields of interests are the international tax structuring of MNEs (BEPS, ATAD), hybrid and the international tax questions of the digital economy.
Giles joined KPMG in Malta in 1994. He has since principally practiced within the firm’s audit function in Malta and in Milan, Italy and has been mainly involved in audits of local and foreign group structures, including audits of companies listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. Giles has also experience in auditing subsidiaries of international groups and others engaged in the hospitality, marinas, shipping sectors, oil and gas, as well as parastatal orgnisations, iGaming and digital gaming, affiliate marketing sectors, software development, manufacturing, treasury companies and fund structures. Giles also acts as EQCR on audits of Public-Interest-Entities. Giles has also been involved on a number of advisory engagements, forms part of the firm’s Department of Professional Practice and is particularly interested in accounting and auditing issues relating to group structures and has also been involved in the provision of technical advice in relation to such structures. Giles has also been a member on the Continuing Professional Education committee of the Malta Institute of Accountants, as well as a lecturer in financial accounting and reporting and addressed a number of seminars organised by the Institute and the firm on International Financial Reporting Standards and International Standards on Auditing
Gillian is a transformational Chairman and NED with digital and big data expertise, brand and value creation and delivering growth strategies. She Chairs ClearlySo, Senet Group, jisp.com and founded Board Mentoring in 2008. Her background in Retail, Retail Financial Services, Logistics, Brands and Consumer Markets includes data, credit and loan book analysis. This combines with her work more recently in Tech, Sport, Energy, Government Investment Advisory, Impact Investment and the Leisure/Gambling industry. She offers a strategic approach focused on stakeholders and aligned to a real operational understanding and insight into management and leadership.
Experienced Business Development Executive in Advertising industry, Mobile Value Added Services and Direct Media Buying. In Crypto business since 2017 driving and advising successful ICO projects on marketing and financials aspects.
I am an industrial engineer graduated from Universidad de Lima in 2002, I joined the sports betting industry in 2015 and starting 2018 I became shareholder and CEO of Apuesta Total, since then, my main goal was to boost our retail expansion nationwide, increasing the number of shops in more than 300% nationwide.
Grant Fraser is the CEO of Digitonic and a globally respected digital marketer and mobile media specialist. He has over 12 years experience in sports marketing and has been at the cutting edge of mobile marketing within the betting sector for the last decade. His company are the marketing technologists behind Smart Mobile Marketing® that has been adopted by over 30 e-gaming brands within existing and emerging markets.
Graeme Newman is the Chief Innovation Officer at CFC Underwriting, a specialist lines underwriting agency based in the UK and backed by a number of Lloyd’s syndicates. The company distributes its products through brokers in 20 countries around the world including America, Australia, Canada, and the UK. For the past 15 years, Graeme immersed himself in the world of technology. From his early career as a consultant for Deloitte working on pioneering internet security projects with the UK Ministry of Defence to his most recent role at CFC working on insurance products for new technology and emerging risks. At CFC Underwriting, Graeme has been heavily involved in the development of a variety of new insurance products designed to protect companies against the growing number of exposures they face as the use of the internet and technology in business increases. In particular he has focused on the creation of our new cyber product aimed at large corporate customers, which includes innovative new areas such as system failures (from all non-physical perils) and technology supply chain failure. Graeme is also an avid online poker player. Specialties: Social media, Technology professional liability insurance, Cyber and privacy liability insurance, Marketing and business development
GREG BENNETT
CEO
MAX Entertainment
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Greg has been in iGaming for over a decade working at OpenBet, Betfair-PaddyPower, and Betsson before joining MaxEnt. He’s experienced all sides of the business, from writing code to training staff on back offices and from Product Management to dealing with (sometimes obstreperous) regulators. Now in Malta with a specific focus on casinos he brings a wealth of industry experience to bear on the challenges facing operators in the years ahead.
GUIDO SCHMITZ-KRUMMACHER
Blockchain & Crypto Expert for Regulatory, Compliance, Finance
“Nothing is impossible” “I try harder” These two sentences describe my approach of work!
GUY BAR SADE
Co Founder & CEO - Simpool.io
Simpool.io
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Guy Bar sade is the CEO and CO-Founder of Simpool, with more then 14 years on the data & analytics field, leading teams and departments in companies such as Bwin and Playtika. Expert in building advanced predictive analytics to help stakeholders make better decisions to gain positive ROI.
Gérard El Allaf combines technical know-how from his studies of civil engineer and business skills from his studies at Solvay Business School. In 2009, he has been elected “Entrepreneur of the year” in Wallonia for having created in 2003 ProduWeb SA, a group active in e-marketing and television advertising. After 10 years of experience in the internet and marketing sector, his career evolved towards the gaming industry in 2010 with the creation of ProduWeb Gaming (today named GAMING1), a joint venture with Circus Group, the main casino and gambling hall operator in Belgium. He took part to the launch and growth of www.circus.be, today the most important online casino and sportsbetting platform in Belgium. As International Development Director of GAMING1, his role is to develop partnerships with landbased casinos and gaming operators willing to develop their business online. GAMING1 can provide them with a set of usefull tools to achieve this goal, including: – Technology : online casino & sports betting platform – Games : with international games and tailor made games adapted to local markets – Consulting : online casino strategy advisory, support regarding the requests of regulators – Marketing : deep experience in online casino marketing
Hagay Elyakim is a veteran in the payment industry, with over 13-years of experience in the online payment eco-system. Hagay has worked in several key positions in payment companies, with focus on bringing a real change to the global online marketplace by optimizing the payment performance. Hagay is the Chief Payments Innovation for Dx.Exchange, the first complete crypto community that allows institutions and individuals to purchase cryptocurrencies with fiat, trade cryptocurrencies, and convert crypto back to fiat.
Hampus embarked on his career in the gambling industry through a Betting Shop in Malmö. This shop was consistently ranked in the top 5 (in Sweden). He moved to Malta in 2005, employed as Director and Key Official. The company, Bettingpromotion, received a Class 3 license in 2006. Next gaming step was to move to the UK to join Bally before being acquired by Scientific Games. Working out of Gibraltar as Head of Commercial Operations his key focus was to roll out the product across new partners and jurisdictions. The current, and latest, career move took him into one of the most exciting and well-developed B2C products in the sector – FSport – having obtained a Malta Skills Games License targeting the Sweedish market.
Hannes Andersson is the CEO of Everysport Media Group, one of the largest sports media companies in Scandinavia. Andersson has worked within the media industry for more than a decade and has recently developed and launched several content products in collaboration with daily fantasy operators. Andersson also has experience from the betting information industry through his five years as CEO of Daytime Media House, a key provider of betting tips and data in the Northern European market. Andersson resides in Stockholm, Sweden, where Everysport Media Group also has its HQ.
HARMEN BRENNINKMEIJER
Managing Partner - Quanta Plc
Quanta Plc
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Harmen is the Managing Partner of the Global Chain Group. He has a long-standing track record in regulated gaming sectors across emerging markets. His key activities include developing gaming equity projects in the gaming sector. His experiences around technology, innovation, and operations have put him touch the various aspects of the industry in different ways.
Harry is Co-Founder at beBettor; The Gambling Affordability Network which helps gambling companies understand how much their customers can afford to gamble. In founding the company, Harry has become an expert in all things affordability; how it applies to an operators obligations of social responsibility, anti-money laundering and customer interaction
Hayato Terai is the Co-CEO of GanaEight Coin Limited, and has been the Chief Legal Officer at Ganapati PLC, GPJ Venture Capital and Ganapati Malta Ltd, since 2017. He began his career as an attorney in 1998 at Yamasaki and Partners, while belonging to the First Tokyo Bar Association. In 2000, he joined the Kasahara Law Office, becoming a partner in 2002. Utilizing his language skills and vast experience overseas, he took on numerous clients not just from Japan, but from all over the globe. With his reputation as a well-known and trusted attorney in Japan, Hayato established the Terai Hayato Law Office in 2005 and has since satisfied even more clients internationally.
