Webinar: Betting on the Rise by Sportico

About This Webinar

In an era of innovation, regulatory changes and collaboration, SporticoLive proudly presents Betting on the Rise, an exclusive event that brings together the visionaries who are transforming the sports betting landscape.

Presenters

K. Don Cornwell

Partner, PJT Partners

K. Don Cornwell is a Partner at PJT Partners. Based in New York. Mr. Cornwell joined PJT Partners in February of 2015 following an 18-year career at Morgan Stanley. At Morgan Stanley, Mr. Cornwell was in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group, and established a particularly focused area of expertise in media and entertainment, specifically in sports and gaming. Prior to leaving Morgan Stanley he served as Head of Global Sports Investment Banking. Mr. Cornwell also specialized in retail and apparel.

Mr. Cornwell has worked on some of the largest and most complex sports and entertainment deals in the industry, including the recapitalization of the Tennessee Titans, the sale of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the sale of the Buffalo Bills, the sale of IMG to William Morris Endeavor, the sale of Access/DAZN owned Perform Group to Vista owned STATS Inc., the recapitalization of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the formation of Major League Baseball Advanced Media. In addition, he has served as a strategic advisor to the National Football League and the National Basketball Association on numerous occasions.

Mr. Cornwell has also worked on several transformational transactions in the gaming space including the combination of Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group, the sale of Caesars Entertainment to Eldorado Resorts, the acquisition of Sky Betting and Gaming by The Stars Group, the formation of a US sports betting joint venture between MGM Resorts and GVC and the acquisition of Double Down Casino by IGT.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Cornwell worked at McKinsey & Co. as a management consultant and in corporate development for the National Football League.

He sits on the Board of Trustees of the Harlem Children’s Zone, an education and social services organization in Central Harlem; the East Harlem Tutorial Program, an after-school program for children in East Harlem; the Board of Directors of New York Cares, New York City’s largest volunteer organization and the Management Board of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Cornwell received an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and an AB in government from Harvard College.

Adam Davis

Chief Commercial Officer, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment

Adam Davis is the Chief Commercial Officer for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), which includes in its portfolio the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, leading venue Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, the Delaware Blue Coats, the Binghamton Devils, the Sixers Innovation Lab, renowned esports franchise Dignitas and NBA 2K League Team, 76ers Gaming Club (GC). In his role he oversees revenue streams for all HBSE properties, including ticket sales and operations, premium and suite sales and services, entertainment, global initiatives and corporate partnership sales and services. Through his role with HBSE, Davis supports manages the revenue goals and revenue potential surrounding HBSE’s vast, diverse properties, which include the Philadelphia 76ers, Dignitas, NBA 2K’s 76ers Gaming Club, the Delaware Blue Coats G League Team, the Sixers Innovation Lab and more. He is routinely called to play crucial leadership and project management roles in major company initiatives, including overseeing multi-million-dollar renovations at Prudential Center. Davis was named to NJBIZ and Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” lists in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Most recently, Davis was named to Leaders in Sports’ 2018 “Leaders Under 40” list and Sports Business Journal’s 2019 “Power Players: Sports Betting” list, along with speaking at a variety of events for publications including National Sports Forum, Sports Pro Media, Sports Business Journal and Venues Now.

Davis joined the organization in February 2014 as Executive Vice President of Sponsorship and was one of HBSE CEO Scott O’Neil and HBSE President Hugh Weber’s first major hires under the organization’s new ownership. During his first two years with the New Jersey Devils and at the Prudential Center, Davis has played a crucial role in transforming the NHL team and arena an underperforming business to an award-winning, world-renowned organization.

Chris Halpin

Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, NFL

Christopher Halpin is the EVP/Chief Strategy & Growth Officer of the National Football League. In his role, Chris and his team drive League-wide strategy, long-range planning and Data & Analytics. He also oversees key growth areas for the NFL, including managing the League’s rapidly expanding International business and leading its activities in legalized sports betting.
Prior to his current role, Chris was SVP—Consumer Products & Licensing, overseeing the League’s gaming, apparel, hardlines and e-commerce businesses. Before that, he was the VP of Media Strategy & Business Development, charged with growing the League’s Media business through TV partners, digital/OTT opportunities and NFL Media (NFL Network, RedZone and Digital).

