The SBC Digital Summit started off by acknowledging just how strange the times we live in are. Both the Welcome Message from SBC Managing Director Andrew McCarron, and Keynote from Sportradar’s Carsten Koerl, noted just how much the gambling industry has been turned upside down by COVID-19, but gave a message of hope that it will emerge even stronger.

McCarron began by noting that, in a different timeline, SBC would be focusing on the 2nd edition of Betting on Sports America, which was originally due to start on April 28. But the world has changed, he said, and SBC had had to adapt by launching a Digital Summit. People need to learn from each other, he said, so a virtual event “was really necessary for the industry to pull together.”

After walking the audience of over 400 early comers through a few of the features of the conference, McCarron noted that while it may not be the same as a conference hall venue, they’ve tried to make it as comfortable as possible. He encouraged everyone to give it a try, and not to forgot the virtual networking room. “If you throw yourself into it, you get something out of it,” he said.

Next up in the morning was Koerl with the keynote. He immediately noted that he doesn’t often agree to giving these kinds of speeches, but agreed due to the strange times that we’re in.