Helen is a writer and marketing manager who enjoys solving problems, trying out ideas and making things happen. She started out in Unilever and has worked with Boots, Frucor, The National Trust, Tate Britain, P Z Cussons and dozens of brands. Her work has included a column in the Daily Mail, naming lipsticks, saving literature (a game that won a NIBBIE) and writing an IT course. In your house there will be at least one product that Helen has worked on.
HENRIK GEBBING
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Fiona
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Prior to founding Finoa, Henrik worked as a Consultant at McKinsey & Company, focusing on financial institutions and high-tech companies across the globe. He started his career with a dual degree in the high-tech branch of Siemens AG. Henrik earned a B.A. in Int. Management & Finance (Germany), a M.Sc. in Marketing from Golden Gate University (USA) and an MBA from IE Business School (Spain).
Henrik Norsk Hoffmann is a founding partner of Nordic Gambling and he has 14 years of experience from working in the industry. Henrik is a Danish attorney at law and he specializes in gaming law, corporate and commercial law and international commercial and arbitration law. He offers legal advice in regard to gaming law issues in Denmark, and has assisted a very large portion of the Danish operators in getting their Danish license. Henrik has worked with gaming law since 2002, and has handled some of the most important court cases regarding gambling and in particular poker. Henrik has been appointed to be a member of a committee under the Danish Ministry of Justice, which was appointed with the task of reviewing Danish Gambling law on poker. Henrik was the first Young Gaming Attorney to be inducted into the International Masters of Gaming Law. Henrik is based in Frankfurt, Germany.
HERBERT SIM
Head of BD, Broctagon FinTech Group; Advisor of Future1Exchange.
Broctagon FinTech Group
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Herbert R. Sim, is the Head of Business Development at Broctagon FinTech Group. Herbert is the founder of TheBitcoinMan.com and Crypto Chain University, established in 2010, the oldest repository for compilation of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency research papers.
Hermione Arciola is a Director within the firm’s Deal Advisory team, which she joined in 2007. She has amassed significant experience in performing valuations, assisting clients in the raising of bank and equity finance, and currently spearheads the firm’s due diligence service offering, having been involved in a number of local and cross-border vendor and buy-side due diligence engagements for clients operating in various sectors, including Gaming. In particular, Hermione has managed the vendor due diligence process in one of Malta’s largest ever gaming transactions. Hermione holds an MSc in International Accounting and Finance from Cass Business School in London and has delivered internal and external training on corporate finance matters and due diligence.
Hon. Christopher Fearne was born in Attard, Malta on 12 March 1963. In April 2016 he was appointed Minister for Health after holding the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Health since April 2014. Prior to this, Hon. Fearne worked as a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and Clinical Chairman at Mater Dei Hospital. He is a Member of Parliament for the ruling Labour Party and was the Chairman of the Foreign and European Affairs Committee at the Maltese House of Representatives. Hon. Fearne has worked as a doctor and surgeon for over 29 years. He received his formal education at St. Aloysius College and at the University of Malta graduating in Medicine and Surgery in 1987, becoming a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He worked and studied in a number of children’s hospitals in England, including the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He also lectures students of medicine at the University of Malta. Hon. Fearne was a founding director of the Malta Institute for Medical Education and the chairperson of Celebrities for Kids, a voluntary NGO promoting children’s rights. In July 2017, Hon. Fearne was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister.
Prior to his appointment as Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Dr. Christian Cardona was a Senior Partner at CV Advocates, a legal firm recognized as one of Malta ‘s leading law firms. Prior his latest appointment, during the 2008 – 2013 legislature he served as the Labour Party Main Spokesperson for the Industry, Self Employed and Foreign Investment. In previous legislatures he even served as the Labour Party Spokesperson for Competition, Communication and IT. Dr Cardona served also as member in Malta EU Parliamentary Committee during the negotiation process of Malta ‘s application to join the European Union as full member. Christian Cardona was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and was re-elected in the 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 general elections. In 2008, he contested the post of Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs of the Labour Party. Cardona graduated as a Notary Public and Doctor of Law from the University of Malta . He furthered his studies at IMO International Maritime Institute where he obtained his Master’s Degree in International Maritime Law. Dr Cardona is the author of the thesis entitled ‘United Nations Commission on International Trade Law – A Maltese Perspective’. “Going digital is no longer an option; it is a necessity. We have launched the Digital Malta Strategy with a determination to keep pushing frontiers and to create the right environment for digital enterprise. Events like these give us the opportunity to show case what we have achieved and where we want to be in the next years.”
I understand that the regulators are wary of this technology but the fact is that its coming. We must be on the frontline in embracing this crucial innovation, and we cannot just wait for others to take action and copy them. We must be the ones that others copy.
HON. SILVIO SCHEMBRI
Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation
Silvio Schembri is a an elected Maltese politician and academic currently serving as a Junior Minister within the Maltese Government. Hon Schembri was born in Luqa, the second child among four siblings. His father John Schembri has been occupying the office of Mayor of Luqa since 2001. Silvio is an experienced Lecturer In Economics with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Political Communication, Negotiation, Sustainable Development, Political Science, and Analytical Skills. Strong education professional with a Master of Arts and a Bachelors Degree of Honours focused in Economics from L-Università ta’ Malta.
Ian is a UK lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in traditional sports, primarily in regulation and governance. He is a sports governance and regulatory expert consultant focused primarily on integrity issues – match-fixing, betting fraud, cheating, doping and anti-corruption. He advises and has executive director level engagements with the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC), the PGA European Tour (PGAET) and the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) as well as advising other sports organisations on an ad hoc basis.
IEVGENIIA DERBAL
CLO
Parimatch
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Ievgeniia is Chief Legal Officer at Parimatch, and is responsible for the coordination of the legal function at Parimatch Holding. Evgenia is based at Parimatch's head office in Cyprus, and is responsible for corporate structuring, tax planning, building commodity - cash flows, protecting the intellectual property of the Holding and coordinating with legal teams at local offices. Ievgeniia's expertise is in gambling taxation, intellectual property rights and regulatory compliance. For seven years, she led Konnov and Sozanovsky's tax practice and most recently, was Head of Legal at Media Group FILM.UA, where she was responsible for building and coordinating a team of 20 lawyers. Ievgeniia has experience in the development of legislative and regulatory acts, and has participated in public councils. Ievgeniia has diplomas in law and economics from the International Science and Technology University in Kiev. A keen sportswoman, Ievgeniia enjoys skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and windsurfing. She loves to travel, and spend as much time as possible with her family and two-year-old son.
Igor is an investor and founder of Nexustech, an iGaming software & data consultancy firm. Serving as a CEO of multiple online casino brands, a serial entrepreneur and technology expert, Igor sits on the board of several prominent firms within the industry. Author of numerous papers on revenue efficiency and player behaviour profiling, he is the founder and course director of highly successful Online Gaming Masterclass designed for C-level executives and founders of online gaming operations.
