Knowledge, understanding and connectivity is imperative for a new industry incumbent, especially one who is looking to establish itself in a newly regulated market such as the US according to IGT PlayDigital’s vice president of sports betting, Charles Cohen.

In April at the Betting on Sports America conference, which was held at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey, Cohen explained that IGT’s wealth of experience in operating numerous businesses across Europe and Latin America has played a role in establishing IGT’s global network of connections. Cohen explained that this has was useful when moving to the USA.

He explained: “When we made the decision about five years ago to move the platform, and do an addition for the US, we began investing in that, it was a significant investment. We were able to bring our asset, which is our technology, but also our experience, our knowledge and our resources.

“The best thing about it was that when we came across to the US market, we also had the one thing which turned out to be the most important thing of all – which is this deep knowledge and understanding of US land-based casino and lotteries and how it works. These are things which are not technology capabilities or assets, it’s wisdom.

“Everybody has this unbelievably deep well of knowledge and experience and connectivity and that has been the best thing for us.”