The lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, and regulator reactions to it, still weigh heavy on European sportsbooks. Our very own Rebecca Liggero Fontana moderated a roundtable on the topic at SiGMA Europe, and found the positives and negatives that came from each.

On the plus side, sports books found products that worked when there was very little other option. “Virtual sports and esports, and those type of verticals, are now significantly bigger than what they used to be,” said Jesper Svensson, CEO of Betsson. “So you can see that the expansion of the offering has had an important role.”

“I would say that innovation is perhaps not the bigger driver, it’s just the traditional products that are getting more and more interest, if I see the trends I’m looking at,” he added.

More than just products though, the cooperation of the industry helped get iGaming through it. “What I found was, there was a lot of moral support from everybody around,” said Rob Dowling, CCO of Singular. “Everybody was willing to have really nice, long conversations and giving advice. Not just the usual competitors, and we look at each other and talk at conferences, and ‘Oh, I’m bigger than him,’ whatever. It was more a level of, let’s sit down, let’s have a conversation over a cup of tea or a beer on Friday via Skype, and let’s see how we can fix this problem, let’s see how we can move forward.”