The first ICE North America was held in Boston last week in the Boston Convention Center, with New England Patriots scion Jonathan Kraft one of the featured panelists.
Kraft, the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he envisioned a future with broadcasts that would include segments on in-game betting for NFL fans.
It was not a coincidence that the conference started on the one-year anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that lifted the federal ban on sports betting.
Kraft declared, “I don’t think anything has changed our business model,” Kraft said. “The baseline has remained the same. When we think about our football businesses what we are really focused on is changes (legalizing sports betting) to drive further engagement, especially with people who are under the age of 30 and who grew up in an era of short attention spans. They always want to be engaged with whatever is they are doing.”
He said the NFL is spending a lot of time creating a platform that will allow real time proposition betting. This will, he said, increase interest in younger fans who might not want to watch a three hour game.
“The challenge when you start to think about is in creating proposition bets in real time, and the data collection needs that go along with it,” said Kraft. He added, “If you are somebody what wants to experience gaming within the game, you will have the ability to choose an alternate theater screen. Maybe the betting will be the primary and the people that don’t want to do that will take it on the other.”
Segmented broadcasting will allow people not interested in betting to watch the games without it. “For people who might want to do it casually, there might be something for them and people that want hardcore and constant betting analysis action, there might be a version of the broadcast for that. I have to believe all sports will migrate in that direction.”
He envisions this coming within three years.
ICE North America featured 42 exhibitors, 29 sponsors and more than 200 speakers and touted itself as the “biggest sports industry gathering in gaming.”
Kate Chambers, MD of Clarion Gaming, which organized ICE North America earlier in the week commented, “Since we first unveiled our vision to create an event for the entire A-Z of North America’s gaming ecosystem, we have been overwhelmed by the positive response that we have received from all quarters. Successful events, whether they are ones of huge scale such as ICE London or launches, all have one thing in common‑great chemistry.”
Some of the other headliners at the event included Jason Sondag, senior director, strategy & analytics, Chicago Cubs; Jeff Gerttula, EVP and general manager, CBS Sports Digital; Adam Grossman, CMO, Red Sox; Keith Wachtel, chief revenue officer, NHL; Rodney Butler, chairman, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council; Chris Halpin, chief strategy and growth officer, NFL; Jason Robins, CEO, DraftKings; Adam Davis, chief revenue officer, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment; Kenny Gersh, EVP, gaming & new business ventures, Major League Baseball (MLB), and Scott Warfield, MD, Gaming, NASCAR. And boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard make a guest appearance as well.
One of the exhibitors, Scientific Games showcased its portfolio of sportsbook and digital casino solutions. Spokesman Jordon Levin said, “We are proud to highlight the evolution of our sportsbook and casino products and services at ICE North America, a show that provides the perfect platform to showcase our landmark OpenSports product suite and winning casino content.”
That suite includes OpenBet, OpenPlatform, OpenTrade, OpenEngage and Open/Accerate, all designed to help a casino run an efficient sports betting operation, no matter their scale.
A heated subject at one of the panels was the debate over sports books use of official data from the leagues or developing sources they consider accurate and reliable.
Andy Levinson, senior vice president and tournament administer for the PGA argued for the use of a third party to take data and package and distribute it.
At the suggestion that betting operators be forced to use sports league data Ohio State Senator Bill Coley bristled. Coley is one of the leading legislators in the Buckeye state pushing legalization of sports book.
Levinson asserted that, “For the purposes of in-play betting, it needs to be accurate, timely and consistent. We have average (of) 144 (golfers) playing in a tournament and 72 balls in play and 32,000 shots every week and each of those are a game within a game.”
He noted that the PGA uses a system of several miles of fiber optic cable, 60 cameras and 18 lasers. “This is not something that can be replicated by some other source and should be used to settle any wagers.”
Coley compared the data from sports leagues to the data from commodity futures.
“The Chicago Board of Trade isn’t cutting checks to wheat farmers in Kansas and soybean farmers in Iowa,” he said. “The leagues have to be understanding. It’s like the line in Caddyshack with Bill Murray saying in talking with the Dali Lama ‘there will be no money, but when you lie on your bed dying there will be total consciousness.’”
Others, like Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal and co-founding director of the University of New Hampshire School of Law’s Sports Wagering and Integrity Program argued that league information is important for creating consumer confidence in the fairness of sports betting.
Integrity needs to be at the core of any sports betting industry said Sara Slane, public affairs officer for the American Gaming Association.
Wallach added, “The industry is moving to in-game wagers, and we need the most robust safety and data that is the most reliable and accurate as possible,” Wallach said. “There is more agreement than disagreement. The one sticking point is a price mandate.”
Christopher Justice, president of gaming solutions with Global Payments advised the gaming industry to look at holiday shopping from Black Monday to Cyber Monday, and to note how half of that was done on mobile devices.
“When you think about the 450 million mobile users as people here are thinking about what’s the next big trend, mobility is definitely that,” he said. He added that half of the sales that are aborted online happen because a platform requires too many steps.
“That problem skyrockets when you get into mobility because it’s more about mobile shopping on your computer and mobile shopping on your phone,” said Justice. “When you think about iLottery and sports betting, folks have to get in with a few clicks, through with a few clicks and out with a few clicks. The more you can eliminate, the better the retention and the better the repeat visitors and the better the loyalty.”
