Simon Westbury: “We are really excited to take part in the GAT exhibition”

Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer at Digitain, talked in an exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News about how the company is getting ready for GAT Expo 2022.

Exclusive interview.- GAT Expo 2022 will bring together in Cartagena, Colombia, from March 15 to 17, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, operators and companies from the gaming industry in one place. Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer at Digitain, granted an interview to Focus Gaming News in which he spoke about their expectations for the event and the company’s challenges for this year.

How are you preparing for the GAT Expo and what are your expectations for the exhibition?

We are really excited to take part in the GAT exhibition and the expectations from the event are quite high. Sportsbook is of course our main product offering for GAT and considering that we have recently got the GLI certification, it is a very good prerequisite for us to sign a partnership from Colombia. 

What are the main aspects you can highlight from these in-person events?

Trade shows, as I always mention, are an indispensable part of our industry. When it comes to the Latam market, where networking is king, face to face meetings are quite important for building trust and communicating the true value that our company is offering in a much more effective way. Due to the pandemic, people learnt to do business remotely, but I am pretty sure that there were a lot of business opportunities and partnerships that were not concluded because people did not have a possibility to gather under the same roof, get to know each other and start business together.

What products are you most eager to showcase? (if any)

We are very proud to showcase our award-winning sportsbook product, which is the main product we put the most focus on. We are coming to GAT with a much more complete product both in terms of event coverage and also new tools and features benefiting our clients in multiple directions of their business.

“When it comes to the Latam market, where networking is king, face to face meetings are quite important for building trust and communicating the true value that our company is offering in a much more effective way.”

Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer at Digitain.

Is there any alliance in particular that you would be interested in achieving?

Our platform is highly flexible and able to meet the needs of a wide range of potential partners, no matter where they are located. While we have no particular alliance in mind, we aim to significantly grow our partner footprint in South and Central America in the next year.

How do you face expanding markets like Latin America?

LatAm is one of the key markets for Digitain. With more and more LatAm countries gradually putting more emphasis and focus on regulating betting. I think first of all the industry is eagerly waiting to see how Brazil will eventually adopt sports betting regulation and what will be the rules of the game. We have a very good and solid sportsbook offering, and it is creating a lot of new business opportunities for us as a company.

What are the company’s challenges for this year? And for the industry?

2022 is a year for us to take our product to another level. In fact, both in terms of compliance and the product itself. This includes continuous product research and development which will result in products more adapted to the local betting habits and regulatory environment. The team has really done a great job last year in those directions and we are looking forward to keeping the momentum. Another important accomplishment for us in 2022 will be the complete formation of our LatAm commercial unit.

“We have a very good and solid sportsbook offering, and it is creating a lot of new business opportunities for us as a company.”

Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer at Digitain.

In fact, all above it is being done not only for Latam but also other key regions where Digitain is targeting.

Industry-wise, the challenges I think are more related to compliance changes. We can see what’s really happening in Europe – almost every country now has its own regulation and compliance requirements which implies a lot of hard work on the technical side for gaming companies to stay or become compliant per country. So, the rule of one size fits all is no longer valid. A similar tendency can become prevailing in other regions, including LatAm.

Do you think in 2022 the industry will finally recover from the pandemic crisis?

My view is that as more people get vaccinated, governments can potentially loosen the travel restrictions. As we can see that the virus is not supposed to leave us anytime soon with more and more mutations evolving, so it’s time for everyone to understand that we need to live together with the virus protecting ourselves by getting vaccinated and being less likely to face severe consequences. 

“LatAm is one of the key markets for Digitain. With more and more LatAm countries gradually putting more emphasis and focus on regulating betting. I think first of all the industry is eagerly waiting to see how Brazil will eventually adopt sports betting regulation and what will be the rules of the game.”

Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer at Digitain.