Key Areas 2026

Sustainable Entertainment - A Vision For The Future 
Implementing responsible leadership and sustainable innovation in a business setting can lead to long-term success while making a positive impact on society and the environment. Business leaders who prioritise ethical considerations in their decision-making can improve their company's reputation, build customer trust, increase shareholder value, and boost employee engagement and loyalty. Join us to understand how the gambling industry can embrace these ideas to deliver sustainable entertainment and a safer gambling environment.

Come and learn, discuss and network with a brilliant range of top speakers and experts in their field as we traverse a wide range of topics including a focus on safer gambling and player protection.

 
This year we will focus on:
 

• Transparency and ethical governance
  
• Safer gambling and the rise of the black market
  
• Creating a healthy player ecosystem
  
• AI against human interaction
  
• Discussing the UK’s approach to Regulatory Matters
  
• Postcards from around the World
  

* Agenda and speakers subject to change depending on availability

DAY ONE  

Tuesday 28th April 2026

9.00 - Introduction – Adrian Sladdin, Ethical Gambling Forum
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9.05 - Welcome from our hosts - Flutter UKI, Paul McCormick, CTO

9.20 - Keynote - Tim Miller, Gambling Commission

​9.50 - Panel One –  Don’t care was made to care! – Why transparency and ethical governance can lead to robust, future-proof business outcomes - It's not rocket science to say that delivering business in an ethical and responsible manner is not simply an end in itself; it's how it links to a whole host of other outcomes including profit, sustainability, a happy workforce ,a credible image and more. Does the gambling industry need to look at itself in the mirror and realise that transparency and good governance play a crucial role in these?
Moderator Adrian Sladdin (Ethical Gambling Forum), Jurmy Menckeburg (The Mill Adventure), Duncan Garvie (Bet Blocker), Kimberley Broad (Games Global), Jennifer Shatley (ROGA)

10.35 – Regulatory Updates - Kirsty Caldwell (BetSmart Consulting) - ​We look to Kirsty Caldwell to deliver a session focused on the whirligig of changes in the gambling industry, both domestic and global, focusing on where we are now and more importantly what is yet to come, from taxes to the black market to AI to future trends. Hear all the latest news and information in this crucial half an hour.

11.05 – Coffee

11.25 - Panel Two  –  The biggest compliance disasters in gambling history; where do operators typically fall short—and how can they close the gap? - We're naming no names in this session (although you might well know who some of those names are). What have been the great disasters in compliance in the industry, whether self-inflicted or unlooked for, whether by accident or sometimes even by design? What do those failures look like and how best can we remedy them, with the mantra that we shall never go there again? Some of the best names in compliance debate the topics, pour over the evidence and chart the best way forward in this minefield.
​Moderator Neil Tyson (Rightway Compliance), Wes Himes (Betting & Gaming Council), Dan Whitlam (Compliance Consultant), James Boyles

12.10 - C-Suite Panel - What Makes Gambling Ethical? Understanding Customer Expectations - By focusing questions on customer understanding, the discussion creates an opportunity for open dialogue about responsibilities and challenges. It helps highlight areas of alignment and differences between operators, suppliers, and customer advocates, while enabling the audience to develop a clearer, more informed understanding of what ethical gambling means in practice.
Moderator Jo Abergel (EGF), Rich Clark (Flutter UKI), Paul Buck (EPIC), Helen Walton (G.Games)

12.55 - Lunch & Networking

14.00 -  Fireside Chat  – Innovation, invention and ingenuity in safer gambling - No, not more technology, not more AI solutions, not more algorithms. We're looking at ideas, at ethos, at creativity, at philosophy, and as ever at ethics.  Jody Lee and Tina between them have many, many years of experience in the gambling space. Hear their thoughts on the intellectual challenges, the conceptual ideas and collaborative efforts to take the gambling industry into the next decade and beyond,
Moderator Tina Thakor-Rankin (1710 Gaming), Jody Bechtold (The Better Institute) and Lee Willows (Community Care Gaming)

14.45 - Panel Three - Creating a healthy player ecosystem and building a portal to sustainable play. Sustainable play is the acme of what every ethical gambling company should aspire to, embracing as it does safer gambling, ESG and a range of other key drivers. If we maintain our player numbers and ensure that gambling is always in moderation, all of this can be allied to a super-efficient business model. This is in spite of the challenges that the recent tax increases and other challenges have brought to organisations. Our panel wrestles with the key elements of delivering on this business imperative.Moderator Scott Burrows (Super), Matthew Hickey, (Social Intent) Norma Campbell, Dan Spencer (EPIC), George Berson (Stakemate)

