The keynote is scheduled for day two on September 22, when Koerl will be interviewed by his fellow Sports Betting Hall of Fame member Simon Bold, a pioneer of telephone betting and virtual racing in Gibraltar. 

The pair will discuss Koerl’s personal experience leading the international sports technology company during one of the most challenging times in the industry’s history, and share his outlook on global markets.

Koerl has guided Sportradar to its current position as a NASDAQ-listed firm, and partner to more than 1,000 companies around the world. Prior to establishing the group he founded Bwin and led the operator through one of the most successful public listings on the Vienna stock market.

Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, said: “I am delighted to welcome Carsten as our special guest for a keynote interview at SBC Summit Barcelona.

“Sportradar continues to be one of the most reliable and innovative presences in the industry, and the chance to hear its founder’s thoughts on the future roles of technology and data is sure to prove hugely valuable for all attendees.”

Sportradar will have significant involvement on the final day of the conference. In addition to Koerl’s fireside chat, the company’s Managing Director, Operations Betting & Gaming, Dalraj Bahia will participate in the ‘How to choose a technology partner’ session and Strategy Director Mike Falconer is set to be part of the marketing-focused ‘Knowing when to engage players’ panel. 

Passes are available via the event website.

The post Carsten Koerl to be joined by Simon Bold for Barcelona Summit keynote appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The winners of the 27 operator, supplier, and affiliate categories will be announced in front of an audience of 600 senior executives during a lavish ceremony at Pier Sixty, Manhattan on July 14. 

In the headline operator categories, Circa Resort & Casino, DraftKings, FanDuel, Penn Interactive, and PointsBet will contest the Sportsbook of the Year honor, while BetMGM, Resorts Digital Gaming, and Rush Street Interactive are in the running for the Casino Operator of the Year prize. 

A number of those high-profile brands have also been recognized for their commitment to responsible gambling and player safety, as the shortlist for Socially Responsible Operator of the Year features Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, Entain, PointsBet, and Rush Street Interactive.

While there are plenty of household names among the operator brands shortlisted, the Awards also celebrate the industry’s challenger brands and the outstanding performance of BettorEdge, Fubo Gaming, Low6, MaximBet, PrizePicks, Rootz, and Sporttrade is celebrated with places on the shortlist for the Rising Star of the Year trophy. 

Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO of SBC, said: “Everyone in the international industry has been impressed by the phenomenal growth of the North American sports betting and igaming markets, and it’s great to see so many of the operators that have been driving that success represented on the shortlists. With such strong competition among the Awards entrants, just making it on to the shortlists is a real mark of quality, so it will be fascinating to learn who our expert judges select as the big winners on the night.” 

The race for the 13 supplier and three payments & compliance honors is also set to be keenly contested, with BetConstruct, Betting Hero, Delasport, GAN, IGT, Inspired Entertainment, Nuvei, OpenBet, Pariplay, PayNearMe, Paysafe, PXP Financial, Sportradar, Sports IQ Analytics, Spotlight Sports Group, and White Hat Gaming, among those to have secured places on multiple shortlists. 

In the affiliate categories, Catena North America, Gambling.com Group, and MediaTroopers make the shortlists in both the casino and sports affiliate sections. The new Sports Media Company of the Year award, which reflects the crucial role of publishers and podcasters in enhancing the player experience, has a shortlist that includes American Affiliate, Better Collective, Catena North America, MediaTroopers, NBC Sports Next, Playmaker Capital, SGPN, The Game Day, and XLMedia.

Sojmark added: “The standard of the products and services developed for North American markets is exceptional and that was reflected in the quality of the entries for the supplier and affiliate categories. Our independent judging panels faced a really tough task to draw up the shortlists, and now have an even more difficult one in deciding the winners.”

Meanwhile, the shortlist for the prestigious industry-wide Leader of the Year award features FanDuel’s Amy Howe, OneComply’s Cameron Conn, Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl, Gambling.com Group’s Charles Gillespie, Penn Interactive’s Jon Kaplowitz, Rush Street Interactive’s Richard Schwartz, and Boom Entertainment’s Stephen A. Murphy. 

The Employer of the Year shortlist comprises Better Collective, Boom Entertainment, DraftKings, Gambling.com Group, GoldenRace, Inspired Entertainment, Penn Interactive, Rush Street Interactive, and VBET. 

