SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Speaking at the KPMG eGaming Summit Isle of Man, Annexio Managing Director Jennifer Houghton highlighted the regulations that help protect a player’s money as particularly successful.
In a presentation on the ‘Multi-jurisdictional Licensing Process’, she commented: “One of the key strengths of the Isle of Man is its approach to customer protection. The segregation of player’s funds from that of the company is not just good practice, but also a sure winner when it comes to describing the situation to potential customers.”
Over 200 delegates from around the world attended last week’s Summit, KPMG’s sixth summit locally, and eleventh in a series across Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. Once again this year KPMG teamed up with the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) to deliver three Masterclasses covering “The International Legal Viewpoint”, “Financing the Consolidation Boom”, and “International Direct & Indirect Tax Considerations”.
Among the day’s highlights were Hon. Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for the Department of Economic Development, who revealed that the Island’s eGaming sector has outstripped individual areas of financial services to become the largest single sector, at 16.7% of the economy (an increase of 3.2%).
David Shapton, partner at Akur Capital, also provided some insight on M&A activity and mid-market operators: “With increased regulation, more and more private investment houses are becoming comfortable with the idea of investing in online gambling companies, which wasn’t the case five years ago.”
When asked views on corporate social responsibility activities, the majority of the audience (65%) considered it to be equally important for all companies, with only 28% feeling it was of particular importance in the gaming sector.
Janine Woodford Dale, Head of Marketing, Events and PR at Microgaming, commented: “Consumers now are savvy. They want to buy from companies that give back.”
Some presentations from the day are available to download here.
