CEEGC2016 Budapest
CEEGC 2016 Budapest Speaker profile – Stjepko Čordaš, CEO of NSoft to talk about the current state of online gambling in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Friday, 19th of August 2016, Budapest – The organizers are proud to announce the newest confirmed speaker, Stjepko Čordaš, who will be among the keynote speakers of the “Hot topics of the online gaming industry in the Balkans” panel at the Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference(CEEGC 2016) which will take place in Budapest on the 20th of September 2016.
Stjepko was born on June 1, 1987 in Metković and has attended primary and secondary school in Mostar. He later moved on and be obtained the Undergraduate degree in Service Management from RIT Croatia, Croatia, Graduate degree in Law and Economics from CEU, Hungary.
His passion for technology and innovation which pushed him to NSoft and as he explained in a recent interview in the EEGReport Magazine, which you can read in full here, “If we are looking in the future, online and sports betting is really the opportunity for this market. As more connectivity is introduced, more punters are becoming aware of the different approaches and more opportunities the operators have to innovate.”
Zoltan Tundik(EEGReport Magazine): Since Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Southeastern Europe located on the Balkan Peninsula is included in definitions of Eastern Europe or histories of Eastern Europe, we would like to know more about the developments of the online gambling. What is the current status of the Bosnian market in terms of licenses for online gambling software providers and are you running into difficulties at entering new markets?
Stjepko Čordaš: Betting industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a somewhat strained relationship with the government. Up to last year (2015) most of the market was unregulated and the government really did not know how to approach the issues. With the current legislation in place, online gambling has been finally legalized, but with severe restrictions. Before going into details, it is important to note that the complex national system is causing fractures in how gambling (in truth, every industry) is being dealt with. First we have Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a country, where you have the first layer of the government and laws. For example, the VAT law is regulated on the country level. Then you have two entities – Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska. These two entities, de facto, behave like two separate states. Most, if not all, of the legal framework is separate and these have two separate governments. One of the points where there are differences is the law on betting and gambling. While Republic of Srpska has a governing law covering this matter for a few years now, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina just approved their law last year. While both entities laws are somewhat restrictive, one in Republic of Srpska is more open, with cheaper licenses and easier procedures. The licenses are valid only on the territory of one entity, so any operator that wants to cover the entire country has to have two separate companies and two separate licensing. This can cause additional operational expenses, as well as, introduce complexities into how operators run their companies.
When we go back to the recent legal changes in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as already mentioned, online gambling has been legalized. However, licenses are quite expensive – where the operator company has to have at least 750.000,00 EUR of founding capital, 400.000,00 EUR in guarantees and around 100.000,00 EUR in legal fees for the actual license. Also, there are renewal fees every year. In addition to this, the company has to connect to the central server of the Tax authority and send each and every ticket to the Tax authority in real time. This part of the requirement is especially troubling, since Tax authority servers and software do not have capacity to accept this amount of data in such short time and often their server is basically DDOS-ed by their own requirement.
Furthermore, RNG games are illegal online with the current legislation. Although, the idea was to limit virtual games (for example, this would be NSoft’s Lucky Six or Greyhound Races), the language of the provision makes it seem that all RNG games are illegal online. Which of course makes no sense, since most of the online casino games are RNG based.
Other than this the government introduced fees on players, where for sports betting players have to pay a 5% fee on their bets, and every prize larger than 50 EUR is taxed with a tax rate of 10%. There are plans to introduce the 5% fee for every type of game and to introduce tax rate for any prize.
So, as can be read the current legislature in Bosnia and Herzegovina is swimming against the current of the recent industry developments and at least from my perspective is severely limiting the open market economy in gambling industry. This is why NSoft is mostly focusing on gaining more international clients. A bit more than 60% of our current business is international as of this moment. The target is to have this number to at least to 80% by the end of this year.
Zoltan Tundik(EEGReport Magazine): As we know you were born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina and your first touch with the iGaming world started back in 2013 when you took on a Project Manager role at NSoft, a company at which you are currently in the role of CEO. How much has the iGaming industry evolved in the recent 3 years, but especially have you seen significant growth in Eastern and Central Europe recently?
Stjepko Čordaš: Well, this is rather an interesting question – especially since in the last three years the iGaming industry is seeing a new renaissance. Web and web based technologies are finally enabling faster delivery to operators, easier communication with the punters, real time access do data and habits. In this sense, NSoft now has an edge. Since the start of the company some eight years ago, NSoft started all development on pure web technologies. At that point of time this was rather exhausting because other frameworks had already solved many issues and development in them was faster and easier. It didn’t help that most of the clients we had at that point were retail based. So web technologies and retail caused a lot of frustration then. However, now when the operators recognized that you have to be everywhere in order to stay competitive, web technologies are the bridge that enables this. Punters want seamless experience in retail (shop and terminal), online and mobile and the only way you can provide this are web technologies. So, a lot of issues that a lot of the software operators are now facing, have been already solved by NSoft, which can be seen in our Seven platform. Seven platform enables this seamless experience where the operator can control their entire operation from a single interface – be it retail or online environment.