Sojmark said: “While we focus a lot on high-tech innovations and commercial performance when assessing the progress made by the industry in North America, the key factor in its success is people. That is why the employer and leader categories are so important, and I’m looking forward to meeting many of those on the shortlists at the ceremony in July.” 

The SBC Awards North America ceremony will be the culmination of a week of events in New Jersey and New York, where professionals from the international gambling industry can also take in the SBC Summit North America conference and tradeshow, the Player Protection Symposium, and the Sports Betting Hall of Fame induction ceremony. 

To view the shortlists for all 27 of the awards, please click here.

For information about sponsorship opportunities at the SBC Awards North America ceremony or to book a table, please contact sales@sbcgaming.com. 

The post Betting and gaming industry’s biggest brands head SBC Awards North America shortlists appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Hosted by Kirsty Gallacher and World Cup winner Marcel Desailly, the eighth edition of the SBC awards brought together an audience of betting and gaming industry professionals to recognise the achievements of the top-performing operators, affiliates and suppliers.

The glittering ceremony culminated in bet365 extending its dominance in the Sportsbook of the Year category by being named winner for the eighth consecutive time, having earlier collected the Best Affiliate Programme and Best Mobile Operator App prizes.

Betsson Group also scored a hat-trick of successes, landing the coveted Casino Operator of the Year title, along with the Socially Responsible Sportsbook and, for its RaceBets brand, the Racing Sportsbook trophies.

Joining the big brand operators in achieving three successes was Betradar, with victories in the Platform Provider of the Year, Live Streaming Product / Supplier, and Sports Data Product categories.

Golden Race doubled up with wins in the Land-Based Betting & Gaming Product and Virtual Sports Supplier categories, while Evolution enjoyed twin triumphs as it picked up the Innovation in Casino Entertainment and Live Casino Supplier gongs.

The event also honoured some of the CEOs who have been integral to the continuing success of the industry throughout the turbulent conditions of the past 12 months. Yolo Group’s Maarja Pärt, Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl, and Evoplay’s Ivan Kravchuk were presented with Leader of the Year awards. 

Andrew McCarron, managing director at SBC, said: “Huge congratulations to all the winners selected by our independent judging panels. We had our largest ever number of entries this year and the overall quality highlighted that betting and gaming remains one of the world’s most forward-thinking industries.  

“To succeed against that standard of competition required a truly outstanding performance and that is what the judges identified in every single winner. From operational excellence and outstanding commitment to customer service through to exceptional innovation and creativity in product development, all the SBC Awards winners demonstrated something special over the past year.” 

The victors in the operator section of the awards also included Ladbrokes (Football Sportsbook of the Year), Betway Group (Esports Operator of the Year), Kaizen Gaming (Marketing Campaign of the Year) and 1xBet (Sponsorship of the Year). 

Mr Green took the prize for Socially Responsible Casino of the Year, while Karamba landed the Innovation in Casino & Gaming Entertainment prize and Hero Gaming collected the Employer of the Year trophy. 

In addition to recognising the achievements of the big names in the industry, the SBC Awards honoured some of the best challenger brands. The Rising Star prizes were presented to Virgin Bet (Sports Betting), Glitnor Group (Casino), Sports IQ Analytics (Sports Betting Innovation/ Software) and Swintt (Casino Innovation/Software). 

The affiliates section saw Better Collective named Sports Affiliate of the Year and Catena Media secure the equivalent Casino award, while Raketech Group triumphed in the Affiliate Product Innovation category. 

In the supplier section of the awards, the fiercely contested Casino/Slots Developer of the Year title went to Pragmatic Play, while Mindway AI won Industry Innovation of the Year. 

Pronet Gaming was named Sportsbook Supplier of the Year, Genius Sports collected the Living Betting Product prize, Highlight Games triumphed in the Virtual Sports Innovation category and Pinnacle Solution celebrated the Esports Supplier of the Year title. 

There were also victories for Optimove (Acquisition & Retention Partner), Shape Games (Innovation in Mobile), Square in the Air (Marketing & Services Provider of the Year), BetConstruct (Multi-Channel Supplier) and White Hat Gaming (White Label Supplier).

Trustly was awarded the Payment Solution of the Year title, while Nuvei triumphed in the Payment Innovation category, 1account took the Fraud & Compliance Solution honour and OKTO won the Mobile Payment Solution trophy. 