Ilkka Aalto-Setälä has extensive experience in legal issues in the Finnish gambling industry. His clients include numerous governmental institutions, e.g. the national public broadcaster YLE, National Social Insurance Institution and Veikkaus in the past as well as interest groups in numerous industries. Ilkka advises companies and governmental agencies on competition and marketing law issues at national and EU level, including abuse of dominant position, cartels, state aid and public procurement. Ilkka also litigates on a regular basis before the Finnish Market Court and the European Commission.Ilkka has advised numerous domestic and foreign clients on M&A transactions and cooperation arrangements. Important authority bodies, such as National Emergency Supply Agency have also been among his clients. Ilkka is the chairman of the Competition Law Expert Group of the Finnish Bar Association. He is currently also a member of the working group investigating changes to the current Competition Act which came into force in November 2011. The Ministry of Employment and Economy appointed the working group on 28 August 2015. Ilkka heads Borenius’ Competition & Public Procurement team. This year, Ilkka has participated in the IMGL (International Masters of Gaming Law) Nordic Panel in Prague moderated by Advocate Tal Itzhak Ron, and has also been inducted to the Legal 500 Hall of Fame.
Ilya Bere is the CEO at Changelly, an instant exchange platform that allows to swap over 100 cryptocurrencies and purchase them with a bank card. Ilya’s leadership skills and proper vision allowed to build the powerful and friendly team that made Changelly one of the most prominent exchange services in the crypto industry. Ilya has graduated in Computer Science. Before going crypto, he worked for 10 years in Business Development and Delivery Management in ICT sphere. His strong Product Owner and Project Management skills were useful in many companies working with Mobile and Contactless Technologies, Payment and Loyalty Systems, Consumer Devices, Automotive, Education and Social Development. Nowadays, Ilya’s profound knowledge in the IT sphere helps Changelly effectively deal with the growth issues and daily challenges. He controls the service quality for customers and a range of partners, contributes to the marketing strategy, and sets the right direction for the company as a whole.
ILYA MACHAVARIANI
Senior partner & CEO
4H Agency
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Ilya Machavariani is a Senior Partner & CEO at 4H Agency, an international law & consulting firm fully focused on the needs of the gambling industry. Having a background of international law firms, Ilya Machavariani is advising international clients on the full range of assignments relating to the activities of businesses within the gambling ecosystem, on aspects and nuances of operating in Europe, ex-USSR regions & Africa. He is also acting as a project manager for multi-component teams of consultants and advisors involved on a large-scale projects. Moreover, Ilya is constantly engaged in advising of governments on the legalization of gambling or on improving existing legal frameworks covering our industry.
Ingo Ernst has undertaken a series of highly challenging roles in international security and payment processing organizations. After leading teams at the Acquiring and Payment Service Provider level, Ingo Ernst headed up one the largest Igaming Brands in Latin America. Acuitytec offers a turnkey security platform allowing customers to get the full range of business and processing intelligence with real-time risk scoring and trend notification. In Ingo’s own words, “Acuitytec is looking forward to showcase our turnkey security platform at the SiGMA conference. The opportunity to connect with many key players of the Maltese i-gaming market and regulatory bodies makes this one of our top events to attend this year.”
INGRID ALVARADO LOPEZ
Partner
iGamingColombia.com
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Ingrid holds a bachelor degree in Law from the University Externado de Colombia, and a Master’s degree in International and Comparative Private Law: International Commercial Law from the University of Groningen, Netherlands. She has experience representing and advising private companies on entity formation, contract matters and compliance. During her time working in Malta, an international iGaming hub, Ingrid made the decision to expand her legal practice to assist European iGaming operators to enter the Latin American markets.
Founder & CEO of the international marketing agency Digital Choo (DC). The specialist with 15 years of experience in complex marketing communications.
ITAI HADAS
Former Omni-Channel Director
Former William Hill PLC
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Seasoned Online Executive expert. High‐performing, strategic‐thinking professional with more than 12 years of experience in the online industry. Super enthusiastic in designing, developing and delivering business with of best KPI’s and P&L. Deep knowledge and experience in all business aspect from strategy, delivery of strategy, leadership, P&L management, online operation management, Digital Marketing and acquisition, Business Intelligent and business development.
Itamar Ronen, Chief Revenue Officer at CELLXPERT, leading affiliate tracking software. Has spent the last 12 years in the affiliate marketing industry and has a deep understanding of the objectives and requirements of todays affiliate programs. Being Affiliate manager, Affiliate and on the technology side, Itamar has the ability to see and understand the full picture of affiliate marketing. Cellxpert provides top notch tools and unique features for managing affiliates and their campaigns. With high end technology capabilities and in-depth understanding of the behavior on the internet as a whole Itamar is playing important role at CELLXPERT to be the leading affiliate tracking software focusing mainly on Gaming, Gambling, financial and e-commerece verticals.
IVAN CAMILLERI
Director
Camilmac Services Limited
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IVAN DANISHEVSKY
Founder
Esports Charts
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Email
Ivan has vast esports experience starting from a pro-player, managing several teams, creating, covering and even commenting a lot of esports events. Energized with an idea of making esports better, bigger and more profitable for all parties involved, he founded Esports Charts – the unique analytical service that investigates trends of broadcasting & esports development, advertising, and streaming. This service makes esports media market more honest and clear, helps sponsors, organizers, and viewers to find out the data about the popularity of any broadcast and esports event.
Ivan Filletti is the Head of Operations and Business Development for the Gaming Malta Foundation. Together with the GamingMalta team, he stewards the strategic direction of the Foundation ensuring that Malta retains its status as Home of Gaming Excellence. Prior to joining GamingMalta, Ivan was CEO for the advertising agency, TBWA/ANG across both Malta and Greece. He was instrumental in leading his team to win significant business accounts including Bank of Valletta and servicing blue chip clients such as McDonald’s, Nissan and Mr. Green.
IVAN ON TECH
Youtube Influencer
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JAAP VISSER
Managing Director
ESL Benelux
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Jaap Visser has an impressive track record when it comes to esports! Active in the esports world since 2009, he first founded an esports team called AT Gaming to learn the ropes from a player/team point of view. Some years later he joined ESL International as a Business Development Manager, where Jaap was involved in setting up major esports events world wide and was responsible for the integration of some of the major ESL-partners. The past few years he’s responsible for esports and millennial marketing at eMense, a company he founded with other professionals in the gaming and esports market. With (co)owned products like the ESL Dutch and Proximus Championship, Ziggo eBattle F1 and media platforms like IGN Benelux and Androidworld, eMense is a full service agency that connects brands with millennials.
Jack is the founder and CEO of Gamban. Formed as a result of his own experience with problem gambling and his dissatisfaction with existing self-exclusion options, Jack brought the most affordable, effective and lightweight gambling-blocking software to the market. The aim is help individuals stop gambling and organisations (businesses, operators and education institutions) improve sustainability.
JACKIE MALLIA
Malta.AI Taskforce Member
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JAIME DEBONO
Managing Director
iFinance Academy & IGA
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Experienced Managing Director in developing businesses from concept to operational. Skilled in building business strategies, Negotiation, and Management.
JAKE WALLER
Managing Director
New World Gaming
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Jake Wallers’ career spans 31 years in over 30 countries and he specialises in casino development and casino management. As MD of New World Gaming he works with a team of highly experienced Casino Consultants to deliver hard hitting consultation to customers worldwide.
James Camilleri has several years of experience working in the B2B iGaming sector. He held several commercials positions until recently with NetEnt. He currently serves as the Head of Sales and General Manager(Malta) for Scout Gaming Group, a major B2B provider of fantasy and pooled betting products.
