“Consistency has been the key to the success in my career”

Reflecting on the recent NEXT Summit in Valletta, what were some of the highlights, and what aspects of the event are you particularly proud of?

There were too many highlights to mention all, but something I am proud of is the dynamic nature of the summit. We have sport activities, thought leadership, networking, parties and everything in between. NEXT: Valletta truly is a conference where everyone, young, old, introvert, extrovert, networked, new to the industry… everyone can find their place and create their own conference experience on their own terms. Personally, though, I enjoyed the “Rave Cave” closing party.

Organizing large-scale events like the NEXT Summit involves a lot of planning. Can you share some behind-the-scenes insights into what it takes to execute these events successfully?

One thing that I can say is that as MD and co-founder, I am expected to lead my team from the front. But our project managers are hard to compete with. Leading up to the esummit, they work practically around the clock. Early mornings, late nights… They do it all, and I can’t keep up. Naturally there is a lot of stress as we work for a full year only for it all to happen in just two short days, so there is no room for error. Event organising is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Could you elaborate on your current content strategy for NEXT.io?

For us, integrity is always our north star. We have a strong editorial policy and a clear seperation between our content team and sales team / management to ensure that the editorial team can pursue what they believe are the most important stories, independent of the wider business interests. This means that sometimes we will write stories that matter, rather than the stories that benefit NEXT’s interests.

What are the biggest challenges facing the iGaming industry today, and what opportunities do you see arising from these challenges?

The clear challenge for the industry is definitely regulatory. The industry is dividing in two, operators going down the difficult regulatory path, and others who are seeking themselves to the less regulated markets or even black strategy. Regulators need to understand that over regulation is not the answer, and instead work together with the operators to create a sustainable environment.

What are your primary goals for NEXT.io over the next five years, and how do you plan to achieve them?

We have two key objectives. Create the strongest brand in iGaming, and become the Worlds iGaming Community. By building a brand with strong reach, strong brand values whilst staying integrity led, we believe that becoming the strongest brand in iGaming is within our reach. To create the Worlds iGaming Community, we are experimenting with various platforms and different strategies to be able to gather the industry not only in person at our conferences, but also online in between the conferences.

What key lessons have you learned throughout your career, and how do you apply them at NEXT.io?

Consistency has been the key to the success in my career. I started at the age of 18 at the underground power clubs in Sweden and was always around gamblers and the gambling industry. Hosting events, producing media within the igaming indsutry is what I have done throguhout my entire career. I have tried to be consistent in my delivery and trustworthyness to build a reputation of someone you can trust, and that is definitely something that I infuse into the brand values of NEXT. I always tell my team when we screw up that “it’s inevitable to make mistakes, what matters is how you deal with them”. And whenever we make a mistake with a partner, we always make sure to turn it into an opportunity to show our commitment to said partner by over compensating.