McCarron added: “The ceremony was a great night, with the awards, entertainment and hospitality combining to make it a fantastic end-of-year celebration for the betting and gaming industry. 

“Events like this are made possible by the ongoing support of our sponsors and partners, so I’d like to thank BetConstruct, Kaizen Gaming, Digitain and GoldenRace for being headline sponsors for the SBC Awards and all the other companies that we continue to work with. And a special mention to our own SBC team who have done a phenomenal job over a very difficult year.” 

The SBC Awards 2022 will move to Spain and are scheduled to take place on 22 September, the final day of SBC Summit Barcelona, the global betting and igaming conference and exhibition. 

The post Betsson, bet365 and Betradar celebrate triple successes at SBC Awards 2021 appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The sports betting and gaming omnichannel platform is to extend Sportradar’s services portfolio to become a full service B2B data, betting, trading and player management platform business.

As a key part of the organisation’s future growth strategy, Sportradar will now offer the entire betting and gaming value chain in both established and emerging markets as they regulate.

“This acquisition puts us in prime position to achieve our aim of becoming the world’s leading supplier of modular turnkey betting services and solutions,” commented Carsten Koerl, chief executive officer of Sportradar. 

“Optima utilises the very best-in-breed technology to provide their clients with the most advanced and flexible platforms, and having a 360-degree product portfolio is a key part of our future growth strategy. We are delighted to welcome them to the Sportradar family.”

In a media release it is emphasised that the purchase will “create a global one-stop-shop technology and services business,” offering a complete turnkey solution including a dedicated sports betting and igaming platform. 

“Optima joining Sportradar is the next natural step in the achievement of our company vision. Sportradar is an organisation that I have admired for a very long time, and we couldn’t be happier to be joining forces with them,” explained Jacob Lopez, chief executive officer of Optima.

“There are numerous and evident product synergies between the two companies, and it really is the perfect fit in terms of a fully integrated one-stop shop solution for sports betting and e-gaming operators around the world. 

“We are excited about the potential of the combination of the leading trading, risk management and betting entertainment services with the leading integral omnichannel sports betting and gaming platform.

“We are fully committed to a common vision and will work hard to continue ensuring Sportradar also offers the leading platform services for the group.”

Existing and future sportsbook platform provider partnerships will remain unaffected.

The post Sportradar to become ‘a global one-stop-shop’ via Optima acquisition appeared first on CasinoBeats.

With over 35 years of Nevada race and sportsbook expertise, Manteris was responsible for the development of the state’s first computer networking of race and sportsbooks in the late 1980’s, and has acted as a prominent policy contributor to a number of regulatory boards.

The Hall of Fame ceremony is being held on 25 April 2019 at Sky Room in Manhattan (330 West 40th Street) and is part of the closing party of the biggest dedicated sports betting conference in the US – Betting on Sports America – which is being hosted at the nearby Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey.

Former NJ senator Chris Christie was confirmed as the first new member of the Sports Betting Hall of Fame last month, with Manteris the second to be announced.

Manteris has a very colourful history in the world of sports betting, having played an integral role in developing and overseeing Station Casinos’ 16 new or remodelled sportsbooks.

Rasmus Sojmark, founder and CEO of Sports Betting Community, said: “We are really pleased to be able to welcome Art Manteris to the Sports Betting Hall of Fame.

“So many people in the industry had good things to share about Art given his longevity and legacy in the sports betting industry. He will be recognised as a key driver of sportsbook development in the US, including on mobile, and prominent contributor to gaming regulation across the country.”

Manteris added: “Technological development has played a key role in furthering sports betting across the US, and I am glad I was able to play a role in that. I am delighted to be recognised by the sports betting industry for what we have built in Nevada, and look forward to seeing what the future holds for the US industry.”

The purpose of the Hall of Fame, first established by SBC in 2016, is to honour, preserve and perpetuate the names and outstanding accomplishments of personalities who have added true value to the sports betting sector.

The Hall of Fame’s esteemed members are Mark Blandford, Carsten Koerl, Howard Chisholm, Paris Smith, Fred Done, Vigen Badalyan, Pontus Lindwall, Fabio Schiavolin, Warwick Bartlett, Norbert Teufelberger, Constantinos Antonopoulos and Chris Christie.

The post Sports Betting Hall of Fame to induct Art Manteris appeared first on CasinoBeats.