James Catania is a software engineer by profession, however, he has been in the IT industry for over 20 years. Starting programming at the age of 10 with BASIC and an AMIGA 500, James was one of Malta’s Internet pioneers having the second Maltese internet site in 1994 and continued to study and developing e-business and e-commerce applications throughout his career. After working directly for IBM, Walmart, HP, Patek Phillipe, Rolex and the United Nations just to name a few, in 2004 James held the position of CEO for two international companies with offices in Malta, Libya, Tunisia, Canada and Holland. James is also Malta’s leading expert in Defence and Security software, robotics and blockchain. James holds two Masters degrees (both with distinction) one in Business Administration for Information Systems and the other a Master’s of Science in Computer Science. Currently, James Catania is the CEO and lead technical consultant for Intelliblock, the premiere business blockchain solutions provider for the European market with several successful ICOs and certified blockchain developers, Intelliblock is placed at the top for proven blockchain solutions. James holds two Masters degrees one in management of information systems and another in computer science.
James Harrison, FunFair Technologies’ Director for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs has almost two decades of experience in senior management roles with online and mobile consumer facing products, with the last few years spent at Gaming Realms where he managed their compliance and licensing requirements for the group’s companies. He now heads up FunFair’s regulatory team, working with regulators and other gaming stakeholders to license the brand across numerous territories and push blockchain gaming organisations into the wider gaming mainstream.
JAMES KELLY
Head of Performance
Blueclaw Media Ltd.
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James Kelly is Head of Performance at award-winning digital marketing agency, Blueclaw Media Ltd. With over 13 years of experience working with industry leading operators and affiliates in the iGaming sector, James and the Blueclaw team specialise in SEO, PPC, Content Marketing and Digital PR, and are committed to producing competitive, bespoke strategies that provide exceptional ROI.
James is a Malta Advocate and a Solicitor of the Senior Court of England and Wales. He has practiced law in the UK and Malta both in private practice and as in house counsel. James is ranked as one of leading gaming & gambling lawyers globally by Chambers & Partners.
JAMES WO
Founder & Chairman,
ETC Labs
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James Wo, CEO and Founder is an experienced investor and entrepreneur in blockchain technology and digital assets; delivering a 200% return on investment in 2 years. He speaks internationally on blockchain, digital assets, Ethereum Classic, and investing. Most recently, he has spoken at DevCon, ETH Denver, BlockShow Asia, and ETC Summit.
JAMIE NETTLETON
Gambling Law Partner
Addisons Lawyers
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Jamie Nettleton, President of IMGL, 2019 and Partner, Addisons Lawyers, advises extensively on all aspects of Australian and international gambling regulatory issues. He acts for gambling industry organisations, gaming machine suppliers, testing agencies, bookmakers, poker industry participants (e.g. operators and tournament organisers), lottery providers, as well as commercial organisations conducting promotional campaigns. Many of the international organisations that he has advised have subsequently established successful businesses in Australia. Mr. Nettleton first became involved in the gambling area over 20 years ago in connection with the establishment of Sydney’s casino and advising on the then new internet gaming sector. Since that time, he has given presentations on gambling issues throughout the world and has advised on, and been involved actively in, most material recent Australian gambling industry developments.
JAN FEUERHAKE
Salary Partner/Rechtsanwalt Taylor Wessing
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Tech Lawyer focussed on IT contracts, data and iGaming
JAN HEINRICH MEYER
CEO & Founder- Dash Embassy D-A-CH
Dash Embassy D-A-CH
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Jan Heinrich Meyer is the CEO & Founder of Dash Embassy D-A-CH pushing for adoption of Dash means of payment. In July 2019 Meyer became supervisor of the Dash Investment Foundation. Since October 2019 he is a member of the board of the blockchain working group of bitkom.
Jan Sammut is the founder and CEO of RefToken, the world’s first decentralised affiliate platform, as well as ICOMalta.com, a full stack ICO platform. A marketer by profession, he has previously held executive positions at industry heavyweights such as IGT plc, Stars Group and Highlight Media Group. Jan is a fixture on the European blockchain conference tour and has advised ICOs with market caps exceeding $1B.
His first self-established business was selling seashells on the beach to tourists in Torredembarra for 100 pesetas a piece. He was just five years old. During his years of study, his main interests were IT and Economics. Fast forward to life after college, Jan has gained valuable experience in various executive positions in the financial sector before entering the exciting iGaming industry. His first contact with the world of gambling was a short career as a poker player, followed by being a manager in a poker club in Prague. Jan is currently the CEO of Endorphina, an ambitious and trendy online slot game provider. He has been with Endorphina since 2014, when the startup originally began with zero clients. Today, the established company has their games in more than 700 online casinos. Jan is now leading the company to expand in regulated markets. In his free time, he enjoys martial arts, archery, reading psychology books and playing boardgames. You can reach him at jan@endorphina.com.
Jan-Willem Bobbink got addicted with online marketing in 2004, since he build his first international webshop when he was 16. He is currently employed as Director of SEO for the US based search marketing agency Acronym Media and is Ambassador for MajesticSEO. Bobbink is specialized in the following SEO-related subjects; – Strategy and development – International and local SEO – Mobile SEO – Big site (>50M pages) SEO – Developing custom made tools – Link auditing andpenalty prevention He has been a speaker at several international events like SMX Munich, Performance Marketing Insights, A4U Expo, SEOCampixx, BrightonSEO & Search Marketing Thursday. Bobbink is an online marketeer with extensive experience on development of user- and search engine friendly front-end / back-end web applications. During the years he has developed extensive knowledge of performance marketing by building multiple affiliate marketing concepts. In 2011, after several years of working alone, he then decided to make the next step in his career: utilizing his SEO knowledge for the bigger players in the market. Currently he is responsible for international visibility campaigns for a broad range of clients. In addition to that, he writes on his SEO blog notprovided. His philosophy is focusing on more leads, higher conversion rates and a more positive user experience. Web developer and affiliate marketeer with expertise in the fields of Search Engine Marketing and Lead generation in several niches like holidays, insurances and mobile communication. “With more and more countries legalising online gambling, it is important to be well educated on the topic before your competitors are. That’s why I visit!”
With almost two decades of experience, Jason started promoting his first website the year Google came about and became one of the top 10,000 most visited sites in the world (60 million views in 2007). Today, he is a digital marketing consultant, speaker, author and the host of the #SEOisAEO podcast.`
Jason is a partner and co-head of the Betting and Gaming group. Jason has a particular expertise in electronic betting and gaming, as well as all types of lotteries, competitions and promotions. He represents both the platforms and operators providing electronic gambling and also the brand and media owners who use remote gambling to monetise existing audiences. He advises upon the regulation and marketing of betting and gaming as well as the associated issues of distribution and sponsorship. Jason is a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law.
Experienced CTO with a demonstrated history of working in the gaming industry. Skilled in Software development, Project and Team Management, Infrastructure Management, IT Security and a Block Chain Enthusiast. Strong IT professional with a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) warrant focused in Information Systems Auditing from ISACA and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in IT Security from the University of Malta.
Jason is a Partner in the Corporate group advising clients across the firm’s key sectors, with a focus on technology, e-commerce and gambling. He advises clients on a broad range of corporate and company law matters including M&A, joint ventures, investments and fundraisings, and reorganisations. He is also a member of the firm’s Betting & Gaming group and, in addition to advising on a wide variety of corporate transactions in the sector, he acts for various stakeholders in the online gambling industry on regulatory matters.
JASON FOSTER
Head of iGaming
Chalkline Sports
Website
Email
Head of iGaming and African markets at Chalkline Sports, a sports betting game platform that powers Free-to-Play, Insured and Real-Money games at scale and on demand. I have more than 20 years experience in sports betting operations and online sports betting technology and have worked with sports betting operators around the world.
