With the Gambling Act review judgement looming later this year, combined with other regulatory developments across Europe, many are questioning how operators and regulators should interact with each other.

Firmly in the camp of increased cooperation and understanding between the two is Anton Kaszubowski, Managing Director at SBC Advisory, who moderated the SBC Leaders – Corporate Stewardship 2030’ panel at Betting on Sports Europe (BOSE). 

Speaking to SBC Senior Media Executive Erin Gallagher after the conference, Kaszubowski stated his belief that stronger and better quality dialogue between regulators and the industry could only have positive outcomes. 

He explained: “The better the industry and regulators work as partners and symbiotically – obviously they’re interests are somewhat different, but they’ve actually got much more alignment than lack of laliangment – and the more they have dialogue and the better that dialogue is, the better they understand each other.”

He continued adding that greater collaboration between the two sides would  contribute to a greater “balance between strong regulations to protect players as well as regulations that don’t create market conditions that would be too onerous and push players in the other direction to unregulated offshore gaming operators”.

Sharing Kaszubowski’s viewpoints on the SBC Leaders panel at Stamford Bridge was Niels Onkenhout, CEO, Nederlandse Loterij, who focused on the need for education of regulators around the nuances of the betting and gaming industry, in areas such as player protection, whilst also adding that the sector must self-regulate – promoting a positive image to regulatory authorities and legislators.

He remarked “Gambling is as old as humanity – the Assyrians, Sumerians, Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans all gambled, it has been there, so let’s accept that as a society and better than that, organise it in a sensible method through a legal framework and good regulation.

“There’s a lot of emotion around gambling, a lot of emotion with the regulators and politicians, and so indeed, educating them and informing them well is a good idea. Secondly, I think there’s a huge importance of self regulation.”

Looking ahead to 2022 from a commercial perspective in the post-panel interview, Kaszubowski described ongoing developments as an ‘exciting time’ for the newly established SBC Advisory as the firm seeks greater visibility and an enhanced profile whilst expanding its client network. 

The Managing Director shared with Gallagher that ‘the response from the industry has been great’ to SBC Advisory’s activities, particularly with regards to the global network that the company operates.