SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
VSoftCo has been confirmed as a Bag Sponsor for Betting on Sports 2016!
VSoftCo Ltd develops virtual sports betting products for both retail and interactive operators globally. The company has developed a highly sophisticated suite of tools and products to help operators maximise revenue opportunities.
We caught up with Sales Director Simon Westbury, who spoke about his excellent experiences at SBC’s Betting on Football conferences, and his excitement over being involved in the sponsorship of an event that is so relevant for the industry.
SBC: What do you find most appealing about Betting on Sports?
SW: We are looking forward to Betting on Sports because it is a specific event for the sector of the industry that we work in. To us this is very important; in my past life as an event organiser I saw a need to create focused events that serve a particular section of the market, and this why I created WGES.
We see a lot of industry events; there are events such as ICE which are must attend, but it is easy to attend events for the sake of it. Following our excellent experiences at Betting on Football, SBC have created a specific event to our sector which will allow for a concentrated two days of relevant information exchange and networking.
SBC: What are you looking forward to being debated in the conference area?
SW: We are most looking forward to the two sessions that focus on virtual sports betting. We have seen the importance of virtual sports to betting operators grow, and VSoftCo feel that we are in a good position to offer valuable insight from our experiences to this debate.
It will be very interesting to hear from David Purvis, who has played such an important role in the growth of virtual sports. We also want to understand what operators are looking for, so we can continue to enhance our real time rendered football product.
SBC: How can the betting industry make itself more appealing to wider sports consumers and stakeholders?
SW: For me, for the betting industry to be more appealing, I think it needs to be relevant to wider sports consumers and stakeholders. For example, at VSoftCo we have recently signed a JV agreement with the Striker comic strip which features in The Sun newspaper.
We are obviously very excited about this, at it will mean in addition to being the only real time rendered football game in the market, we will be delivering the first ever branded virtual football product to the market. Through the JV, we are hoping to appeal to the 2 million fans who follow Striker.
In terms of relevance in the virtual sports sector, we are always trying to mirror the bets that punters can place on real sports events. To us that is a challenge, but one we are capable of replicating due to our unique technology; as the only real time rendered football game, we can look to introduce in play betting for virtuals, as well adding to our market-leading bet options.
An example of this is the launch of new league format, which is presented in a multi-viewer showing one main game with key events from the other 9 leagues games that are being rendered in real time. This allows customers to replicate multiple bets and also experience the excitement of 10 games being played concurrently on one screen.
SBC: Apart from football, what do you think is the most interesting thing to bet on?
SW: Fantasy sports betting is interesting. I am sure we all remember entering these kinds of competitions when we were younger. Following a recent discussion with my old colleague Darcy Krogh, who is launching his own B2B Fantasy Sports Network, I think it is a really interesting area of growth. I think it will introduce a new type of player to sports betting operators without cannibalising existing sports book revenues.
Having worked previously in Canada, I saw the popularity of fantasy ice hockey. Most of the discussion for office staff over post work drinks related to who was selecting who for their team. I think this will grow in regulated markets, and the operators will be in a position to derive good revenues from this sector. VSoftCo also finds this sector interesting, and thus we are looking at possibly creating a Fantasy Striker league incorporating characters from the comic strip.
SBC: What does the rest of 2016 have in-store for you?
SW: The rest of 2016 promises to be busy; we are on the verge of launching virtuals in North America as well as launching a new exciting deal in Europe with a leading sports betting platform provider. Additionally, we are currently mirroring the football transfer window by signing deals that we believe will substantially increase our revenues, whilst trying to build market awareness of our marketing leading product by participating in events such as Betting on Sports.
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- For more information about Betting on Sports, contact [email protected]
- For sponsorship opportunities, contact [email protected]
- To purchase your tickets, go to www.sbcevents.co.uk