JASON GARBER
Marketing Manager- Melbet
Website
Email
JAVIER DE ARRIAGA
Salesforce Business Development at iMovo
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Email
JAYDEEP CHAKRAVARTTY
Vice President Commercials
NEKTAN PLC
Website
Email
I am a Techno, Marketing and Gaming Evangelist with 12 years of Business Development, Marketing & Product Development experience across Online Gaming, E-commerce, Social Media, Internet & mobile applications etc. I have also been very enthusiastic about gaming industry in India, which is at its nascent stage. I have professional and personal relationship with all the key players and stake holders in India. I am very keen to play a role in establishing a vibrant Gaming and Regulated Sports Betting industry in India. Currently working as a Commercial Director at Ingenuity Gaming and responsible for new client acquisition and managing existing relationships with some of the top gaming companies. I have been Part of the Top Management team driving business development, marketing & product for various business verticals, through last 8 years.
An economist and resilience-builder, Jean Paul Fabri has consulted 9 governments of small island states on behalf of The Commonwealth Secretariat. He worked as an economist at the Central Bank of Malta, the private cabinet of Prime Minister in Malta and in advisory. JP is also a Visiting Assistant Lecturer at The University of Malta.
Janny has been active in the Crypto and Gaming businesses since 2008, born in Russia and relocated to Israel recently. With Jubiter Exchange she is in charge of new businesses and worldwide operations. She has been speaking in events in Minsk, London and Tel Aviv and flies frequently around the world.
More than 25 years’ experience as a CEO in media, gaming and e-commerce companies. He has been CEO for a number of media companies such as, Östersunds-Posten, Metro International, Bonniers Veckotidningar as well as online and e-commerce companies such as Bonnier Interactive and Euroflorist AB. He was CEO of Svenska Spel, one of Europes largest single market gaming companies for four years and CEO for Eniro before joining Euroflorist, a flower relay company with over 2,000,000 customers in 12 markets. He has also been acting in a number of boards and is the co-author of three books.
Jesper Kärrbrink has a background in media, e-commerce and gaming as CEO at Östersunds-Posten, Bonnier Interactive, Metro International, Euroflorist, Eniro, Svenska Spel and Mr. Green Ltd. Jesper is today Chairman and co-founder of Green Jade Games and Chairman in Pariplay, Internet Vikings and CEGO A/S all four in the iGaming industry. Jesper has also written three books and is a well sought after speaker in topics as innovation, change, and leadership.
JESPER SVENSSON
CEO
Betsson
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JESSICA MAIER
Partner with Melchers
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Email
Jessica Maier is a partner with Melchers and advises on all aspects of gambling law, with a focus on regulation, licensing and compliance. She has been involved in regulatory due diligence reviews in the context of corporate acquisitions and has provided guidance to clients in various licensing proceedings. She is experienced in lobbying and advises clients on the regulatory developments in Germany that impact on their business. This includes developing strategies for the implementation of new products on the German market and marketing thereof. Jessica is a member of the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) and of Global Gaming Women.
JESSICA WALKER
Conference Moderator
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Jessica Walker is the Head of Media Production for SiGMA Group. Jessica drives media content across SiGMA Groups three verticals. Previously, Jessica worked as Head of TV for NewBTC, and was a Broadcast Journalist in Geneva and Riga.Jessica Walker is the Head of Media Production for SiGMA Group. Jessica drives media content across SiGMA Groups three verticals. Previously, Jessica worked as Head of TV for NewBTC, and was a Broadcast Journalist in Geneva and Riga.
JESUS RODRIGUEZ
CTO
IntoTheBlock
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Email
Jesus Rodriguez is a technology expert, executive investor and startup advisor. Jesus founded Tellago, an award winning software development firm focused helping companies become great software organizations by leveraging new enterprise software trends. Under his leadership, Tellago has been recognized as an enterprise software innovator earning Inc. 500 and Stevie Awards for American and International Business. Jesus also started KidoZen, an enterprise mobile app platform company that was founded around a simple, yet powerful goal: to enable the mobile-first enterprise.
JEZ SAN
co-founder of blockchain casino platform
Website
Email
Jez San OBE is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of blockchain casino platform supplier FunFair Technologies, having previously founded pioneering 3D online poker room PKR. He has been actively investing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector in recent years, with interests in Google’s DeepMind, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, and Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.
Jimmy is Founding President of Bitcoin Association, the global industry organization for the business of Bitcoin and is a leading advocate for Bitcoin SV (BSV). He was formerly CEO of nChain Group, the worldwide leader in advisory, research and development of blockchain technologies; Jimmy currently serves as Chair of its Strategic Advisory Board.
Jimmy Zhao is the CEO of Zillion Bits AG and Head of Global Strategy for the ZB network Technology. He is a crypto investor co-managing $100 million who invested in early ICO projects. Jimmy is also a serial entrepreneur with 10 years experience working in Europe. He’s founded several companies like Lunchback, ChainX and Cryptonord and aims to connect Chinese blockchain to the crypto valley.
Jindrich Rajchl is currently serving as the CEO of funtasysport.de, the company is operated by FANTASY SPORT Ltd. Funtasysport.de is the platform that allows participants to assemble in imaginary teams of real-life athletes active in the certain real-life sports league. The company is incorporated in Malta.
JJ WOODS
Director Of Operations
A.C.C
Website
Email
JJ has a unique understanding of people who gamble and what their requirements are. He has been immersed in Land-based casino gaming and all of its issues for over 35 years. JJ Woods was born in Ireland but left in the 1970s to live in London and started his career in banking. After his first 4 years in Banking, he trained in the Casino Industry. Over the last 35 years, he has dedicated his career to the design, set up and management of Casinos around the world. As the political & economic climate has changed in Ireland over recent years he has been corresponding with the Government directly on the matter of the Legislation of Casinos in Ireland. He has also submitted submissions on gaming legislation to other countries, including Trinidad and Namibia to name a couple. Throughout his career he has also done several Radio, Television and Newspaper interviews on the subject of Casinos and Gaming. JJ Woods is also an author on Gaming and has written Articles for several Gaming Industry magazines Worldwide.JJ’s latest land-based casino project was for the complete set up of The Carlton Casino Club in Dublin / Ireland which opened in 2019. www.carltoncasinoclub.com. JJ. has managed and set up Casinos in the following countries: United Kingdom, Russia, South America, North Africa, Caribbean, and Ireland to name a few. JJ is Director Of Operations for A.C.C has consulted on Gaming Issues worldwide through his company www.atlanticcasinoconsultants.com
JOACHIM TIMMERMANS
Advisor
Website
Email
“Joachim Timmermans is a leading figure in online casinos having worked in senior positions on both the operator and supplier sides of the industry. He co-founded Quickspin in September 2011 and was the Swedish slot supplier’s Chief Product Officer. Before that he spent nearly six years as Head of Casino and Games at Unibet. Passionate about video games, slots and gamification, Joachim preaches the value of gameplay in both product and marketing. Having left Quickspin in January 2019, he is currently advising/investing in online casino start-ups (B2B and B2C)”.
