Mark Walker, Clarion Gaming’s Head of Conferences says: “With the spectacular Betfair IPO of  £1,500,000,000 fresh in everyone’s minds, it’s no surprise there are dozens of ambitious start-ups looking to create a unique market and niche for themselves in this industry.  EiG will be showing the crème-de-le-crème of these innovative new companies to give them a boost in front of investors, industry partners and media,, it also gives regular delegates a sneak preview into the future, charting hot areas of growth and untapped revenue.”

He continues:  “with acquisitions of iGaming businesses frequently into 8-figures and now Betfair’s IPO, the prize for building a business of scale and value is huge.  So there is clearly a lot at stake as 5 new start-ups in the gaming industry pitch their ideas on the Start-Up LaunchPad session.”

The companies selected, Betcafe, World Tournaments Online, Passoker, Friendbet and Beat Barry, will present their new business models to a top line-up of investors and industry veterans during the EiG Start-Up LaunchPad.

“Innovation is at the heart of this industry and entrepreneurs drive it forward, carving out new market niches and appealing to new players,” says Ewa Bakun, Event Director of EiG.  “Not even the most connected industry veteran can keep up with everything that’s new in the market.  Along with regulation, innovation provides the best chance for our industry to expand, for new business partners to emerge and more new money to be made.”

Amongst the speakers on Day 1 is Julie Meyer, who will be speaking on ‘technology, entrepreneurship and innovation’at EiG this year. Julie Meyer is one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe. With over 20 years investment and advisory experience helping start-up businesses, she is the well known founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital, founder of Entrepreneur Country, cofounder of First Tuesday, dragon on BBC’s Online Dragons’ Den and weekly columnist in London’s City A.M

In what is the world’s largest iGaming event, some 1500 representatives ranging from the industry’s largest to newest companies will gather together to network and scout for new market opportunities, new ways to attract a fresh demographic of players, discover valuable partners and learn about the hottest products to drive their business forward.

Introducing the 5 LaunchPad companies, Mark Walker says “We’ve got a good diversity of business models this year, but there does seem to be most innovation around sports betting, and a lot of effort to integrate social network features into new launch business, which is representative in the companies below.”

The run-down of each company’s proposition is:

• Football, social networking, free bets and game mechanics – a match made in heaven?  This is the combined proposition of Betcafe who look to launch a new niche specifically for the casual betting (and ego driven) football fan.
• Monetised skill games in a 3D MMO setting could be a new market entirely as back catalogues of popular online strategy and action games can be bet on – find out how from soon-to-be-launching World Tournaments Online.
• Sports betting – but with bingo and poker game mechanisms – allowing sportbook’s core target audience of males a new way to bet on live games…or even pre-recorded events, such as on Match of the Day.  Passoker could be a revolutionary way to offer another new betting experience to punters.
• Facebook and betting – surely the Holy Grail? Friendbet certainly think so as they look to capitalise on the phenomena of social networking and betting amongst private groups.  Have they cracked it?
• Asian handicaps are popular with billions in the East – but have yet to make a significant impact here in the West.  Has Beat Barry finally found the best solution to market this concept to your average football punter, and could it open up a whole new market?

Questioning the business potential and soundness of the above propositions are the iGaming investors and industry experts, with the panel consisting of:

• Melissa Blau, Director, iGaming Capital (Moderating)
• Alexis Murphy, Director, International Investment and Underwriting (IIU)
• Evan Hoff, Director, Capricorn Capital Consulting
• Lee Richardson, CEO, Green Lane Investments

More programme highlights and leading speakers include:

• Impact of localised regulation in Europe, with particular focus on France and Italy
• EiG MegaDebate 1: iGaming vision for 2015 – discussing emerging B2B and B2G business models and future growth areas in iGaming
• H.C. Madsen, CEO, Danske Spil
• Nicolas Beraud, CEO, Mangas Gaming
• Petter Nylander, CEO, Unibet
• Mor Weizer, CEO, Playtech
• Gigi Levy, CEO, 888 Holdings
• Pontus Lindwall, CEO, Betsson

Partnership and competition: Media and entertainment brands, lotteries, social/casual games meet gambling
Innovation in products, CRM, online marketing, branding

Event website:  www.eigexpo.com

Event dates and location:  19-21 October 2010 -  Bella Center, Copenhagen

For the programme, interviews and media accreditation:
Communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Tel.  +27 21 700 3558
Fax.  +27 21 700 3501
Mobile  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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