When we look to the markets, Central Europe is a more conservative market with higher barriers to entry – the operators are well established, the punters have clear habits. However, Eastern Europe is just now experiencing the possibilities. One market in particular, Romanian market, is the current ‘gold rush’ setting. Romania has a lot of online infrastructure, there are a lot of people, market is being regulated, there are a lot of operators – which means that there is a lot of opportunities for us.
……………………
Be sure to save the date and secure your ticket to the CEEGC 2016 Budapest, which will be held on the 20th of September 2016 at the Hilton Westend City Budapest Hotel in order to hear the most recent updates about the Bosnian market in the “Hot topics of the online gaming industry in the Balkans” panel which will be moderated by Rita Gyaraki(GamblingCompliance).
The “Hot topics of the online gaming industry in the Balkans” panel is set to start at 10:45 AM(Budapest local time).
The conference provides an efficient way of meeting new and prospect clients in the special networking session and sit down lunch.
Special reports and exclusive updates will be given by the top 20 speakers of the industry and the event is limited to 150 delegates to maximize the engagement among the peers.
The tickets can be purchased at an Early Bird rate of €200 by the 19th of August on the following link: https://ceegc.eu/2016/tickets/
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us on +40 735 559 234 or by mail on [email protected].
For more details please visit the official website: www.ceegc.eu or book your tickets online www.ceegc.eu/2016/tickets/
[textmarker color=”FF0808″]WE LOOK FORWARD TO [/textmarker][textmarker color=”34FF14″]SEEING YOU IN BUDAPEST![/textmarker]
Thursday, September 29 2016, Budapest – The organizers would like to thank each delegate for honoring them with their presence once again and promised they have published all the presentations that are available.
In their recent post you will find the Power Point presentations of the following speakers and panels:
Hot topics of the online gaming industry in the Balkans – Moderated by Rita Gyaraki(GamblingCompliance)
Mirjana Acimovic – President @ the first Serbian representative association of gaming industry JAKTA
Presentation of the online gaming market in Serbia. For further details, Ms. Mirjana Acimovic can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Stjepko Čordaš – CEO @ NSoft
Presentation of the online gaming market in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For further details, Mr. Stjepko Čordaš can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Odeta Nestor – President @ The National Office for Gambling in Romania
Presentation of the online gaming market in Romania – Updated legislation – Results. For further details, Ms. Odeta Nestoro can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Hot topics of the online gaming industry in Central Europe – Moderated by Gabor Helembai (Bird&Bird Law Office) – Panel was cancelled due to the unplanned break
Gabor Helembai – Senior Associate in the Corporate and Commercial team @ Knight Bird & Bird
Presentation of the online gaming market in Hungary – The future of the Hungarian online gambling market. For further details, Mr. Gabor Helembai can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
PowerPoint Presentation will be available shortly.
Jaka Repansek – Partner @ RePublis Slovenia
Presentation of the online gaming market in Slovenia – The online gambling industry of Slovenia and its opportunities. For further details, Mr. Jaka Repansek can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
PowerPoint Presentation will be available shortly.
Mirjana Acimovic – President @ the first Serbian representative association of gaming industry JAKTA
Presentation of the online gaming market in Croatia. For further details, Ms. Mirjana Acimovic can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
The SEO Arms Race – Artificial Intelligence competing with Artificial Intelligence – Presented by Paul Reilly (MediaSkunkWorks)
Paul Reilly – founder and CEO @ Media Skunk Works
For further details, Mr. Paul Reilly can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Upcoming Event Announcements – Moderated by Zoltan Tundik (EEGaming) – Panel was cancelled due to the unplanned break
Eman Pulis – Founder and CEO @ SiGMA, the Summit of iGaming in Malta
Invitation to SiGMA2016 and results of 2015 – For further details, Mr. Eman Pulis can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Ian Larcombe – Head of B2B Media Sales @ iGaming Business
Upcoming events by iGaming Business Events. For further details, Mr. Ian Larcombe can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Hot topics of the online gambling markets in Europe part 1 – Trends, vision and results – Moderated by Paul Davis(Counting House)
Ivan Kondilenko – CEO @ Casexe Limited
The effects of Bitcoin in the online gambling market. For further details, Mr. Ivan Kondilenko can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Tom Light – Vice President of Business Development @ SBTech
The impact/results of In-Play betting on Euro 2016 and the importance of being present in emerging markets. For further details, Mr. Tom Light can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Paul Davis – Managing Director @ Counting House (IOM) Ltd.