Joakim Falkner heads up the Stockholm Office’s Capital Markets practice and represents clients in a wide range of transactions, including debt and equity capital markets transactions as well as public mergers and acquisitions. Joakim’s educational background is University Uppsala, Sweden, (LL.M., jur. kand.) and Suffolk University, Boston, USA, LL.M. as well as studies under English law. Joakim is listed as a “Leading Lawyer” for capital markets in Chambers Europe and IFLR1000 and is qualified to practice in Sweden, England and Wales. Joakim Falkner has extensive experience from working with the gaming & media industry: Acted for the Gibraltar issuer Aspire Global in its redomiciliation to Malta and its subsequent listing on Nasdaq First North Premier; Acted for LeoVegas, with significant Maltese operations, in its listing on Nasdaq Stockholm; Acted for G-Loot, an issuer providing an online platform for competitive gaming, in its private placement of shares; Acted for Carnegie Investment Bank and SEB in connection with the private placement of shares in Mr Green, with significant Maltese operations, and Mr Green’s listing on Nasdaq Stockholm; Acted for the Maltese issuer Angler Gaming in various corporate and stock exchange matters; Acted for LeoVegas, with significant Maltese operations, in its IPO on Nasdaq First North Premier; Acted for Yggdrasil, a subsidiary to Cherry Group, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, in various corporate and stock exchange matters; Acted for Carnegie Investment Bank in connection with the IPO of the Maltese issuer Catena Media on Nasdaq First North Premier; Acted for CoralEurobet on its high yield offering, SEC registration, ongoing compliance, and dual-track sale; Acted for the OTPPB (Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board) on their buyout of Camelot (the operator of the UK National Lottery) and continue to provide regulatory advice to them.
JOAKIM STOCKMAN
Co-founder & CEO
SuprNation
Website
Email
Joakim Stockman is the Group CEO of Malta based iGaming operator Betit Group which was established in early 2013. Betit Group operates the brands Thrills.com and SuperLenny.com and are rumoured to have a third site in the pipeline. Joakim left the Betsson Group, where he was in charge of Betsafe, in April 2013 and joined Betit Group as the first employee and has since seen the company grow rapidly to 60 employees and revenues above 50 k EUR per day. Betit Group’s rapid expansion quickly became the talk of the industry and not long ago iGaming giant GVC secured 15 % of the shares in the company through a 3.5 m EUR investment with an option to acquire the remaining shares at a minimum of 70 m EUR. Whether the Betit Group will go from “Zero to Hero” is perhaps not yet a certainty, but they are certainly one of the companies who are currently taking a very good crack at it.
Jochen Biewer is the founder and CEO of Chevron Consultants, a German company specialised in compliance consulting and auditing. The majority of the clients are from the gaming and financial industry. Its areas of expertise are all aspects of compliance in Gaming including licensing, anti-money laundering, data protection and consumer protection. Chevron Consultants supports clients in the establishing of effective compliance and risk management systems based on ISO standards 19600 and 31000. Chevron Academy delivers compliance training in several European countries with its own web-based training platform or classroom training. Chevron Technology provides a case management platform for internal suspicious transaction reports and whistle blower reports. Jochen holds a bachelor degree in Economics and an LLM degree. He is also a certified compliance auditor, certified AML officer and certified data protection officer.
After working as CEO of LeoVegas from startup to unicorn Johan now started a new venture within affiliate marketing. Johan is also a Board Member at Hero Gaming. Dilanti Media operates on a wide range of markets in Europe, America and Asia and is already, with their technical approach growing into one of the leaders in affiliate marketing.
Johan Zammit is the founder and CEO at Smart Studios, a venture at the intersection of blockchain, AI and IOT. A passion for innovation and sharing of ideas coupled with a proven track record in software engineering and the digital sector. Through various roles spanning over 20 years, as an entrepreneur, CTO, mentor, consultant, lecturer and software engineer, Johan spends his time seeking market gaps, envisioning software products and services that bridge these gaps and bringing them to life. Johan is the chairman of the Malta Innovation Summit, board member of Silicon Valletta and also the co-founder of NetRefer, a global leader in performance marketing software. Johan is currently researching how blockchain, AI and IOT can work together to provide a competitive advantage and make the world a better place.
JOHN BAMIDELE
Founder & CEO
Africa Sovereign Media
Website
Email
JJ has a unique understanding of people who gamble and what their requirements are. He has been immersed in Land based casino gaming and all of its issues for over 35 years. JJ Woods was born in Ireland but left in the 1970's to live in London and started his Career in banking. After his first 4 years in Banking he trained in the Casino Industry. Over the last 35 years he has dedicated his career to the design, set up and management of Casinos around the world. As the political & economic climate has changed in Ireland over recent years he has been corresponding with the Government directly on the matter of the Legislation of Casinos in Ireland. He has also submitted submissions on gaming legislation to other countries, including Trinidad and Namibia to name a couple. Throughout his career he has also done several Radio, Television and Newspaper interviews on the subject of Casinos and Gaming. JJ Woods is also an author on Gaming and has written Articles for several Gaming Industry magazines Worldwide. JJ’s latest land based casino project was for the complete set up of The Carlton Casino Club in Dublin / Ireland which opened in 2019. www.carltoncasinoclub.com JJ. has managed and set up Casinos in the following Countries: United Kingdom, Russia, South America, North Africa, Caribbean and Ireland to name a few. JJ is Director Of Operations for A.C.C has consulted on Gaming Issues worldwide through his company www.atlanticcasinoconsultants.com
John Barnes is a former football player of Watford, Liverpool and England national team. In a Liverpool fans’ favourite players poll, Barnes took the fifth place and he was named the best Liverpool’s player of all time by FourFourTwo magazine. The Anfield’s legend was also involved in football management as head coach of Celtic and manager of Jamaica national team and the English club Tranmere Rovers. Currently, John is a commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. He’s also been active in media, both as a host and guest in number of TV shows.
JOHN BRACKENS
CTO
Esports Entertainment Group
Website
Email
John has spent the last decade helping companies develop services and scale infrastructures in the Esports and gaming industry – from indie to AAA. Currently, John is responsible for all aspects of the technology strategy for Esports Entertainment Group
JOHN DAVID MCAFEE
Founder- the software company McAfee Associates
McAfee Associates
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Email
John David McAfee is a British-American computer programmer and businessman. He founded the software company McAfee Associates in 1987 and ran it until 1994, when he resigned from the company. McAfee Associates achieved early success as the creators of McAfee, the first commercial antivirus software, and the business now produces a range of enterprise security software
Gamification specialist and industry expert in Free-to-Play games, John Gordon, is the CEO of Incentive Games. Incentive Games create games specialised for the i-Gaming industry that focus on utilising the latest research in human behavioural analysis, behavioural design and cutting-edge gamification techniques to produce unique and effective customer acquisition tools.
John is an experienced marketing, business growth and market acquisition executive, who has successfully delivered multi-million dollar global initiatives and projects on& offline for over 15 years, in the UK, Europe and EMEA. He has a solid understanding of the importance of securing profit and client satisfaction on budgets– with strong strength on ROI. John has over 10 years international experience in the gaming Industry globally. John has successfully implemented a number of consumer focused projects with the likes of Pefaco group, Olympic Gaming(Africa), 360bet, Global Gaming, Webuildsocial, Fulltilt Google, 888Sports& Poker, & Talent consulting. He has been working in the African gaming market for the past 3 years( Operators and Regulators) He has also worked with a number of regulatory bodies in the online gaming industry and was co-founder for webuildsocial/spadesocial. He has worked in the capacity of Head of Eastern European markets for 888sport ,360bet, 1960bet and much more. He has been working for the past two years in the African market as a consultant and solutions expert in the gaming industry in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and a few other countries. This has involved working with operators to develop GTM( Go To Market Strategy) and also helping regulators to develop an enabling environment for the gaming sector. His experience also extends to conference speaking. He has been a speaker at a number of gaming conferences and a member of the Africa panel at the WRB worldwide. He is currently the Director of Global gaming Africa. John is also connected in various sectors in government in a number of East and West African countries.