Prior to joining the NFL in June 2013, Chris was a Partner and Managing Director at Providence Equity Partners. During his 13 years at Providence, Chris worked across the firm’s investment activities in the Media & Entertainment, Wireless/Satellite and Business Services sectors, and also opened and served as Co-Head of Providence’s Hong Kong office. Chris started his career in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

Chris is a graduate of Princeton University with an A.B. in Economics (Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude), and is a board member of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, the Western Golf Association Evans Scholarship Fund, and Good Sports New York.

Scott Kaufman-Ross

Senior Vice President, Head of Fantasy & Gaming, NBA

As Senior Vice President, Head of Fantasy & Gaming for the NBA, Scott Kaufman-Ross oversees all initiatives related to the league’s commercial endeavors in the fantasy sports and sports betting landscape. Scott led the NBA’s partnerships with MGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, Yahoo, FOXBET, William Hill, Unibet, bet365, BetEasy, Tabcorp and Dream11 and served as the NBA’s Board Observer to FanDuel for three years. Before taking on his current role, Scott spent four years on the NBA’s Global Strategy Team evaluating the league’s strategic approach to new business areas such as daily fantasy sports, sports betting, esports, and venture investing. Prior to joining the NBA, Scott spent four years at Goldman Sachs in the Global Investment Research division.

Patrick Keane

CEO, The Action Network

Patrick Keane serves as CEO of The Action Network, a sports betting data and information company. Keane has been an investor, advisor, and executive at several media and technolog ycompanies.

Previously, he was CEO of Associated Content Inc. (sold to Yahoo! in 2010). Prior to Associated
Content, Keane was executive vice president and chief marketing officer at CBS Interactive. In addition, he spent more than four years at Google Inc., where he served as director of advertising sales strategy for the $3 billion North American sales organization. He received a Founders’ Award for his role in founding the annual Google Zeitgeist event. Keane was on the board of Bleacher Report and worked with the company on M&A, marketing, advertising
strategy, and operations (the company was sold to Turner Broadcasting in 2012). Since 2013 Keane has been an operating partner at Stripes, focusing on digital media, marketing, and
consumer brands. He represented Stripes as a board director of portfolio company Gimlet Media. In February 2019, Gimlet Media was sold to Spotify.

Jason Krochak

Partner, Proskauer

Jason Krochak is a partner in Proskauer’s Sports Law Group. Jason represents sports leagues and teams, private equity firms, financial institutions, gaming companies and corporate sponsors in a variety of corporate and commercial matters, including acquisitions, joint ventures, league expansions, financings, governance, naming rights agreements, licensing agreements and other commercial transactions.

Jason's experience includes representing the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, Soccer United Marketing, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the WTA Tour, as well as a number of professional sports teams and their owners, in their significant transactional and governance matters. Jason also has advised on numerous market-shaping sports betting deals, including the Washington Nationals’ exclusive partnership with BetMGM and The Stars Group’s groundbreaking partnership with FOX Sports, which included the launch of sports betting platform FOX Bet and an equity investment by FOX of over $240 million in The Stars Group.

Mark Locke

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Genius Sports Group

Mark Locke is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Genius Sports Group, with overall responsibility for the strategic, financial and operational performance of the organisation. Mark has over 17 years’ experience in the sports betting, technology and media industries with a distinguished track record in growth management; both organic and through M&A. His journey with Genius began in 2000, with the launch of Betgenius (now the betting division of Genius Sports Group). In 2015, he launched Genius Sports (the sports facing division of the Group) to help facilitate the partnership between sport and sports betting operators in order to help protect and commercialise official sports data. Most recently, he launched Genius Sports Media, which leverages sports data and key sports partnerships to create market leading products and services for the international media market.

Through acquisitions in Australia and Europe, and expansion into the Americas, Asia Pacific and Africa; Genius has unrivalled depth and breadth of global sports coverage. Mark’s vision has been central to the Group’s partnerships with hundreds of sports governing bodies, including the Premier League, NBA, NCAA, MLB, PGA Tour, Bundesliga, Serie A, FIBA and NASCAR.
In 2018, Genius Sports Group was acquired by the leading private equity firm, Apax Partners, to accelerate its global growth. Genius was subsequently ranked 37th in the 2019 Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200, and as the only sports company in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 for 2020.

Under Mark’s leadership, Genius has grown exponentially to become one of the world’s largest sports data and technology companies and is a global leader in sports digital content, technology and integrity services.

