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Exclusive Q & A with Marc Edwards, CEO of ORDER  

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Exclusive Q & A with Marc Edwards, CEO of ORDER  
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Q. Congratulations on joining ORDER as the new CEO! What are your early reactions to the job?

A. It is an exciting time to join the organisation. I had been working for ORDER in a consultancy capacity for 6 months prior to joining as CEO, so the transition has been relatively seamless. My early impressions are full of opportunity and growth. The industry is forging ahead and receiving a lot of attention from mainstream media and non-endemic brands looking to be involved in the space, and with ORDER being a first mover in esports and now 4 years later is well established, we are looking forward to this next stage of our evolution.

Q. Do you find heading an Esports team much different than leading an organization in traditional sports or motor sports, where you had spent most of your career?

A. There are a lot of similarities with the support structure of esports and traditional sports, especially when it comes to fostering a culture of high performance and professionalism. And now as we look ahead, player welfare and grass roots programs are firmly on the agenda to ensure we are both looking after our professional players, but also playing a role as a leader in the industry to provide pathways for the next generation of talent. If we look at the commercial side of the industry there are certainly some parallels to draw with sponsorship, brand activations and fan engagement and how these are delivered to offer the best value to brands. The real difference in this area of the business is the ability to innovate and execute on new ideas without the constraint of governing or league bodies. Further, we also see the customer facing area of our business as a far more creative than traditional sports – more along the lines of a music label. Essentially our talent, who are professional gamers and content creators, are at the core and the support crew we build around them to bring this to life are creatives, e.g. content managers, creative directors, digital marketers and brand builders.

Q. For the outside world, Australia, where ORDER is based, is known for its outdoor sports. How is esports catching up in the country? How does its popularity compare with that of traditional sports?

A. Traditional sports are fed by generations of participation and ultimately viewership. Right now the esports industry in Australia is no more than 5 years old, yet despite the lack of history and level of unfamiliarity the fan base has more than doubled in the past 2 years alone. With the majority of esports fans being in the 18 to 34 age bracket and skewing male, there has been a natural migration of fans from traditional sport into esports, which is a sign of how Australia’s deep passion for sport is changing. Esports provides this generation an alternative outlet for entertainment and it’s being supported big time. While the current audience base skews male there is a ground swell of engagement coming from the female audience and is being driven by women gamers increasingly turning professional.

Q. ORDER has recently raised a $5.3 million funding? What are the immediate plans to drive the growth?

A. We will solidify our position in Oceania esports while continuing to look at opportunities in other esports titles. The real growth for ORDER though will be in content creation and production and building an audience around our brand. To do that we are looking for content creators across multiple platforms and gaming influencers who will become part of the ORDER crew and benefit from our administrative support and enabled to continue to grow their current activities. Also, in a first for an esports organisation the region, earlier this year ORDER took residency at our new facility in Collingwood Melbourne, which will feature the Alienware esports high performance room, Logitech streaming room, production studio and administrative offices.

Q. Could you talk about the new diversification initiatives that are in pipeline?

A. Outside of what I have mentioned above, ORDER will continue to evolve our gaming production capabilities, with a bespoke offering across events and licensed content. We are also looking towards collaborations with creatives and artists across music, fashion, and art. We see gaming as aligning strongly with the future of pop culture and these pursuits have paved the way for gaming to move from a subculture to pop culture in its own right.

Q. It appears that the lock down forced by the Covid 19 pandemic has turned out to be a turning point for esports in general. How did it affect the growth of ORDER?

A. For ORDER, and most esports organisations, the events of the last year or so have put greater emphasis on the need for online event capability, content production and building a mass audience. While much of this growth is still in it’s infancy, the realignment of strategy in the early stage of 2020 provided us a long enough runway to start executing and importantly secure significant funding to accelerate our growth ambitions.

 

 

Australia

Secretlab partners with Fluent Commerce for Order Management

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Secretlab, the leading international ergonomic furniture specialist brand, is partnering with Fluent Commerce to enhance global digital operations – scaling its Order Management System with Fluent Order Management.
Established in 2014, Secretlab has rapidly emerged as an international ergonomic furniture specialist brand with over 3 million users worldwide. With a strong emphasis on quality and ergonomics, Secretlab’s chairs have garnered immense popularity among both gamers and professionals, solidifying themselves as leaders in modern ergonomics.
Secretlab is scaling its Order Management System (OMS) to support its growth and enhance customer experience globally. Fluent Order Management processes inventory data at unprecedented levels to provide complete inventory visibility and accuracy.
“It’s great to see an innovative company like Secretlab choose Fluent Order Management,” said Graham Jackson, CEO, Fluent Commerce. “Fluent Commerce has a track record for delivering enduring value to global retailers and our modern and scalable technology will set Secretlab up for long-term success,” Jackson adds.
Fluent Order Management is used by leading global retailers including JD Sports, L’Oréal, Prada Group, Aldo Group, LVMH, Dulux and Kingfisher. Most recently, Munro Footwear chose Fluent Order Management to enhance inventory management globally.
One of the key solutions offered by Fluent Commerce, Fluent Big Inventory, addresses the challenge of real-time, accurate inventory visibility across all channels and locations in a retailer’s business. It optimises massive sets of inventory data quickly, to provide accurate inventory data that helps reduce overselling and cancelled orders, and out-of-stock online.
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Australia