JOHN KAMAU KUNGU
Co-founder
Betconsult Africa
Website
Email
Forward-thinking Senior Executive with proven record of accomplishment in Gambling industry during six-year career. Driven and ambitious change manager dedicated to continuous business improvement focused on enhancing revenue and streamlining business operations. Diligent in driving profit maximization through multifaced business approaches. Executive-level Business Manager and entrepreneur with experience running start-up and emerging companies. Strong technology and product development expertise. Build strategic business relationships and partnerships. Strong drive with excellent interpersonal, communication and team-building skills. Accomplished and creative Executive Manager possessing multifaceted experience and proven ability to re-energize and restructure organizations, develop strategic initiatives and capture emerging business opportunities. Results-oriented, decisive leader adept at forging lucrative relationships with key partners, vendors and clients. Recognized for turning around struggling company operations to achieve sustained growth.
Payments and igaming specialist with experience in both gaming and payment products, business development, finance and compliance across different markets. Worked with different operators for a decade and held various positions such as Head of Payments and CFO amongst others. Now working with Trustly and working closely with the existing gambling clients of the company.
John Marsden is the head of fraud prevention and authentication for EMEA at iovation, a TransUnion company. For over 20 years, Marsden has led fraud prevention, anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing efforts for companies like Barclaycard, Equifax, Experian and now iovation.
John Robery is the editor-in-chief of DGaming.com. He has 7 years iGaming experience, and has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the industry.
Jon Matonis is a Founding Director of the Bitcoin Foundation and his career has included senior influential posts at VISA International, VeriSign, Sumitomo Bank, and Hushmail. He is also Vice President of Corporate Strategy for nChain. An economist and e-Money researcher focused on expanding the circulation of nonpolitical digital currencies, Jon also serves as an independent board director to companies in the Bitcoin, the Blockchain, mobile payments, and gaming sectors. Jon has been a featured guest on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, Al Jazeera, RT, Virgin Radio, and numerous podcasts. As a prominent fintech columnist with Forbes Magazine, American Banker, and CoinDesk, he recently joined the editorial board for the cryptocurrency journal Ledger. His early work on digital cash systems and financial cryptography has been published by Dow Jones and the London School of Economics. Jon advocates worldwide for Bitcoin and its disruptive economic implications to a wide variety of audiences, including members of the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, ECB, SWIFT, IRS, DOJ, retail payment networks, major financial institutions, financial regulatory bodies, mobile money issuers, iGaming operators, information security firms, hedge funds, gold investors, and family offices.
Team Lead Paid Marketing & Senior Product Owner at GiG. With 3.5 years experience in the igaming industry covering affiliate, marketing and tech development with a background in banking and IBM. With a strong profile in project execution and finding alternative methods to driving quality traffic through various paid channels
Jonathan Galea is a graduated lawyer from the University of Malta and warranted for legal practice in Malta, with a niche interest in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies (altcoins), as well as a general interest in Anti-Money Laundering Law and Gaming Law. He has successfully completed a Doctorate of Law thesis titled “The Effect of Bitcoin on Money Laundering Law” and has been extensively researching Bitcoin and altcoins since September 2013, when he stumbled across an article hailing Bitcoin as the new gold. Ever since then, he has written various articles on the subject as well as attended various courses and webinars. Jonathan has also given various presentations and participated in conferences on the subject, with the most notable participation being that in the annual conference organised by the International Chamber of Commerce in May, 2016, with the subject revolving around Bitcoin and its disruptive effect on the financial ecosystem. Jonathan was also part of the Regulatory and Compliance panel during Blockchain Week 2017 held in London, and specifically tackled the applicability of the blockchain technology and use of cryptocurrencies in the gaming industry along with the regulatory implications of a DAO. Notable upcoming presentations include the annual Economic Forum in Poland, SiGMA ’17 in Malta and the ICC FIB 2017 conference.
Jose is a technology executive and technologist with an established history of leading high-impact initiatives in AI, Robotics, Blockchain, IoT, digital transformation, and building data-driven businesses and strategies. He is deeply passionate about responsible development, introduction, adoption, and integration of AI, robotics and blockchain capabilities in industry and society at large. His experience in leading technology initiatives spans a broad range of verticals including autonomous driving, automotive, aviation, energy and healthcare leading diverse teams from research, software, and businesses. As a machine learning and AI scientist, Jose has developed novel technologies with high impact business applications Jose regularly contributes to the community through participation in scientific panels, organizing committees, review committees, and social impact programs. Jose is a sought-after expert speaker, advisor and consultant in scientific, business, and investment communities. Specialties: Leadership, Strategy, Data Analytics (Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence), Industrial analytics, IoT; Data and Analytics strategy; Technology and Innovation roadmap.
Dr Jose’ A. Herrera is a member of the Maltese government. He is a lawyer and has served as a Member of Parliament for 17 years. In the 2013he was chosen by the Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muscat to form part of his cabinet and, in 2014, appointed him a Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, making him responsible for the iGaming sector in Malta. For 27 years Hon. Herrera practiced his profession as a lawyer, owing a legal office, specializing in criminal law. He involved himself early in politics. Hon. Herrera served as a member and, later, Assistant General Secretary of the University’s Students’ Representative Council. His first front bench role was as Labour’s spokesperson for the Central Bank, Financial Services and Maritime Affairs. He was a member of the Maltese and EU Joint Committee between 1996 and 1998, as well as a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and European Affairs. He was also a member of the Labour Party’s Executive Group, where he represented the Parliamentary Group. During the 2008 – 2013 legislature, Hon. Herrera served as a Shadow Minister for Justice and actively participated as a member of the Committee for the Ratification of Legislations. In his current role Hon. Herrera is responsible for all Local Government, together with Culture, Heritage and Restoration. He is also responsible for Valletta 2018 as the European Capital of Culture. Throughout his political career, he has attended various international conferences, and was in the first group of Maltese Members of Parliament to take part in a preliminary session of the European Parliament, held in Strasbourg. Parliamentary Secretary Hon. Jose’ Herrera is married to Alexandra, nee Camilleri Ellul Bonici, and together they have two children, Miguel and Martina.g
Joseanne Tanti is an engagement professional. She is a hotelier by trade and has spent her initial career days within the hotel industry in Malta and abroad. Joseanne focuses on people management and has gained extensive expertise throughout the years and most recently at HSBC UK Banking, at a time where the bank’s main focus was to become the Best Place to Bank for customers and Best Place to Work for employees. Joseanne’s ambition is all about improving the work/life balance of employees. During her years in banking, her brainchild project was the introduction of the concierge concept targeted solely towards the workforce. She organised routine health and well being checks and was also part of the Mindful Awareness Programmes and Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace. She is now part of the senior team at Saint James Hospital Group as the Human Resources Manager. Her team is responsible for recruitment and on-boarding, training and development, employee retention, payroll structure and employee well being. Joseanne is passionate to promote effective communication and believes that such practice is a key factor to the overall organisational success.
Joseph F. Borg is an Advocate and Partner at WH Partners, heading the Gaming and Gambling Advisory and Blockchain Advisory sections of the firm. He also practices in the areas of Esports, Corporate, IT, Telecoms and Intellectual Property Law. He also lectures Gaming Law at the University of Malta. Joe occupied the role of Secretary General of the Malta IT Law Association (MITLA) for over 3 years and is a Co-Founder and currently the Vice-President of Bitmalta, which is a non-profit organisation with a mission to promoting and stimulating discussion about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in Malta.
Joseph G. Cutajar is a chartered insurance practitioner and a senior member of the Malta Insurance Institute, a member of the Institute of Management and the Maltese American Chamber of Commerce, a fellow of the Institute of Risk Management of London and an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London. Throughout his long standing career, which includes lecturing on Insurance & Risk Management, Mr Cutajar has addressed numerous fora including the Commonwealth Training Forum, the International Lloyd’s of London Agents Conference and the Malta Institute of Accountants & Auditors. MIB was the first Insurance Broking House on the island, starting its operations in 1976 under the name of Malta Insurance Brokers. Mr. Joseph G. Cutajar joined the team in 1984 and today the company is the largest insurance broker and risk management services firm on the island – employing over 60 people, essentially the largest team of in-house insurance professionals in Malta. MIB handle some of Malta’s major corporate accounts in manufacturing, tourism, finance, transportation, financial services and ICT. The company is Malta’s leading specialists where it comes to iGaming insurance & risk management solutions, and will be participating as exhibitors at the Malta iGaming Summit, SIGMA this October.
