There is very little time left until the opening of the first edition of Ige – Italian gaming expo, scheduled for 18 and 19 April at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome.
An event aimed at outlining and anticipating the future of Italian public gaming, through two days of in-depth analysis of all the aspects that interest the stakeholders of one of the most important gaming markets in Europe and in the world.
Ige avails itself of a Scientific Committee made up of illustrious members of the academic and scientific world and professionals in the sector. Let's discover them together.
LUDOVICO CALVI - “SHARED ANSWERS TO THE MANY STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONS” - “Like many countries, ours is also facing important challenges to adjust current regulations with new market conditions which, especially with the growth of e-commerce, have presented us with new challenges but also important opportunities. The political challenge of the decade in the midst of the digital revolution is how to achieve an optimal balance between sustainability of the sector and social responsibility, serving the public interest.”
This was underlined by Ludovico Calvi, honorary president of United lotteries for integrity in sports - Ulis, in highlighting the contribution that an event like Ige can make to the dual work of reorganizing online and physical gaming, ongoing in Italy.
“I believe that the Italian gaming expo can truly represent a fantastic opportunity to try, in an effective way, to provide shared answers to the many questions that public and private stakeholders have been seeking for some time. Consumer protection, management of the industry's reputation as well as public opinion are key issues that deserve everyone's attention, with the aim of serving the public interest and contributing to healthy gaming behaviour", Calvi explains, focusing on how important it is bringing the subject of the integrity of sport to Italy too.
“Italy has always been at the forefront in the application of suitable measures to counter the phenomenon of manipulation of sports competitions. Since 2011, long before the introduction of the Council of Europe Convention, our country established a very effective operating model, composed of two units dedicated to counter match-fixing: an intelligence unit, the Uiss (Sports Betting Information Unit) and an investigative one, the Giss (Sports Betting Investigative Group).”
CARLO ALBERTO CARNEVALE MAFFÈ: “DIGITALIZATION AND REGULATORY REVIEW IN THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY” - Ige arrives at a turning point for both physical and online gaming in Italy. What will be the future of the industry? Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffè, associate professor of practice of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Sda Bocconi School of Management, tries to describe it: “Surely, a technological scenario on payment systems that will require an important evolution in the next five years. Digital will become a kind of interaction in all segments and will be pervasive, hybridization is irreversible. In a context where metaverse and artificial intelligence are coming, operators will have to adopt new language. Gaming is very old, it's true, but it is always evolving and moving. Another strong element is the regulatory review, questioning the industrial assets of the concessions and the gaming rules, so that it is increasingly responsible and sustainable".
In this panorama, looking towards the future, Carnevale Maffè underlines the importance of operators working as a team, so as to be "a reliable partner of the regulator, so that the rules are written in a shared way and with the target of frankness and sustainability in mind".
MATTEO CAROLI: “RESPONSIBILITY IS INCREASINGLY AT THE HEART OF THE BUSINESS” - “I think there is an interesting and new focus on responsible gaming at the event. The involvement of the Fondazione Fair, whose mission is to encourage the concrete affirmation of responsible gaming, goes precisely in this direction." This is highlighted by Matteo Caroli, professor of International Business Management at the Luiss Guido Carli University of Rome, and who focuses attention on the subject of responsibility, which is also important in the planning of Ige's content: "In the world, large groups that deal with gaming have long been committed to responsible gaming. Even in Italy, the main companies are showing a consistent commitment; some have placed the issue of sustainability at the heart of their business model. The path towards sustainability is therefore well underway, with many milestones to be achieved ahead of us, as in many other sectors."
In this path, there is the implementation of the Tax Delegation too: “The Government's reorganization action is important and positive. it will be essential to actually implement it, also through active cooperation between all the stakeholders", is Caroli's hope.
GIANLUCA COMANDINI: “HELPING THE COUNTRY TO GIVE ITS OPINION AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL” - What was the work of the Scientific Committee and how important is it to organize an event on public gaming in Italy, at this particular moment?
The floor to Gianluca Comandini, Italian entrepreneur, university professor and technological popularizer, expert in fintech and new media: “It's not important, it's essential. Once again our country is at the very bottom as regards innovation or market trends. We've been seeing the rest of the world organize events for tens of thousands of people and/or million dollar tournaments for at least ten years, only us still label this industry as a 'game for kids'. More and more companies are investing and more and more professionals in the sector are also being born here in Italy, so an event is needed to match supply and demand in the market and also help our country to give its opinion on an international level. As a member of the scientific committee it is truly challenging to be able to meet so many other experts in the field and define the best strategies together, we hope it is just an excellent start to something even bigger."