The effects of the Brexit on the online gambling industry in Europe. For further details, Mr. Paul Davis can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Hot topics of the online gambling markets in Europe part 2 – Tech and rising niches – Moderated by Paul Davis(Counting House)
Tal Itzhak Ron – Advocate and Notary @ Tal Ron, Drihem & Co. Law Firm
Forex and Binary Options companies in the EU. For further details, Mr. Tal Itzhak Ron can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Valéry Bollier – CEO @ OulalaGames Ltd
Daily Fantasy Sports in Europe. For further details, Mr. Valéry Bollier can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Stuart Trigwell – UK Sales Director @ Global Bet, Virtual Sports
Virtual Sports, what next? For further details, Mr. Stuart Trigwell can be contacted on the following e-mail address: [email protected]
The presentations can be viewed on the following link: https://ceegc.eu/announcements-press-releases/postevent-ceegc2016-powerpoint-presentations-part-1/
We hope to see you all next year as well in a two day conference which will gather +40 speakers and +250 delegates.
September 21st, 2016 | SBTech, the leading global provider of Sports Betting and iGaming platforms, has won the award for Best Sports Betting Provider at the first edition of the Central and Eastern Europe Gaming Conference, held in Budapest on September 20th.
In addition to this success, SBTech client NetBet took home the award for Best Online Sports Betting Operator. SBTech supports NetBet’s operations with a fully managed sportsbook, and their award therefore represents further confirmation of SBTech’s success in providing sports betting platforms and services.
Richard Carter, CEO of SBTech, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the award for Best Betting Provider. The Central and Eastern European markets are vital in terms of realising our vision of providing software and services in every regulated market. The majority of our people are based in Sofia, Kiev and Plovdiv, and this award is testament to their talent, professionalism and deep knowledge of Eastern European markets. I’m certain that the CEEGC is going to become a key event in the global gaming industry calendar in the years ahead and I’m proud that we have been recognised for our achievements at the very first event.”
NetBet, powered by SBTech’s technology, has already achieved a position of dominance in the Romanian market and is growing rapidly in other CEE territories.
Alexandre Mangaud, CMO of NetBet said: “Our evolving relationship with SBTech is central to our strategy for growth. The company’s approach to everything from R&D to regulatory compliance is defined by inventiveness, flexibility and thoroughness. It was our very great pleasure to be awarded alongside our providers and I hope that these successes will be the first of many at the CEEG Awards.”
– Ends –
About SBTech:
SBTech is the industry-leading provider of Sports Betting solutions and services in regulated markets. The company’s complete Omni-channel offering includes an innovative, dynamic and customisable suite of fully managed solutions, specifically designed for top gaming operators, existing bookmakers and land-based networks. SBTech’s expertise in live betting has also been recognised at the2016 eGR Awards, winning the accolade of Best In-Play Betting Software.
Contact:
[email protected]
www.sbtech.com
CASEXE is proud to tell you that it has won two awards as part of the first ever Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference, which took place on September 20 in Budapest. At the event, CASEXE has been determined the best in “Casino Product Quality” and “Service/Price ratio” nominations, represented in the “Best online casino software provider” category.
We’ve also taken second place in the “Product support” and the third place in “Open business relations” categories.
As part of the CEEGC 2016 conference, Ivan Kondilenko, CEO at CASEXE, has made a presentation in the “Hot topics on the European gambling markets” section relating the issues of Bitcoin and online gambling interaction. Event guests had a chance to find out whether this “perfect couple” is really so great and what to expect from such trend.
Ivan Kondilenko enjoyed the theme event, saying that CEEGC 2016 has managed to gather interested gambling market players, including the leading providers, developers, owners of casinos and betting venues, in addition to representatives of regulation authorities from Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Ukraine etc.
“For us, it’s a great honour to win two awards in such significant category as “Best online casino software provider”. We are the only company to win in several nominations,” said the expert. Ivan also mentioned that CASEXE has been a Bronze Sponsor at CEEGC 2016 and thanked everyone who participated in the online voting process.
CASEXE expresses many thanks to all gambling industry experts who highly appreciated the provider’s operations. “We’ll keep on moving towards the set direction focused on high quality of software, as well as providing of the best service for gambling operators,” reported the company representatives.
By the way, CEEGC 2016 has been memorable for one incident that led to a 4 hour break. According to Ivan Kondilenko, it has become an icebreaker possibility to get to know all iGaming segment representatives, thus the conference participants discussed all the questions in store.
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