ISFE is delighted to announce that it is joining Women in Games as a corporate ambassador during the European Parliament’s first ever European Gender Equality Week.

Women in Games is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation founded in 2009, grown from grassroots to be the leading global force on gender equality in the video games industry. Women in Games’ vision is of not only an industry but a culture and community free of gender discrimination, where equity and parity of opportunity, treatment and conditions empowers girls and women from all backgrounds to achieve their full potential.

ISFE CEO Simon Little said: “It is essential that the industry strives to reflect gender equality in its workforce and in the video games themselves. Women currently represent only 30% of the workforce in the digital sector in the EU and, according to national surveys, 28% of workers in the video game sector are female.^[1] We look forward to working with Women in Games to drive and promote good practice across Europe for the good of both the industry and the playing community.” 

Women in Games CEO Marie-Claire Isaaman said: “We are delighted that ISFE has joined Women in Games as Corporate Ambassadors. They have partnered with us at a pivotal moment of growth as our global reach expands. There are multiple ways we will work together across education, policy and business to support our vision and female community of practice, which is represented in 41 countries and growing.”

• Recent +2,850% surge worldwide in people asking, “new sports betting sites…”
• Google searches like “sports betting” currently highest in MALTA
• Ireland, Cyprus and Romania among TOP countries in Europe for sports betting
• Slovakia, Germany and Poland among BOTTOM countries in Europe for sports betting
• Google searches for sports betting online are highest in Sweden and Ireland

There has been a recent +2,850% surge in searches for “new sports betting sites Hungary”, according to Google Trends. Which led TopRatedCasinos.co.uk to ask, what European countries are most interested in sports betting?

To find the sports betting capitals of Europe, TopRatedCasinos inputted several keyword variations into the keyword analytics section of SEMrush. 27 EU countries were inputted and analysed individually and searches per capita were considered, before final results were listed, to make findings more accurate*.

Interestingly, TopRatedCasinos’ research found that although Google Trends shows an increase in sports betting in Hungary, Hungarians are among the least interested in placing a bet on sporting events, ranking 20th overall for interest around the sports betting topic, with only 0.43 searches on average per 1,000 population.

The Results

TopRatedCasinos found average monthly searches like “sports betting” are currently highest per capita in Malta. In fact, in the last 30 days, there have been 2,420 individual searches around the topic, which equates to 5.48 searches on average per 1,000 population.

This is followed by high search results per capita in Ireland and Cyprus, with 16,610 and 3,470 sports betting searches on average per month, respectively.

At the other end of the scale, we find countries like Slovakia, Germany, and Poland.

In Slovakia, there are 1,690 searches (0.31 searches per 1,000 population) a month containing keywords like “sports betting.”

While in Germany and Poland, we find interest around the sports betting topic to be seemingly very low in accordance with population size. Germany for instance only had 0.29 searches on average per 1,000 population.

Methodology

To find out the sports betting capitals of Europe, TopRatedCasinos inputted several keyword variations into the keyword analytics section of online visibility and marketing tool SEMrush. The variations included: “sports betting”, “sports gambling”, “bet on sports”, “online sport bet” and “online sports gambling”. Results for all 27 EU countries were inputted and analysed individually before final results were listed. All 27 EU countries were ranked in accordance with searches per capita, to make findings more accurate.
https://www.worldometers.info/ was used to get the estimated population size of all 27 EU countries considered.

European Gaming’s leading conference portfolio to be complemented with Virtual Quarterly Meetups starting 2021.

There is no doubt that virtual gatherings will still be a key activity for content sharing and networking in 2021 as well and we are adapting our agenda accordingly by launching the virtual European Gaming Quarterly Meetups series.

The quarterly meetups will complement the yearly conferences that will be hosted (if allowed) in hybrid formats, and will be strategically coordinated by the European Gaming Way Seers (Advisory Board).

“We observed, tested and now implementing a special format to our audience. The idea is to continue brining an efficient communication channel that allows participants to stay up to date in a comfortable way with the latest updates. Only the vital information will be shared during the meetups and we are also allowing the participants to add to the topics. It is important for the industry to share their knowledge among each other in an efficient way that also creates a conversation that leads to opinion forming. This temporary abnormal is pushing us out of our comfort zone of hosting traditional conferences and we the future looks brighter than it did in April-May 2020, even some might argue this”, stated Zoltán Tűndik, Co-Founder and Head of Business at Hipther Agency.