Comandini also analyzes the positioning of gaming in the general relationship between new technologies and industry: “We have already seen it elsewhere in Europe and beyond: emerging technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are radically changing the gaming. Above all, web3 will bring the gaming dimension to the next level, the only rule will be not to get lost. Anyone who doesn't get on board now and doesn't adapt to the new rules of gaming will drastically remain cut off from such a dynamic and exponentially growing market."
LUCIO LAMBERTI: “BREAK WITH THE PAST THANKS TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND IMMERSIVE REALITIES” - Professor of Marketing analytics and analytics for Business lab at the Politecnico di Milano, coordinator of the Interdepartmental physiology, emotion and experience lab (Pheel) of the Politecnico, as well as scientific director of the Metaverse marketing lab and of the Automotive experience design lab, Lucio Lamberti talks about the Ige event and its importance in the moment of major breakthrough from a regulatory, but also technological point of view, which the world of Italian gaming is experiencing.
“It is important to talk about gaming - he underlines - because the gap introduced by artificial intelligence and immersive realities offers the possibility of creating a highly immersive bond with the user. Gamification has been a topic on the agendas of managers in any sector for over a decade, and today technologies offer possibilities from the point of view of interaction mechanics, narrative potential and the dynamics of personalization and user engagement.”
A final thought, from the metaverse expert, also on its connection with gaming: “Metaverse is an immersive and structurally experiential way of enjoying digital content. In this sense, the link is structural and it is no coincidence that the main applications in terms of number of users of the metaverse are in gaming platforms, such as Fortnite or Roblox".
QUIRINO MANCINI: “AN INTERNATIONAL SCOPE FOR AN INTERESTING AND ATTRACTIVE EVENT” - “I am very pleased to have been invited to participate in the Italian gaming expo, contributing with our typical 'Imgl Masterclass' format to internationalize a prestigious event that promises to be extremely interesting and attractive.”
Quirino Mancini says that, in his dual role as partner responsible for the gaming & gambling practice of Studio Tonucci, as well as incumbent president of the International masters of gaming law (Imgl), a global network of lawyers, regulators, advisors and operators in the gaming industry .
“Having been dealing with gaming and betting for about twenty years from a legislative and regulatory point of view in one of the most important, dynamic and competitive markets (the Italian one) in the entire European panorama, I believe that an event like this, which not by chance will take place in a year that sees the Government and Parliament engaged in a historic reorganization of the entire gaming sector with two separate tender procedures between 2024 and 2025 for the assignment of new concessions, respectively for online and land-based, has come at exactly the right time to offer the local and international industry the first useful references and directions", Mancini continues, highlighting how in this context "my association is constantly aiming to propose itself, depending on the case, as a respective and credible representative, popularizer, interlocutor and, where necessary, also contradictor towards the global gaming industry, making its communication tools available to the latter and above all offering through its bi-annual conferences (one in the Usa and one in Europe) and the various Masterclasses panels, which exports to the most important international conferences and trade fairs, as many opportunities for meeting and discussion between its members and the stakeholders of the global gaming industry".
FRANCESCO RODANO: “INFORMATION SHARING IS ESSENTIAL FOR LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY” - “The Italian gaming expo offers the opportunity for a constructive discussion between operators in the sector, at a crucial moment for its regulatory reorganization, useful for understanding the regulatory challenges that the sector is facing and also represents an opportunity for clear and open exchange on the responsible management of the offer and player protection, as well as reflection on the sustainable future of the sector in Italy, in a period of technological evolution and quick spread of artificial intelligence."
Francesco Rodano, chief policy officer of Playtech and former online gaming regulator, focuses in particular on artificial intelligence, which "is rapidly emerging as a key tool to promote the sustainability of the gaming industry with cash winning, especially from the point of view of the prevention of compulsive use.
For example, for a few years now, AI has offered us the opportunity to continuously analyze the behavior of each individual online consumer to identify, well in advance, those at risk of developing symptoms of compulsive gaming in the future."
Playtech has developed its own solution, called BetBuddy, which “uses AI to analyze over 70 behavioral indicators. In addition to reporting potentially at-risk consumers, the AI also provides the reason for each one, which can change from person to person, such as chasing losses, increasing time spent playing or money spent, the high number of night sessions, and so on.
The individual risk profile allows operators to proactively and in a personalized way intervene with at-risk consumers, for example with automatic on-screen messages, customer service calls, or offering self-management tools. Thanks to these interactions it is possible to direct consumers towards more balanced gaming habits, reducing the possibility they will lose control.”
And he ends: “The discussion on these subjects at Ige represents a further step towards active cooperation and knowledge sharing between operators, technology providers, researchers and regulators, which will be essential to ensure the sustainability of the sector in the long term” .