Welcome

Gambit is destined to be intellectual playground for all those in the gaming, gambling and gamebling industries. Initiated by Cass Business School's Executive MBA alumni, Gareth Wong, founder of GamBond, our aim is to provide a space for networking, mental stimulation and exchange of views on an industry that’s highly innovative, always controversial yet gaining further legitimacy and respects everyday.

Gambit already attract interest from around the globe and we are passionate about creating an eclectic mix of business, legal and technology professions with an interest in debating industry trends and developments.

Our mission is to bring value to the sector, and our fees are mainly to cover our cost. Gambit is unique and will continuously innovate and lead by example by spotting trends, pioneering new formats and focus on the specific needs of our sector.

Gambit is the chosen network & platform for people that want the best our sector has to offer.

A great opportunity to get in on the ‘ground floor’ is to attend our future public events.

We also have the Gambit Leadership Forum, which is an invitation only series of closed door discussion of issues that matter most for Chairman/CEOs/Directors/Owners of major firms, and governments from around the world.

Would you like to be kept up to date about Gambit? please click here to signup to our newsletter, we do NOT share your contact details with other organisations.

Gambit will be launching the inaugural Gambit Leadership Summit in 2007.

Our last event focused on sponsorship was a success. Please read the event report by our in house reporter Lorien Pilling.

Speakers on the night: (Right to left), Greg Nichols, MD Sporting Affairs, Betfair, Merrick Haydon, MD, Revolution Sports Marketing Group, Paul Renney, Partner, Campbell Hooper Solicitors LLP, and Gareth Wong, Founder of GamBond, and Gambit special interest group.

The above event was sponsored by:

Hosted by:

Public Gambit Events in 2007

Register online NOW!

We are working on producing all the 2007 events now, and will publish the full list of speakers and sponsors of each of the event.

Finance

18 July. 2007

Leisure and Gaming has been a very popular sector for investment, mostly in gaming stronghold like Las Vegas, where continuously bigger and grander casino hotels are being built in the last 30 years or so. Therefore, it has traditionally been treated as 'real-estate' market as invariably most opportunities are capital intensive and long life-cycle projects, where most of the revenue are from rooms and entertainment.

There was a trend of new market being developed in the last few years as likes of 888.com and partygaming were listed. These were businesses with comparatively limited capital expenditure, and cash flow and profitability means that most of them do not need external finances. Some still wanted to be listed due to various reasons, some for expansion capital, some for partial exit for private owners etc.

Due to the regulatory changes in various jurisdictions, we can see that offline gaming firms are now focusing on growth markets like Macao, Western and eastern Europe. US and UK regulatory changes meant that a few gaming firms are either delisting or moving their online/remote gaming operations offshore. Some major US big brands like Las Vegas Sands/Venetian has gained their online gaming license (not accepting US bet) this year, does it mean that the market is changing/ or converging? does it mean that there will be more consolidation or public companies being brought back to private hands (for online gaming firms). Which way would it go?

Does it mean the basis of competition is who has the deepest marketing pocket? or would it be within certain gambling friendly (& tax friendly) jurisdictions only?

Speakers on the night:

Archie Watt, Director, KPMG

Melissa Blau, Global Leisure Partners

Charles Walker, MD, JPM International.

Marketing

19 September. 2007

Ed Bartlett, VP Publisher Relations Europe and Co-Founder, IGA Worldwide, Inc., on case study of using 'in-game' advertising

Mobile & iTV development

7 Nov. 2007

Email us if you have any suggestions of very senior speakers, proposing to sponsor, or indeed want to be kept informed about future Gambit event.

