BetMarkets held in Vienna last week

This mindset was supported in Jean Bergevin's, Head of DG/MKT at the European Commission, encouraging and positive start to the conference. Referring to recent EC announcements regarding cross-border operations in the EU, Bergevin stated that “there have been many recent rays of light for the gambling industry”.

However, he did temper this with the warning to expect new and more restrictions from Member States, which is likely to lengthen the list of court actions we are currently seeing. One speaker, Giorgio Sandi, CEO of the Italian monopoly Sisal, appeared unfazed in his presentation, by the complexities of the legal changes he has faced in Italy and the level of competition that has increased in the country as a result.

Showing a resilience that has been reflected in the industry, Sandi amused the delegates with an animation illustrating Sisal's global strategy: any and every country is up for the taking by the Italian operator.

The programme continued over the next two days with highlights from Ladbrokes' Kevin Hopgood and Michael Charlton, and Peter Greenhill, CEO of Chinese facing sports book Betex, who examined the Asian betting market and business culture; and Fernando Ors, from the Spanish operator Codere, revealed the business potential in a number of Latin American countries.

Focusing on Argentina, Ors described the high economic growth, increasing internet penetration rates and a real demand for sport betting services in the region. He also informed delegates that, in order to expand their operations in this rapidly growing market, they must get an understanding of the local culture and form alliances with local partners.

Day two of the conference focused more on how the sports betting industry interacts with the consumer through multi-platform deployment. Delegates were given insight into increasing broadcasting content on their websites, developing on interactive television and creating more profitable strategies for mobile phone betting.

BetMarkets will make a return in 2008. Details of dates and venue will be release shortly on www.bet-markets.com.