We’re in London in February!

The Covers Media Group team will be attending the following conferences next week in London:

Ice London 4-6 February, ExCel, London

Bringing together 600+ solutions and 35,000+ professionals across all sectors of gaming, ICE London is your complete platform to explore future of Gaming and drive revenues through invaluable meetings and networking opportunities.

iGB Affiliate 5-8 February, ExCel, London

Reimagined for 2020 as iGB Affiliate London, the industry’s number one meeting place kicks off a new decade bigger, better, and bolder than ever before.

Make sure to meet with our Executive Team to talk about how you can engage your audience in a whole new way with Covers’ B2B solutions.

Mark Harper – General Manager

Luke Evans – Director of Digital Media

Shane McGinley – Senior Analyst

Benny Devine – Senior Sales Executive

Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn to get updates on other conferences we’ll be attending in 2020!

Covers Media Group is proud to announce that we have been shortlisted by Sports Betting Community (SBC) for its 2019 Sports Affiliate of the Year award.

The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the 2019 SBC Awards in London on December 3.

SBC was founded in 2009 and works with industry leaders to develop the sports betting and gaming industry. The Sports Affiliate of the Year award is given to the best overall sports betting affiliate in 2019. The award will be given to the affiliate that has been the most innovative and successful in its activities this year, with an “emphasis placed on quality and scale of traffic generated, overall growth, differentiation and innovation.”

“It’s wonderful to be recognised and nominated for the SBC Sports Affiliate of the Year award,” said Mark Harper, general manager of Covers. “The Covers Media Group teams in Ireland, the US and across Canada are grateful to Rasmus Sojmark and his Sports Betting Community teams for their continued support of the Sports Betting and iGaming sectors.”

Covers has had a successful year to date as it continues to be the leader in the North American sports betting information industry. Some highlights from 2019 include:

• Increasing year-over-year U.S. traffic by over 50 percent
• Launching the Covers Live mobile app for iOS and Android
• Developing a business-to-business product aimed at mainstream sports publishers
• Creating three new podcasts to bring the Covers Podcast Network to a total of four unique shows
• Developing an in-house, state-by-state geo-targeted odds product
• Being granted permission by the state of New Jersey to operate as an in-state affiliate referral partner

“The SBC Awards were started as a great way of rewarding excellence in the sports betting sector and we have recognized some of the industry’s leading operators and suppliers,” said Andrew McCarron, managing director of SBC. “The way that Covers has responded to the growing opportunity in the US sport betting market means they truly deserve their place on the shortlist.”

The Covers team was thrilled to sponsor and speak at the September 2019 Betting on Sports conference in London.

Covers team members Mark Harper, Shane McGinley & Benny Devine took advantage of the opportunity to connect with old and new friends alike at this world-class sports betting industry event, held at the Olympia London exhibition centre.

Recognizing the value of the partnership we have with Sports Betting Community (SBC), it was important for us to participate at #BOSCON as a sponsor, including being panel members at the following two sessions:

Session: “Jostling for Position – affiliation worth the investment?”

Paneled by Mark Harper, Covers General Manager.

Session description: Given that most of the sports betting regulations are heavily retail focused, is the affiliate gold rush all it’s cracked up to be? Or is the New Jersey experience enough in its own? What can affiliates do with traffic in non-regulated states?

Presenters:

• Mark Harper – General Manager, Covers Media Group
• Adam Rosenberg – Managing Director, Global Head of Gaming & Leisure, Fortress Investment Group
• Or Lifshitz – CEO & Founder, Sidelines
• Moderator: Robert Davidman – Partner, Fearless Agency

“First of all, the attendance for my panel in the ‘USA in Focus’ track, ‘Jostling for Position, affiliation worth the investment’, was great. The other point to mention is how Europeans are now becoming accustomed to the nuances of dealing with the opportunities in the US. They understand that state-by-state legislation and licencing needs to be considered and that patience and research are the watch-words. What also came out of the panel was that aligning with content experts, familiar with the US landscape is key to strategic roll outs” said Mark.

Session: “Global Opportunities – where is the land of milk and honey?”

Paneled by Shane McGinley, Covers Senior Business Analyst

Session description: We look at the landscape and factors influencing the way that casino affiliates and operators need to change their marketing strategies in these markets.

Presenters:

• Shane McGinley – Senior Business Analyst, Covers Media Group
• Matthew Symonds – Web Analysis Solutions
• Simon Pilkington – UK Manager, Kafe Rocks
• Moderator: Shona O’Donnell – Head of Strategic Events, Better Collective

“It was great to be part of a panel with speakers and a moderator who are experts in their field. This event is not only great for networking but also a fantastic learning experience due to the high quality of panels that SBC put together” said Shane.

Some random thoughts from #BOSCON as we look back:

• The growth of content and attendees at the ‘USA in Focus’ track verses previous years at Betting on Sports London (2017 and 2018) was significant. It was attended by many people who are considering entering the US market space eager to learn from the experience of those who already have, such as Covers. The major lesson for all was simply to treat each State like a separate country due to the different regulatory approaches that each State is adapting.
• The excitement during discussions we had with operators and technology companies during the ‘Emerging Markets’ track.
• The growth of exhibitors on both floors inside Olympia conference centre. With the Casino Beats/Affiliate Insider exhibitors on one floor and the Betting on Sports conference exhibitors on the other. Impressive stuff.
• The panel on “Live Betting – The Next Steps” within the “Technology in Focus” track was extremely educational on how the emergence of technologies within sports, such as VAR, impacts Live betting and what it means to the books from an operational stand point.
• Will be interesting to see how the event will look in Barcelona, where we believe the plan is to have all strands of the Conference (Betting on Sports/Digital Media Forum/Casino Beats) on the same floor.

What’s next for Covers and Sports Betting Community?

We’re proud to announce that Covers will be continuing our valued partnership with SBC by speaking, sponsoring and exhibiting at the upcoming SBC Betting on Sports America conference, April 28 – 30, 2020, at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, New Jersey.

September 5 – 9 

September 17 – 20

October 16 – 19

Patrick Everson’s 6 favorite things

Cover’s own Patrick Everson, Senior Writer, is featured on the latest edition of Sports Betting Community’s “6 of the Best” segment and talks about his favourite things – six of them to be exact.

Patrick Everson has been at the center of the Las Vegas sports betting scene as Covers.com’s Senior Writer since 2016, and prior to that as a Covers contributor for several years. You can find Patrick’s work through our RSS feed, Covers.com or embed onto your website using our editorial widget. 

He began his work as Senior Writer after an award-winning 22-year career at the Las Vegas Review Journal, including 19 years on the sports desk. He’s now usually found in the middle of the action at the biggest and best sportsbooks in Sin City, talking with oddsmakers, bookies and bettors to provide unrivalled insight into the betting markets for today’s top events.

Patrick is featured in Covers’ daily videos from Vegas and is a regular on ESPN Radio’s Las Vegas affiliate, along with the Vegas Stats and Information Network and SB Nation Radio. He also serves as a sports betting insider for Tribune Media and its affiliate TV stations.

Patrick was born and raised in Colorado Springs, earned a journalism degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and had a couple of newspaper stops in his home state before moving to Las Vegas in 1994. He and his wife proved Sin City is not a bad place to raise your kids, as they now have two children in college. They also have a trio of Brittany Spaniels through volunteer work with National Brittany Rescue.

Patrick is not very good at golf, but enjoys playing nonetheless, and also swears Chicago thin-crust pizza is the best pizza and that French toast is appropriate at any time of day.

Follow Patrick on Twitter