The first day of the SiGMA Digital Summit proved to be a massive success with attendees and speakers alike

The SiGMA Digital summits made waves online following months of planning and perfecting to ensure a top-tier experience for this first-ever digital summit for the group.

Due to the unforeseen COVID-19 crisis and all that came with it, SiGMA Group made the decision to digitise this event and take it virtual. The digital event would offer free and insightful content spread over three days. The first day was filled to the brim with familiar faces and new big names in the industry, adding prestige to the keynotes and panel discussion, with topics ranging from the rise of Asia in the iGaming and Tech industries, Land-Based and Online gambling, Data and Cybersecurity. Keynote speaker and Chairperson of PAGCOR Andrea Domingo spoke about the importance for both operators and regulators to keep abreast with the latest developments in technology and gaming, going on to ask industry players to “obey the law, be transparent, and be competent”. “First and foremost, during this time the most important thing is to stay healthy and safe during COVID-19 – we have to maintain the employment of 132 thousand direct hires in the gaming industry. This is the reason why we would like to participate in SiGMA in 2021, so we can expand our markets, so we can touch other jurisdictions and so we can learn from other jurisdictions so we are able to combat the after-effects of COVID-19.” During the Focus Philippines panel, Keith McDonnell, CEO at kmigaming.com noted that however successful operators were in Europe, or any other market they come from, they’ve taken the time to partner with people on local issues. “I’ve seen brands go down there who translated their website to Cantonese, and within 6 months left the region. Those who take the time to meet people and build relationship have longevity and do well.” On Australia, we saw Jamie Nettleton and Fredric Gushin discuss what changes casinos need to do to reflect the changing markets. Nettleton noted that people who gamble as a form of entertainment have moved to find that activity in other means, whilst Gushin said that operators who are able to adapt to these changes will be the ones to survive. Vice-Chairperson and CEO for Inside Asia Gaming, Andrew Scott, spoke about the situation in Japan, explaining that “the general consensus in Japan has been quite demanding in the process”. “Japan has come out and said repeatedly that it will be the strictest regulatory regime in the world – hardly music to ears of the operator.” During the second half of the day, SiGMA Deep Tech took place which was organised by techies, for techies. This inaugural summit featured the world’s best devs and CTOs in the speaker lineup and is dedicated to the coders, the CTOs responsible for all cutting-edge tech that the industry is so dependent on. We saw Founder & CEO of Turing Industries, Steve Chao, spoke about quantum & neuromorphic computing and whether they are the future of processing heavy amounts of data. We also saw panels on managing data in iGaming and life cycle engagement and customer management where individuals such as Chris Armes, Karl Davies-Barrett, Gege Gat, David Sachs and others gave their thoughts on the topic at hand. Overall, the day was a massive success and this proves that going virtual is a viable direction to go for interactive networking! On day two, we will have MGA CEO Heathcliff Farrugia giving us his regulatory update on the local jurisdiction, and a compelling discussion between Joseph Borg and Trevor De Giorgio from WH Partners and Greentube respectively. Later on, during the Online Gaming portion of the summit, we will see discussion on innovation, the Asian dream and Esports. SiGMA Deep Tech will then take centre stage again as speakers will focus on Industry Technologies, specifically platform challenges and solutions, game design, game integrations, and innovation and tech in gaming payments.

[WATCH THE FULL CONFERENCE FOR SIGMA FOCUS ASIA]

[WATCH THE FULL CONFERENCE FOR DEEP TECH]

SIGMA GOES DIGITAL WITH ASIA FOCUS AND DEEP TECH