This year, Excellence in Gaming (EIG) 2015 will make a significant effort to embrace the full iGaming ecosystem that includes affiliates and digital agencies, C-level decision-makers, and iGaming practitioners.

The annual Excellence in iGaming, which will be held at the Arena Berlin from October 20th-22nd, will help you think differently with its many Outside Industry speakers invited to give you fresh perspectives on a range of topics – from reputation management to omni-channel strategies, eSports and innovation in devices.

Meet decision makers only for serious business conversations that lead to partnerships and growth. With more time allocated for networking, more interactive, open conference set-up, themed Discussion Hubs, ‘Under the Microscope’ sessions, and social events, there will be lots of opportunities to meet new people and reconnect with old contacts.

Explore new product innovations and technologies being premiered to the iGaming industry through The Pitch, Start-Up LaunchPad competition, Start-Up Village and Meeting Zone. EiG, with its continued focus on attracting and introducing start-ups, reinforced through partnership with GamCrowd, is your best chance to come across disruptive technologies that might change the way you engage with consumers – be first to invest in, or partner with them. Not to mention the leading and established iGaming suppliers returning to the EiG showfloor.

This is a guest contribution by Alex Fletcher, founder & president at Entiva Group. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

The year 2015 has witnessed a skyrocketing profile for the world of competitive video gaming, otherwise known as eSports. Large multi-million dollar tournaments, an infusion of venture capital, and mainstream media coverage has buoyed eSports from best kept secret to worldwide phenomenon. Accordingly, the iGaming industry has taken notice. However, it is a mistake to conceptualize the eSports opportunity with the exact same purview as other major sports, e.g. fútbol or basketball. Here are three trends in eSports that will shape the complexion, and ultimately success, of its marriage with the betting industry.

A new gateway

Since the first video game, Pong, was released in 1972; playing video games has grown from niche to a commonly embraced activity. Studies show over half a billion people play some form of computer or video game at least an hour a day. The trend is more pronounced for those under 18, where 99% of males and 94% of females report playing video games regularly.

Asian junket operator Jimei Group posted a profit in the first half of 2015 after recording a HKD8.3 million ($1m) loss in H1 2014.

Jimei International Entertainment Group Limited has recorded a net profit of HKD52.8 million ($6.8m) in H1, mainly driven by profit contributions from its new relationship with Australian casino operator Crown Resorts.

Jimei generated revenue of HKD112.4 million ($14.5m) revenue in H1, up 127% year-on-year growth, and gross profit of HKD60.6 million ($7.8m).

This year, Jimei has tapped the gaming promotion business in Western Australia and the Kingdom of Cambodia. The junket group has entered into an agreement to steer VIP gamblers to approximately eight to ten gaming tables in Crown Perth.

Partypoker Pokerfest promises to be huge with 90-events, over $3m in guaranteed prize money hosted both online and live at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham.

Online poker players will be rubbing coconut oil on those weary whorls as summer ends with an avalanche of action on the virtual felt.

Partypoker is the latest major online poker room to announce a few reasons to turn ones bedroom into a bomb shelter – 80 to be exact. The Pokerfest pilgrimage returns, only this time with a twist. Pokerfest Live gives heroes a reason to leave the bat cave.

Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) card room in Nottingham will be the host venue for the Pokerfest Live portion of the extravaganza. Rob Yong and Simon Trumper will remove cloaks of anonymity as the quarry sits down for 10 delicious courses of chip riffling, card shuffling and corny joke crunching.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has responded to Phil Ivey’s edge sorting baccarat countersuit, and Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates loses $5m in high stakes cash games in Manila.

Louis C.K once made a great point about sharks, “Do you think that sharks would be embarrassed if they knew we could see their fins? They think they are so slick. Swimming underneath the sea laughing because nobody has any idea they are down there. Yet we are standing there saying there is totally a shark right there.”

When The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa welcomed Phil Ivey into their ostentatious and grandiose baccarat boudoir they could see his fin. They knew how sharp his teeth were. Yet in their hyperlogical worldview there was no way they were being eaten alive. This had nothing to do with the barbarity of man, and everything to do with the barbarity of the house. The one that always wins. Only it didn’t win on this occasion.

I am, of course, talking about the $9.6m that Ivey and his colleague, Cheng Yin Sun, won, fair and square, whilst playing mini-baccarat at the aforementioned casino during four mouth-watering trips that took place during 2012.

Team PokerStars Online member Isaac Haxton admits he knew Brian Hastings was using the NoelHayes account, and Christian Lusardi sentenced for Borgata counterfeit chips scandal.

Isaac Haxton has admitted that he is the representative of PokerStars who knew that Brian Hastings was playing on the infamous NoelHayes account on PokerStars, allegedly using a VPN whilst playing from the US.

Haxton’s name was first linked to the 2+2 thread, that is now 229 pages long, after David ‘Bakes’ Baker tweeted on 19 July: ‘@ikepoker knew at the beginning of SCOOP’.

Responding to the same thread on 11 August, Haxton apologized to the 2+2 community for taking so long to respond, but explained his reasons were because the situation was ‘under review’ by his employer, PokerStars.

A Wisconsin Judge agreed that over the long run poker is a game of skill, but still refused to legalize it referring to case law that is over 50 years old.

Poker is a game of skill; but an illegal one.

That’s the summing up of a Wisconsin Judge, during four minutes that would have made Pontius Pilate proud, after a number of poker players had spent a year, and $10,000 of money not won playing poker in the state, to try and legalize it.

Where I live it’s illegal to play poker for money. So we hide the money under the table in the off chance a police officer walks in to check if we are playing poker for real money. It has never happened. I can reliably tell you that it will never happen. We don’t have any police officers, and if we did they wouldn’t be bothered about a few grown men playing poker for hard earned money.