FRIDAYWEEK 04 DEC 49 2020 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: NEW ELYS GAME Sponsored by TECHNOLOGY CEO MATTEO MONTEVERDI FRIDAYWEEK 04 DEC 49 2020 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: NEW ELYS GAME Sponsored by TECHNOLOGY CEO MATTEO MONTEVERDI THIS WEEK • Macau November revenue • Second lockdown in Rhode Island • Colorado sports betting on the rise • French casinos set for reopen date • Detroit Pistons deals for FanDuel & DraftKings • IR revival for Hokkaido • Morgan Stanley upvotes Wynn Resorts • Tab NZ reports revenue rise New Elys Game Technology CEO Matteo Monteverdi speaks exclusively with Gambling Insider on: GUEST INTERVIEW: • What attracted him to Elys • Managing development teams across six different time zones • Tamas Kadar, • The intersection of media and sports betting in the US CEO & founder, SEON • His aims and goals as Elys targets US market share Sponsored by THIS WEEK IN What attracted you to the role of Elys Game Technology CEO? First of all, Elys is an exciting organisation with a fresh approach and new technology that is filling a unique position within the market. The company has a proven and successful NUMBERS iGaming solution combined with a sound technology stack. More specifically, Elys has been operating in the sports betting and online competitive betting and gaming markets for several years. The product’s value proposition is what I define a “true cross-channel” offering, which not only allows the retail and digital/mobile channels to co-exist, as any typical model $9.7m of mobile and retail solution would, but it also allows the two models to interact and Q3 revenue work seamlessly together in more advanced ways. For example, you can go to a retail for Elys Game location and decide to top-up your digital account through either a manned terminal Technology or a self-service kiosk; choosing to use any payment method, even cash, without having (formerly Newgioco to jump through the hoops typically involved in this type of transaction. Such a model Group), a 44% is currently in use and distributed across thousands of retailers in Italy. This offering rise year-on-year construct, combined with a state-of-the-art sports betting platform, capable of operating in any regulated market and scalable but flexible at the same time, makes Elys’ a powerful gaming offering in the North American market. I am particularly impressed with the Elys team’s familiarity with the opportunities here in the US and of the progressive legalisation of many jurisdictions. Today, we see only a third of the potential market open and there is still a lot of expected growth – the news that Canada is also embracing a modern sports betting model further increases the size AU£56.2m of the addressable market we can cover. The price BetMakers Given the current competitive landscape and demand, I believe there is a place for Technology Group the Elys product equation to be a B2B2C player in the North American digital gaming announced as a binding agreement market. In fact, our go-to-market approach is to combine the Elys Game innovative tech to acquire solution with the B2C capabilities we honed working in Italy, one of the most competitive Sportech’s global markets in the world. We are offering a complete turnkey solution: Elys can be a Tote and digital one-stop-shop provider or, by leveraging our micro-services architecture, can be an business ($41.3m) iGaming and betting technology vendor to be integrated in third-party solutions. In this initial phase we can best serve mid-size operators, yet we have the clear capabilities to address large operators with multiple locations. We are focused on retail to start and then eventually mobile, passing through mobile on-premise; this is a unique model: we want to leverage this as a growth asset in the North American market. Given Elys Game Technology’s organic business in Italy, our organic growth Mid-2021 opportunity in Europe and the great fit for our business model here in the US, I see very solid foundations. So far, the team and the current leadership did a great job laying that When Caesars Entertainment plans foundation. My previous gaming experiences allow me to bring additional value to the close the deal to organization and the investors by moving the company to the next level. Incidentally, I’m sell Belle of Baton personally both a US and Italian citizen. I know the European gaming market and I have Rouge to CQ Holding spent the last 10 years working here in the US. It’s a unique alignment of the stars given Company (Casino the phase Elys is going through! Queen) What were the biggest lessons you learned at IGT and Sportradar to prepare you for the role? The biggest experience I gained at IGT is how to operate within a heavily regulated market locally as well as globally. IGT is both a gaming and lottery operator. My experience there allowed me to deal with the various regulated markets across the globe, not only those in the US. Market regulations have tremendous implications in AU$30,000 the way you design, build and market your product. The experience I gained has helped me understand how the regulated market competes, what products are needed The fi ne issued and the intricate business dynamics. At the same time, I had the opportunity to be a to Tabcorp by Sydney’s Downing part of a global company with thousands of employees. At one point, I was managing Centre Local Court, development teams in six different time zones, between Asia, North America, Europe and after being found Eastern Europe. I spent a lot of time turning around the business by aligning the product guilty of breaching portfolio, which resulted from a number of inorganic acquisitions, into a singular value New South proposition. That knowledge is something I can bring to Elys, because we see inorganic Wales gambling advertising law acquisitions as a way to grow over the coming years. (US$22,000) On the other side, Sportradar gave me a deeper view on two important aspects of the sports betting business. The first aspect is the relevance and importance of data. In particular, how official data is going to be extremely important in the evolution of 50% the sports betting offering in the US. The second aspect is the influential nature of the intersection of media and sports betting. The two verticals are not separate and they YOY fall in Spanish GGR for January- will morph into a different model here in the US than what we see in Europe. In Europe, October 2020, sports betting is very much a form of gambling full stop. In the US, sports betting will according to a evolve more and more as a form of entertainment simply due to the enormous amount study by Cejuego of sports content that is consumed in this country every day. and the University Additionally, there is a different sports betting ecosystem. In Europe, betting is Carlos III of Madrid, amounting to centred around soccer/football. In the US, you have American football, baseball, hockey, €4.4bn ($5.3bn) basketball and more, all available at professional and college levels – that diversity, combined with the influence of the leagues and interest of the media, will evolve the gaming offering into a new combination of content and betting. It’s not a surprise to see so many media companies get involved in the sector – look at Penn National with BarStool, theScore media, Yahoo with BetMGM, Bally’s have also just closed a deal with Sinclair, Fox Bet and so on. 1/4 What are your aims and goals as Elys Game Technology CEO? This is where things get really exciting and I look forward to our Q4 results; our Q3 How much Norsk Tipping has lowered was very strong and reflects the current shift into the online business. What was very monthly loss limits important is that we passed the mark of 100,000 gaming accounts in Italy. The digital for what it defi nes business is growing strong, helped by the COVID-19 at-home economy. And we are as high-risk games thrilled to have started rolling out several projects here in the US. for December and As I said, our foundation is very strong. We have an excellent team in Europe. I want January to replicate and build an equivalent high-performing team here in the US – that is one key priority. A strong team will be instrumental for the company to take advantage of the North American addressable market. I think we have the opportunity to significantly increase our financial performance by executing a few basic things very well. The market is there, a need for newer solutions exists and Elys Game Technology is here to deliver. MACAU NOVEMBER GGR FALLS 71% YEAR-ON-YEAR Macau casino gross gaming revenue This year’s total currently stands at 3 for November fell 71% year-on-year MOP$52.6bn, compared to MOP$269.2bn to MOP6.75bn ($844m), according to for the same period in 2019. Consecutive years figures released by the Gaming Inspection Macau’s Statistics and Census Service, in which 100% of Canadian and US and Coordination Bureau. meanwhile, released hotel occupancy lotteries joined The total also represented a 7% decline figures for the region, reporting a 168% the Responsible from the MOP$7.27bn recorded in October, month-on-month increase for the number Gambling Holiday with October’s figure representing the of mainland China tourists for October. Lottery Campaign second-highest total of the year. The figure of 358,000, however, In 2020, only January’s GGR of represented a 56% year-on-year decline.