NEXT.io Podcast

Rickard Vikström has 15 years of experience in building steadily growing businesses.  In 2008, he founded Stay Secure which became the largest anti-spam service in Sweden. The same year he co-founded Internet Vikings - a premium provider of hosting and related services with the focus on iGaming.  As a founder and a member of the Board Rickard is also involved in Holm Security working with IT security and Wincher working with Google Analytics. Rickard believes in the key role of proactivity. Only those who are ready to deliver customers more than they expect can expect success and growth.

Head of Political Betting at GVC, which includes the Ladbrokes, Coral and Bwin brands. With particular expertise in US and UK politics, this will be the fourth Presidential election that he has headed up for Ladbrokes.

CEO at Betsson AB and President Born in 1965, residence Stockholm, Sweden. Employed in the Group since 1991. Board member 2011-2018. Chairman of the Board 2011-2015 and 2016-September 2017. Previously CEO and President 1998-2011 and July 2015-February 2016. Other assignments: Board Member in Net Entertainment NE AB (publ), Nya Solporten Fastighets AB, Mostphotos AB and several companies within the Betsson Group. Background: Long experience from the gaming industry, both offline and online gaming, such as founder of Net Entertainment and CEO and President of Cherryföretagen. Education: Master of Scence, Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm.

Kristoffer Cassel is the co-founder and CEO of Regily and has been part of several of Europes most successful tech companies. Before founding Regily Kristoffer were VP product and the inventor behind a majority of Klarnas global patents. As a keen innovator, he is a true believer that creating simplicity from complex technology is the most rewarding thing there is. Regily is applying advanced technologies to make it enjoyable for users to sign up for new services online. The company was founded in January 2017 by Kristoffer and Alexey Kuznetsov and is on a mission to fix one of the truly broken processes of the web. The solution allows users to control their data while making great services grow faster.

Georg Westin is the largest owner and the founder of Hero Gaming, a company with roots in gamification of the gabling world and runs multiple successful brands such as Casino Heroes, Speedy Spel, Boom Casino and CasiTabi. Georg is previously co-founder of Casumo and CTO at Betsson and Betsafe. Georg is also a successful investor in digital startups via his company Maxify.

Simon's background in iGaming spans over 15 years, with extensive experience in product development and innovation. Having held senior positions at a number of operators, including Betfair, Betsson Group, Simon has always been working towards understanding key challenges and produce innovative solutions to drive real change within the industry. There is no clearer example of this that what he has achieved with Fast Track - the leading iGaming player engagement platform, that he Co-founded 5 years ago.

Oskar Mühlbach, CEO at Raketech has been in the iGaming industry since 2016 when he joined the casino operator Mr Green as their COO. Before iGaming, Mühlbach worked within the international e-commerce industry in which he has held several senior positions, such as COO at global eyewear reseller Lensway, CMO at online footwear store Footway and  director at the online makeup store Eleven. Mühlbach joined Raketech in early 2019, as a Senior Advisory Consultant to the board of directors and CEO at the time. He was appointed as the group’s COO and was then made acting CEO just 9 months after. Mühlbach has a Master of Science in Business Management and Engineering, from Luleå University of Technology.

At GiG James is responsible for providing leadership and management on the delivery of sales objectives around the globe (managing both the sales and marketing teams). James has over 11 years’ experience in sales from the front line through to Group Sales Director (Clarion Gaming) leading all aspects of sales excellence driving revenue growth initiatives globally. He has successfully led and managed sales teams of varying report sizes across a mixture of businesses ranging from events through to publishing and digital with focusses on b2b technology (software), operations and media within iGaming.

Calvin Ayre, Venture Capitalist, Real Estate Developer, Founder of Ayre Group and CoinGeek: Calvin Ayre is a celebrated entrepreneur who made the cover of Forbes magazine in 2006 for his success in building the Bodog online gambling brand. More recently, Ayre founded the CoinGeek cryptocurrency news site and invests in companies that build on the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain. Ayre supports Dr Craig Wright’s view that original Bitcoin (BSV) is the only technology with the potential to scale to meet the needs of the global financial community and become the world’s global ledger and so much more.

Eman Pulis is the founder and CEO of SiGMA Group, a gaming and tech destination company with events across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. In addition to a wealth of experience in event management, Eman Pulis holds a degree in Education with first-class honours, as well as a Master's degree in both diplomacy and creativity and innovation. Mr Pulis also sits on a number of boards as a senior advisor. Mr Pulis currently resides in Manila with his wife and daughter, a central location which allows him to coordinate operations across continents, whilst overseeing the 2021 inaugural launch of SiGMA Manila and SiGMA Americas.