15.25 - Tea

15.40 – Break Out Sessions ​ – 

• The Rise and Fall of the Betting Shop - Over a decade ago there was a continuing public perception of the rise of the betting shop on the High Street with some observers noting that this was a worrying trend with regard to young people and also problem gambling. Now in 2026 thanks in no small part to lockdowns, economic woes and finally the tax hikes of 2025, the opposite may be true and we may be facing the end of the betting shop as we know it. Our panel debates the ups and downs and look into their crystal ball to predict where we are going.
  Moderator Steve Hoare (SBC), Katie Reynolds-Jones (GamStop)
• Responsible and efficient use of technology and data in the Gambling Industry - The rise of technology is embraced by many as a wonderful thing. The hype surrounding any new solutions in this area offers a tidal wave of tech companies and their gambling solutions. Our panel considers the efficacy of using technology in a gambling environment, looks at the harvesting and analysis of the data collected by such means, as well as looks at the legal, responsible and ethical use of this information in informing future decisions and policy making with regard to the industry.
  Moderator Adrian Sladdin (EGF), Liam Smith (Lottoland)
• Careers - attracting new talent, colleague satisfaction and staff retention – Should one enter the gambling industry for a career? Have recent events changed our focus on job security and longevity in post? Is the rise of technology, including AI, a danger to some working in specific industry roles? Is the public perception of working in the gambling industry a challenge to those both in it and choosing to enter it? How do we recruit the best staff, how do we keep the best staff and what do they tell us keeps them there in our company? Lots to discuss with our learned panel.
  ​Moderator Jo Abergel (EGF), Ian Campbell (Redsky Guernsey Ltd), Dena Merson (Simply Racing), Monica Shafaq (Consultant)

​16.25 - Day One Conclusions - Adrian Sladdin

16.30 – Networking Drinks sponsored by Flutter UKI 

DAY TWO

Wednesday 29th April 2026

9.00– Introduction - Adrian Sladdin

9.15 – Presentation on Ethical Leadership by our Sponsor

10.00 – Panel One - AI against human interaction in the world of safer gambling - Moderator Stephen Murchie (Ellipse Entertainment), Shelley Langan-Newton (SQR), Ian Campbell​ (Redsky Guernsey Ltd), Tom Penney (Grace Gaming), 

10.45 – Coffee

11.05 – Panel Two - Why you should stay at home and achieve twice as much? Conference overload, hybrid working and saving the planet - Who doesn't like three nights in a luxury hotel in some wonderful sun soaked destination away from the rainy British Isles? Who can't resist the lure of yet one more conference only a plane ride away? But has the virtue of attending a safer gambling conference simply turned into a parade of dates in the diary, piling on top of each other, indistinguishable from one another? We debate why choosing the right destination is vital to avoid conference overload and what the benefits might be of staying at home!
​Moderator, Scott Burrows (Super), Ruth Dancer (White Griffin), Floris Assies (Game Lounge)

11.50– Panel Three -  Discussing the UK’s approach to Regulatory Matters – What does “good” look like through the regulator’s lens? - Moderator Neil Tyson (Rightway Compliance), Kirsty Caldwell (BetSmart Consulting), Liam Smith (Lottoland), Andrew Lyman (Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner)

12.35 - Presentation – Sponsor

13.05 – Lunch

14.05 - Panel Four - Postcards from around the World – A Spotlight on International Developments - Our international panel considers the biggest stories from around the globe including emerging markets, regulatory updates, and the rise of the black market. All of these will be discussed in the context of economic challenges, social issues and war-ravaged geographies. Hear representation from three continents and get all the latest news from those in the know.
​Moderator Steve Hoare (SBC), James Mpriwe, Keith Whyte (Safer Gambling Strategies LLC), ​​Paul Buck (EPIC)

14.50 - Tea

​15.10 – Break Out Sessions ​

• Collaboration across the industry – from operators to lived experience -Oh no not the C word! Yes it's back again with a vengeance; collaboration, collaboration and collaboration. How many conferences have you attended where a panel debates the efficacy of working together, a harmonious understanding, a sharing of best practise? Perhaps this is the conference to demonstrate just that. From looking at Flutter’s safer gambling labs, to understanding the new world order of the levy and how the money is spent, to knowing that we may need to save each other to save ourselves, we let it all hang out!
  Moderator Ian Semel (Break Even), Katie Reynolds-Jones (Gamstop), Jody Bechtold (The Better Institute), ​
• Is there any value in industry awards and do they promote safer gambling? - Another week and another award ceremony. Black tie, cocktail dress, champagne and rubber chicken. And then giving out the baubles to the great and the good. But is there any real value in some of these awards given there are so many and sometimes so few different recipients? How can we defend these occasions and on what grounds should they continue? We go straight to the horse’s mouth add ask the judges at casino guru to explain everything.
  Moderator Simon Vincze (Casino Guru), Judging Panel
• Black market and Social Media – Introducing a new code of conduct for the industry - Members of the team at Community Care Gaming have spent the last nine months looking at the slippery world of social media influencers, gambling advertising and the rise of the black market, including pursuit of academic research, a new industry code of conduct and a film which explores the narrative behind this subject. Hear from those directly involved in this project as well as those who share expertise when it comes to what is genuine what is fraudulent and what is even the creation of Artificial Intelligence.
  Moderator Jo Abergel, (EGF) Matthew Hickey (Social Impact), Lee Willows (Community Care Gaming), Duncan Garvie (Bet Blocker), Wes Himes (BGC)

15.55  – Day Two Conclusions, Dom Crosthwaite COO​ (Flutter UKI)

16.00 – Conference Close - Adrian Sladdin

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Don't miss out

Discounted 2026 Early Bird Tickets Now Available!
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