The second annual BiG Africa Summit & Exhibition which was held at Emperors Palace Convention Centre, Johannesburg South Africa, took place on the 6th to 8th October 2014.
It focused on the development of online gaming regulations, online lottery, latest gaming technology, gaming opportunities and the African gaming market. This event was attended by big names in Betting and iGaming industry from across the globe.
The event was sponsored by BetConstruct, GoldBet, World Sports Betting, and Bettor Logic. Along with the Platimun sponsorship, BetConstruct unveiled a stand exhibiting its betting and gaming technologies, alongside other national and international exhibitors with the likes of Meridian, Betrader, Tom Horn Enterprise, BETDATA, as well as, National Responsible Gambling Programme and Proudly SA showcasing their products and services.
The summit began with a keynote presentation from the chair, Professor Linda de Vries of the University of the Western Cape. “I feel that a summit like this is important where key industry players can get together to discuss issues within the industry.” said de Vries.
Her presentation was followed by Yahaya Malkori from Law Allianz in Nigeria who delivered a presentation on entering the Nigerian gaming industry.
There were debates and presentations from a line-up of high-level speakers such as Professor Brian Kantor, Chief Economist & Investment Strategist, Investec Wealth and Investment, who spoke about the gambling world being anything but ordinary.
Deputy Minister Geordin Hill-Lewis of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gave a presentation on gaming legislation and the action plan for online casino regulation in South Africa. He was more than happy to answer any questions that the audience had.
Other speakers included:
Tyrone Dobbin, CEO, Sportingbet South Africa
Michael Weare, Managing Director, Betting World
Daniel Kustelski, General Manager: Sun International
MacDonald Netshitenzhe, Chief Director, DTI
Alpheus Matsebula, Compliance Product Manager, Bally Technologies
Lance Micheal, LM Bookmakers
Mark Bosman, Commercial Director, BetTech Gaming
Daniel Swartzkopff, Founder and CEO of BetVIP
Suren Khachatryan, CEO, BetConstruct
Andrew Dagnall, CEO, Bettorlogic (UK)
Jonathan Hoehler, Key Accounts Manager, Digitata Limited
Andrew McHenry, Chief Coin Collector, Rorotika Mobile
Marc Samouilhan, Director, Betting Partners

Gary Jackson, Director SI and Technology Partners APAC, Qlik, delivered the first session masterclass on 8th October on creating big data consumers in gaming, which was followed by the second masterclass by Garron Whitesman, Managing Partner, and Whitesmans Attorneys; on Step-by-step legal guide to establishing online gaming partnerships.
A harpist set an elegant tone with her mesmerising performance at the day one luncheon and on the second day attendees were entertained by a magician. Both days were ended with a cocktail reception sponsored by Eventus International, where delegates could network.
We received positive feedback from our sponsors and exhibitors who were extremely happy with the exposure that they received, “I am so happy we exhibited at the BiG Africa Summit, our company is from Slovakia and this is great exposure in South Africa, with people that are interested in our products, we will definitely be returning next year.” said a representative from Tom Horn Enterprise.
Yudi Soetjiptadi, Project Director of Eventus International said “The Summit has grown tremendously from the previous year from about 50 attendees to over 100 this year; there is a lot of potential up for grabs in Africa that many people in this industry could benefit from”.
We would like to thank all of our speakers, sponsors and exhibitors, as well as, the attendees for making this a successful event.
We look forward to meeting everyone at our upcoming 3rd Annual Betting & iGaming Africa Summit & Exhibition to be held at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg, South Africa on the 12-14 October 2015.