European Gaming Quarterly Meetups

The European Gaming Quarterly Meetups are designed to keep you up-to-date with what is fresh in the European gambling industry. The meetups also focus on countries in the EEA region and also on the CIS countries.

All the 4 meetups in 2021 are virtual and can be attended from the comfort of your office or home.

The virtual meetups will be organized quarterly and the calendar looks the following way:

• February 11, 2021 – European Gaming Q1 Meetup
• June 10, 2021 – European Gaming Q2 Meetup
• September 09, 2021 – European Gaming Q3 Meetup
• November 18, 2021 – European Gaming Q4 Meetup

The tickets are sold at the rate of 89 EUR per Meetup or you can benefit of the full year membership offer and save 25%. You can find more details about the passes here.

The meetups feature several panel discussions per region and topics that are joined by key industry experts, CEOs, C-Level Executives, Business Development Managers, and sometimes government officials/regulators.

All meetups offer the opportunity to network online in special break-out sessions, but also join a round table discussion which answers all burning questions of the industry at a certain point in time during 2021.

To receive constant updates about the registration opening and agenda updates, subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/hfyZxf

Advisory Board

In order to fully embrace all hot topics and regulatory updates from the above-mentioned regions, the topics and discussions will be put together by a group of experts, which were hand-picked to join the European Gaming Way Seers (Advisory Board).

We honored to announce the appointment of the following experts:

• Raffaela Zillner, LL.M (General Secretariat of the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling (OVWG))
• Nadiya Attard (Director of Sales at Relax Gaming)
• Charmaine Hogan (Head of Regulatory Affairs Playtech)
• Jessica Maier (Chief Risk Officer, Head of Legal and Compliance at Push Gaming)
• Sissel Weitzhandler (Chief Compliance Officer at Play’n GO)
• Bahar Alaeddini (Partner at Harris Hagan)
• Joerg Hofmann (Partner at MELCHERS LAW)
• Morten Ronde (CEO at Danish Online Gambling Association and Managing Partner at Nordic Gambling)
• Pieter Remmers (CEO at Assissa Consultancy Europe)
• Gustaf Hoffstedt (Secretary-General at the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling)
• Andrius Gabnys (Attorney At Law – Gabnys Law Firm)
• Dr. Simon Planzer (Partner at PLANZER LAW)

The excitement about 2021 is also shared by the above-mentioned experts and here are some inputs that were stated:

“It’s great to see European Gaming Media and Events challenging the ‘new normal’ of gaming conferences. I‘m delighted to be part of this journey as a member of the advisory board.” – Jessica Maier (Chief Risk Officer, Head of Legal and Compliance at Push Gaming)

“This is a great initiative. I look forward to participating in this project together with the other members of the advisory board.” – Charmaine Hogan (Head of Regulatory Affairs at Playtech)

“Regular exchanges of experts not only strengthen the industry’s networking, but also support the goal of keeping gambling safe, fun and responsible. I am therefore very pleased to support the project as a member of the Advisory Board.” – Dr. Raffaela Zillner, LL.M (General Secretariat of the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling (OVWG))

“European Gaming is the organization where I feel at home. It will be interesting to say the least to be involved as a member of the advisory board.” – Andrius Gabnys (Attorney At Law – Gabnys Law Firm)

“European Gaming has developed into the obvious choice for anyone in search of knowledge and insight regarding the gambling industry. I look forward to not merely observe its future development, but take part of it.” – Gustaf Hoffstedt (Secretary-General at the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling)

“I have come to know Zoltan as a self-made man who has learned to understand the gambling industry within a relatively short period of time and created a position for himself and his activities.

The boutique format conferences that Zoltan set up a couple of years ago definitely created a ‘must attend’ event for all of us that want to stay informed.” – Pieter Remmers (CEO at Assissa Consultancy Europe)

For further sponsorship/speaking and marketing inquiries, make sure to reach out to Andrada Marginean (B2B Sales Executive at Hipther Agency).

For media-related inquiries, please contact Alexandru Marginean (Marketing Specialist at Hipther Agency).