It will take place at the Cass Business School:106 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TZ

Find Cass Business School

Timing:

6:00pm Welcoming drinks, tea & biscuits

6:30pm Panel discussion commence

8:00pm Drinks & Networking

9:00pm Proceedings finished at the business school, further networking to a local club/bar

How to book

It is possible to book online:

New Business model for 2007

Gambit was launched to bring value, trust and transparency to the sector and help us reach out and explain to Technology, Finance and media/ entertainment sector about our gaming gambling world. It has been free to attend since 2005 until end of 2006. 2007, we will commence charging but its mainly to cover our cost.

Logistics: 1) Once the gambit ticket(s) been purchased, 2) you will be sent a serial number per ticket. 3.) For each Gambit event, one set of serial number (previously not used ) would be required to register a proposed individual's name and company information at time of booking online or via email to GambitEventRegistration@cassalumni.net, 4.) the named person registered can just turned up at the event. 5.) at the door tickets will be sold for £70 cash.

Click here to purchase annual membership (5 tickets) or more, or indeed for only one Gambit ticket (£50).

Exchanges and returns: Gambit tickets cannot be exchanged or money refunded, unless the registered event is cancelled, in that case, the serial numbers can be reused for future events.

Sponsored by:

TBC.

To be hosted by:

Gambit-Special Event media partners:

promotional partner:

Speaker Profiles:

Archie Watt is a director in KPMG's IT Advisory section in London. He has been involved in the online gaming sector for the past six years and has seen it though it's beginning to the peak period of 2005/06 and the subsequent retrenchment post-UIGEA. During this period Archie has worked closely with many of the industry's largest operators including PartyGaming, 888 and Playtech, being heavily involved in their flotation processes. Archie was also a fundamental part of the team that advised Sportingbet on their acquisition of Paradise Poker and he has been involved in a number of other recent transactions.

Melissa Blau at Global Leisure Partners, she has been working with early stage companies for over 10 years. Most recently, she was the CFO of St. Minver, a Gibraltar based white label operator of online casino, poker and bingo. Previously, Melissa Blau consulted for numerous start-up companies in the media, real estate & telecom industries. In her position, she provided financial, strategic and business advice acting as an external CFO. Prior to that, Melissa Blau was a General Partner and founding member of Constellation Ventures, a Bear Stearns venture capital fund with over $450 million under management, dedicated to the media and technology sector. Prior to that, she was Manager of Strategic Planning & Business Development at Viacom Interactive, and went over to launch Simon & Schuster Online as head of Business Development. Melissa Blau started her career in Investment Banking at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. where she worked in the Leisure & Gaming Group advising numerous companies on public financings and mergers & acquisitions.

Melissa Blau holds a B.S. from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard University where she wrote her thesis on “Online Gaming” (1995).

Charles Walker, MD, JPM International. Charles is responsible for Sales, Marketing, Partnerships and Product Development. Charles launched the global Internet portal Lycos in the UK in 1998, helping to take the European operation to a $5.4bn market capitalisation. Charles has held a variety of senior international management roles within the Telecoms, Call centre and Internet sectors, after an earlier career as a broadcast journalist for the BBC. Before joining JPM, Charles was Senior Vice President Business Development of Servista, the telecoms and energy provider, with clients including the Post Office, Lloyds TSB and Tesco. He came to Servista from SN Brussels Airlines where as Vice President responsible for Sales, Charles managed a global sales and customer service team of 160 headquartered in Brussels. Charles has a Masters Degree in Management from London Business School, where he is a Sloan Fellow, and a Bachelors degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Ed Bartlett, Vice President Publisher Relations Europe and Co-Founder of IGA Worldwide is one of a new generation of multi-discipline industry visionaries, combining 14 years of videogame sector knowledge and experience with astute business acumen and proven advertising and media expertise.

Having fulfilled senior creative and production roles on key game releases for publishers including Sega, Virgin Interactive, BMG Interactive, Acclaim and Hasbro Interactive, Bartlett moved into Business Development in 1999 as a Director of the renowned games development house, ‘The Bitmap Brothers’.