ACMA: Tabcorp Pays $262,000 Penalty for Illegal In-Play Bets

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Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Tabcorp) has paid a $262,920 penalty for taking online in-play sports bets, which is illegal in Australia.

An Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found Tabcorp accepted 854 in-play bets across 69 tennis matches between April and October 2023.

Online in-play betting—wagers made on a sporting event after it has commenced—is prohibited in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

Authority member Carolyn Lidgerwood said the ban on online in-play betting is in place to protect vulnerable people.

“In-play betting increases access to gambling opportunities and exacerbates the risks of gambling harm, as people can place bets with high frequency on multiple outcomes during sporting events,” Ms Lidgerwood said.

“There has been significant growth in online sports betting in recent years and it’s important all online wagering services have systems in place so that illegal in-play bets are not accepted.”

During the investigation Tabcorp reported that the breaches occurred due to a technical “bug” in its systems. While the error first occurred in April 2023, it was not fixed until October 2023.

“Tabcorp is a major wagering operator and it is concerning that it took some 6 months for the system error to be identified and fixed,” Ms Lidgerwood said.

In addition to paying the $262,920 penalty, Tabcorp has also advised the ACMA of controls it now has in place and future steps it will be taking to minimise the risk of online in-play bets being accepted.

In its consideration of this matter the ACMA also took into account that Tabcorp had voided all bets so consumers did not suffer any loss and Tabcorp did not profit from the errors.

Tabcorp was previously issued a formal warning by the ACMA in November 2021 for accepting in-play bets on a United States college basketball game.

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Australia

AUSTRAC and Pacific Financial Intelligence Units Gather in Brisbane to Tackle Financial Crime in the Region

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Identifying ways to combat serious financial crime is the key focus when financial intelligence units (FIUs) from across the Pacific meet in Brisbane.

Representatives from 13 Pacific nations are gathering for the Pacific Financial Intelligence Community (PFIC) plenary, which is hosted by AUSTRAC.

The three-day event, which is now going on, provides a valuable opportunity for FIUs to further explore initiatives to fight financial crime. These include joint operations, intelligence sharing, capacity-building activities and region-wide technological enhancements.

Since last year’s meeting in the Cook Islands, PFIC members have focused their efforts on combating transnational organised crime, corruption and child sexual exploitation. AUSTRAC has worked with FIUs to ensure they have the training and capabilities required to proactively identify and tackle these crimes.

As well as ongoing themes such as money laundering, this year’s meeting will also address emerging issues such as illicit use of cryptocurrency, new payment platforms and gambling in the region.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said PFIC is a good example of the value strong regional partnerships bring to combating money laundering and other serious financial crime.

“As Australia’s financial intelligence unit, we’re not just focused on ensuring the security of Australia’s financial system, we also have a key role to play in working with our neighbours to combat the harms posed by criminal networks across the region,” Mr Thomas said.

“To put it into perspective, behind each of these crimes are people who are left devastated by the impacts of online scams, child sexual exploitation, environmental crimes or drug trafficking.

“PFIC was established by AUSTRAC and other regional partners in 2021 to promote greater collaboration among Pacific FIUs, and we’re so proud of the outcomes it’s already delivered.”

The Head of the Cook Islands FIU and outgoing Co-Chair of the PFIC, Mr Walter Henry, said he’s honoured to have played a leading role in PFIC over the last two years.

“Serious financial crime affects all of our nations, so we must work together to combat threats which undermine our financial security and community safety,” Mr Henry said.

“The PFIC has proven to be a vital channel for sharing intelligence, for working on capability enhancements and for staying across emerging threats and developments in technology.”

The Attorney-General will address the conference, to speak about Australia’s commitment to building strong regional partnerships to combat transnational financial crime, and ongoing efforts to strengthen Australia’s anti-money laundering system.

Representatives from the financial intelligence units of Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu will be in attendance.

AUSTRAC is the permanent Co-Chair of the forum. The Head of the Fiji FIU is scheduled to take on the rotating Co-Chair position at the end of this plenary meeting.

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