Joseph has over 32 years of experience employed in various capacities within the financial industry in the U.S and in Malta. He has vast experience as a portfolio manager, currency and commodity trader and has been employed with Bank of America, Nomura Securities, Goldman Sachs, Millburn Ridgefield, Global Capital, and Liongate Capital Management. His most recent position was chief investment officer and managing director of FMG Funds, an emerging markets specialist. He is currently Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange and sits on its Audit Committee.
Empresario, creador y fundador de la Feria Americana de Juegos de Azar, FADJA.
JOSH GOODBODY
Director of European and Latin American Growth and Institutional Business
Binance
Website
Email
Josh Goodbody serves as Director of European and Latin American Growth and Institutional Business at Binance, where he leads regional growth and develops Binance’s institutional markets in these regions. Prior to joining Binance, Goodbody was Head of Europe and the Americas at Huobi where he helped establish its Global Institutional Business department--bringing on more than a thousand institutions--and introduced its products and services to a global audience. He also served as Global General Counsel where he led their legal and regulatory efforts, successfully creating regulated businesses in new jurisdictions. Josh brings an experienced background as a financial markets lawyer, providing counsel to financial institutions including J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and State Street.
Joshua leads Cybertonica and with Sergey Velts built the team’s revolutionary Transaction Risk and Authentication business since 2016. A graduate of Harvard (MA) and INSEAD (MBA), he has led 9 start-up teams and raised funding for a dozen others as well as advised on tech investment for funds.
JOSHUA ELLUL
The inaugural Chairperson
Malta Digital Innovation Authority
Website
Email
Dr Joshua Ellul was appointed as the inaugural Chairperson of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority. He is also the Director of the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies at the University of Malta which offers a multidisciplinary Masters in Blockchain and DLT.
Jouko Ahvenainen is a serial-entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Grow VC Group, a holding entity including over 10 companies, a pioneer in digital finance, fintech and data analytics solutions. Jouko started his work with digital finance and fintech models in 2008 and listed world-class influencer. He participated in changing US finance regulation, getting Senate and President to allow JOBS Act and has worked with EU and Asian finance regulation and ecosystems.
Experienced and skilled certified Salesforce Professional with more than 5 years of combined consulting and administration experience as well as more than 10 years on multiple technology roles. Exercise a creative approach to address complex business requirements and streamline processes while building scalable solutions that encourage and drive adoption. Competent and comfortable working with key system stakeholders, including sales/end users to the highest executive levels. Transcend at improving business processes utilizing Salesforce platform and its solutions.
I was 9 years pilot in Argentinian Air Force, then was 25 years pilot in Alitalia Airline (Rome). Actually, retired from the airline I’m flying Executive Jet in Buenos Aires on duty for state flights and also represent SAGSE expo Buenos Aires & Caribbean as director.
Juanita is a Partner at KPMG in Malta. She is a highly-respected specialist in her field, being recognised by Expert Guides and ranked as a Band 1 practitioner of note by Chambers and Partners, where she is highly rated for her “expertise and drive“ and as one who “advises a raft of impressive clients on both direct and indirect taxation mandates. She is particularly noted for her work on behalf of leading multinationals”. Juanita is frequently invited to speak at international tax conferences, such as the ABA’s Annual US and Europe conference, and the STEP Annual International Conference. Juanita, a lawyer, read her masters in law at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, graduating summa cum laude.
Judith Karigu Kiragu is married with two kids. She lives in Mombasa, Kenya. She has worked in the gaming industry for several years in various capacities before venturing into Project Management. She is currently a Director of a gaming establishment, Golden Key Ltd – Tamarind. She is a project Manager and part-time lecturer of Project Management courses at the Nairobi University –Mombasa and runs a Management Consultancy firm. She is also the director of Research and publications at KAPM. (Kenya Association of Project Managers). She is an author of a book called ‘An Elephant fell from the Sky’. Judith is currently pursuing a PhD in Project Management specializing in Monitoring and Evaluation at the University of Nairobi.
Julia Logan a.k.a. IrishWonder first discovered SEO and online marketing in 2000, working on both personal sites and client projects in different markets, particularly remote gaming. She has published a series of case studies on gambling SEO on her blog. Julia is an SEO consultant at IrishWonder and chief SEO scientist at 90Digital.com. Her specialties include SEO security audits, link profile audits, online reputation management, negative SEO investigations and private network consulting. At SiGMA, Logan will talk about online reputation management and will explain how a site’s poor online reputation can be commercially devastating, yet online reputation management can be an easy win compared to one’s SEO efforts. She will specifically teach what to watch for to identify potential and existing online reputation issues and how one can influence one’s business online reputation.
JULIAN PERIGO
Managing Director
Boston Link
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Julian is the founder and Managing Director of Boston Link. He oversees operations in the UK, Malta and the Isle of Man. He was previously a director at Michael Page, a FTSE250 global recruitment firm, where he ran a number of teams covering London and offshore jurisdictions. Julian started his career in London and has worked across specialist markets and executive search in London, Frankfurt and Sydney. He has successfully recruited hundreds of talented professionals for his clients throughout his career, with many involving complex international moves. He spends time outside of work with his young family and enjoys surfing, running and tennis.
Julien Lehmann is the Managing Director of LeaseWeb CDN B.V. Since 2014. He oversees all aspects of company’s CDN and Web Site Protection services, with a clear focus on delivering the best performance and expertise in a personalized manner. Julien works to ensure the success of this key global service so that the applications developed by LeaseWeb’s customers reach their market at lightning speed. Prior to LeaseWeb, Julien held senior leadership positions in various telcos and CDN companies in Europe, contributing to the launch of new services. He has 15 years of international work experience, having worked in Amsterdam, Bern, Barcelona, Mexico, Delhi, and Tokyo. Julien holds an MS in Electronics from Polytechniques de Grenoble and an MBA from INSEAD. Outside the office, he enjoys spending time with his two daughters.
Justin has an exceptionally strong and varied technical background, with over 20 years’ experience in the hosting and SaaS sector, primarily in customer facing support, operations or technical roles. Initially working for an ISV developing software for logistics, manufacturing and health markets in the UK and US, since joining Continent 8 in 2012, Justin has added the iGaming and financial services market experience to his skill set. As Head of Solution Architecture, Justin has responsibility for optimising Continent 8 solution integration with client architecture and the management of the Technical Pre-sales Team.
Justin Franssen is an attorney at law and partner at Kalff Katz & Franssen, where he leads the Gaming Practice. His comprehensive advisory and litigation practice regularly deals with sector-specific acquisitions and complex public affairs processes.
JUSTIN MISFUD
Esports Director
simracing
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Justin Mifsud is coming from an IT and broadcasting background and has been into Esports since he was 15 years old. He is now the Esports Director of World Pro Racing on full time basis. Justin’s role is not an easy task as he takes care of all the technical stuff, being the broadcasting director and making sure that the broadcast is up to standard, video editing, graphics, advertising and setting up tracks and vehicles prior organizing online and offline events. His ambitions are to open the path to promising young and upcoming talent to real Motorsport and also bringing up the drivers to a professional level in Esports, not only in becoming a good driver but having a professional package overall.