Dr. Laila Mintas

CEO, PlayUp Inc

Dr. Mintas is CEO of PlayUp Inc. and serves on the Board of the Australian Parent Company. PlayUp is an online-only Sports Betting, Entertainment and Tech Company that owns its own proprietary wagering and fantasy platform and operates its in-house risk and trading team. The PlayUp Group offers legal products in Australia, New Zealand, India and soon in the USA. Its product offering includes, besides Sports Betting and Fantasy, many differentiating products such as Horseracing Products (fixed and pari-mutuel odds), eSports Betting and even Fantasy on Horseracing and Fantasy on eSports. The company serves as a one-stop-shop for sports fans.

Dr. Mintas is a global thought leader on sports data, sports betting legislation, regulation and sports integrity with speaker engagements around the world including Europe, Australia, North America, Central America and Asia. She published more than 100+ legal publications in the top academic and professional journals about sports betting and sports law. She serves as Guest Professor at several Universities such as Columbia University NYC, St John's University NYC, University of New Hampshire and Humboldt University Berlin/Germany on topics such as Sports Betting, Sports Law and Sports Integrity.

Sara Slane

Founder, Slane Advisory

Since launching her own company, Slane has orchestrated numerous successful
sports betting business opportunities, including the Sinclair Broadcasting Bally's
media partnership, and authorized gaming operator deals between the NHL, PointsBet
and Bally's. She has conducted the most Team market access deals in the U.S. having aligned gaming partners for NASCAR, PGA Tour, Arizona DiamondBacks and The Dallas Stars. She serves as an advisor to multiple gaming, sports and sports betting companies, including GeoComply, Arctos, SimpleBet, Streamlayer, US Integrity, Boom! Sports, Rebric and KB Partners and as a fellow for The International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Slane has more than 13 years of experience working in the casino gaming industry. Most recently, Slane was the senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association (AGA). During her tenure at AGA, she oversaw and drove the most important advocacy victory in AGA history, a campaign to overturn the federal ban on sports betting.

Slane is touted as “the face of legalized sports betting” and deemed one of “the most
important and influential voices in gaming.”Prior to joining AGA, Slane served as vice president of regional government affairs with MGM Resorts International for seven years where she spearheaded the largest gaming ballot initiative in the country. Her efforts led to a victory at the polls, the successful awarding of licensure to MGM National Harbor, and the building of the $1.4
billion gaming resort on the Potomac River.

Joseph Solosky

Managing Director, Sports Betting, NASCAR

Joe Solosky recently joined NASCAR as the company's new managing director of sports betting. Joe comes to NASCAR with a wealth of experience cultivated from an impressive career that includes the United States Navy, FBI, SportTechie and the New York Yankees. Joe's most recent position was with Sportradar, where he served as a sales director for the company's gaming services division. Joe's experience with Sportradar, a leader in the legalized gaming services space, set him on course to take over the reins of NASCAR's efforts in the legalized gaming world. Joe will look to help grow the sport's already burgeoning presence across the gaming landscape – a major opportunity as states across the U.S. rapidly adopt legalized sports betting in NASCAR race markets. Joe graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2008 where he majored in Economics and Spanish. He then pursued an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business from 2017-2019.

Scott Warfield

VP Gaming, PGA Tour

As Vice President of Gaming, Scott Warfield helps oversee the PGA TOUR’s strategic commercial approach to sports betting inclusive of a multi-pronged approach to the space including everything from integrity and responsible gaming to data, content and commercial initiatives.

Prior to the PGA TOUR, Warfield led NASCAR’s growth initiatives division and was responsible for leveraging esports and sports betting, among other disciplines, to further engage the core fan as well as attract new fans to the sport.

Before his time in the world of gaming, Warfield spent a decade and a half leading teams of professionals across integrated communications, digital media and social marketing.

Warfield received a B.A. in Journalism / Media and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently resides in Charlotte, N.C. with his wife and two daughters but is in the process of relocating to PGA TOUR headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Eben Novy-Williams

Sports Business Reporter, Sportico

Eben Novy-Williams is a sports business reporter and podcast host at Sportico, a news venture launched earlier this year by Penske Media.

Prior to joining Sportico, Novy-Williams spent nine years covering the intersection of money and sports at Bloomberg News. His writing has appeared online, in Businessweek magazine and in newspapers across the country. He was also co-host of the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.