He might not be a seasoned iGaming executive, but three-time Serie A winner, two-time Champions League winner and 2006 World Cup winner Alessandro Nesta certainly kicked off the agenda in relevant fashion at SBC Summit Tbilisi. 

Nesta, starting the summit with a keynote address alongside SMH Founder and CEO Lasha Machavariani, outlined how the ability to adapt and evolve to changing circumstances is a key part of success, whether on or off the pitch. 

The Italy great recalled his move from Lazio to AC Milan in the summer of 2002 and how he had to evolve to the great pressure that the move brought. He noted that Rome, in central-southern Italy, had a more laid back feel in comparison to Milan, which serves as a key financial hub. Of course, joining AC Milan under the ownership of Silvio Berlusconi brought an insatiable demand to win. 

Nesta told delegates at the Grand Sheraton: “Rome was my home; I was in my comfort zone. After the game, I went to my Mum’s house where she would prepare the best spaghetti. 

“But when I moved to Milano and changed it (my environment), we fought to win. When I arrived in Milan, we had to win every game, we had to win the Champions League, and we had to work hard.”

While ostensibly from the outside Nesta’s experiences as a European Cup and World Cup champion do not necessarily overlap too much with a room of iGaming executives, but as the Day One agenda unfolded, it became clear that the Milan legend had set a clear tone with that notion of adaptation. 

Localisation for Eastern European markets

SBC Summit Tbilisi sees the gathering of 2000 industry professionals who are interested in Eastern European and Central Asian markets. Following Nesta’s keynote, the content continued with market insights from Eastern Europe, a region which boasts several interesting jurisdictions such as Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Serbia, among others. 

Dainis Nietra, Chief Operating Officer at Enlabs, Entain’s Central and Eastern European unit, outlined that the global gambling group takes its localisation and adaptation strategy incredibly seriously, underscored by the acquisition of ‘local hero’ brands such as Super Sport in Croatia and STS in Poland. 

He told attendees that every aspect of each brand has the freedom to tailor the experience to the local market based on the requirements of the consumers.

“The guys who work with the product, they do all the product analysis to understand what are the specific needs for the players and what differences one market has compared to others. They look at the UX, player behaviour and much more.” 

This is a notion that Sergiu Petre, Head of Brand at Superbet, agreed with. Superbet, a market leader in Romania which carries the mantle of being the de facto face of online gaming in the nation, has expanded to Serbia, Poland and even Brazil recently. 

Petre said that while there are central themes that local teams must abide by, the staff in each market have freedom to implement strategies that work in each place, in sync with local needs and cultural relevance. 

“For me from Romania to go to Brazil and to explain to Brazilian people what they like and they don’t like is obviously crazy,” Petre said. “So this is why we needed to invest in very strong local teams, and not only that, but to give them the freedom to actually market the brand in the best way that they see suitable.

“This industry is very much related to culture and people from different cultures relate differently to the concept of luck, to the concept of statistics and probability. This is why I think the healthiest way to go is to have a central international function, but after the markets are set up, the local team takes over.”

Superbet and Entain have both embarked on different strategies on their international expansion; the former focusing on growing the Superbet brand internationally through carefully selected markets that bear similarities to Romania, where it has considerable success, while the latter focuses on an M&A strategy buying up local hero brands. 

Both approaches have pros and cons but it’s clear that whichever way an operator chooses to enter new markets, a clear strategy adapted from what works in any other market is needed. After all, a cookie cutter approach has never been the answer for international business. 

As SBC Summit Tbilisi continues throughout the remainder of the week, and the 2000+ attendees and 60+ speakers continue their discussions in the conference rooms, exhibition floors and bars of the Grand Sheraton and beyond, the words of a World Cup Winner still ring true – even in an iGaming business context. 

“You know who you are playing against before the game. If you are defending against Messi and he finds space to take you on, you are in big trouble. If you are up against Ronaldo (El Fenomeno) and be aggressive, he is very fast and will get chances. 

“You have to study beforehand and have a plan so you can put in the most effort.”