Recognized as one of the first in the world to demonstrate the latent creative and commercial value of in-game advertising, Bartlett went on to found dedicated agency Hive Partners ahead of the curve in 2003. As its CEO, Bartlett led the company to six-figure revenues in its first year of trading, securing global Blue Chip advertiser accounts such as Red Bull, and striking genuinely innovative interactive in-game placement deals with leading videogame publishers including Sega and Vivendi Universal Games.

In 2005 Bartlett negotiated the acquisition of Hive Partners by IGA Worldwide before helping to raise its $17 million Series A VC round. He has since been responsible for building the foundations of its industry-leading proprietary Radial Network, securing landmark global deals with the likes of Electronic Arts, Valve, Atari and Codemasters.

Bartlett is also a multi-published author in the Business category and in 2006 was runner up in the Business Entrepreneur section of the UK Enterprise awards.

Please see the future events page here.

See what others have to say about the Gambit Initiative:

“Got good contacts from his events and also learnt alot about the industry!!” April 5, 2007

- Sab Knight, Channel Sales Manager, Globix Ltd

“Gambit is a great forum for discussing topical issues and at a more informal level, chatting with the good and the great of the iGaming world. Gareth's commitment and energy that he puts into Gambit is reason enough to recommend him. That same energy guarantees a bright future for for this valuable organisation.” (February, 2007)

- Brian Macsweeney, Creative Director, Endemol Gaming

I found the quality of the presentations effective and informative and conducted in a refreshingly relaxed laid back manor which kept ones attention at the end of a busy day. This is has been my second Gambit Conference and can't wait for the next! Well done Gareth on another superb set of speakers! (June, 2006)

- Peter White, European Sales and Marketing Director, Casino Connection LLC, Publishers of Global Gaming Business, Global Gaming Business Weekly, Global Gaming Business Russia, PokerBIZ Magazine

Gambit is the very notable exception to the rule of "no free lunch", a free, educational, and pleasant meeting place in the gaming industry. (June, 2006)

- Ebbe Groes, CEO BetBrain.com

Thanks for a great evening. You arranged a good array of speakers who stood by the brief, making the event interesting and useful. The panel discussion afterwards was excellent. It was a well balanced evening, the best Gambit event so far. (March, 2006)

- Richard Sagman, Fixed-odds manager, Two Way TV

"Thank you for organising it Gareth - I do like the way the speakers had first hand experience, which they shared with the audience, and that they came it from several different angles. Another high value, highly enjoyable and informative Gambit event, very ably chaired by Mr Wong, from the sidelines!" (March, 2006)

- Paul Renney, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard

"I found the GAMBIT event very interesting/ useful, and would come along to future events." (January, 2006)

- An analyst from a major "bulge bracket" investment bank.

“Excellent opportunity to keep up to date on current thinking.” (January 11, 2006)

- Susan Osman, Head of Operations, Sportingbet Plc

“Gambit was very interesting and well organised - well done again Gareth. Change is good and people like Gareth will always be at the forefront of change. Why? Because there always is someone at the front to lead, pulling and pushing the rest along towards change. Gareth is an intellect with operational experience, a great asset to any one or any company.” (October 10, 2005)

- Jan Rodrigo, Executive MD, Amorim Entertainment & Gaming International

“Gambit was a well prepared, useful event. If you are interested in this area of business I highly recommend Gambit. Well done Gareth!” (October 6, 2005)

- Liz Cooke, New Business Manager, Barclaycard Business

I have known Gareth for little under a year now. My first impression of him that is still true today, is that he has boundless energy, enthusiasm, commitment and belief for his work and industry that he represents. He makes things happen (March 15, 2005)

– Annamaria Mignano, Head of Marketing at Hoodless Brennan & Partners Plc

Gareth's tenacity and professionalism are well known and respected in the market. His innovation with Gambit and GamBond are testiment to this. (February 8, 2005)

– Paul Lampey, Senior Relationship Manager, Standard Chartered Bank