Snooker ace Ronnie O’Sullivan heads to Olympia London

Betcris Ambassador and snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan will be in attendance at the fourth Betting on Sports conference and exhibition, which takes place at Olympia London this week.

The event marks the first public appearance of ‘The Rocket’ since he reaffirmed his position as the world’s most dominant snooker player with a dramatic victory in the Shanghai Masters, his 72nd career victory, which took him level with Stephen Hendry in second on the all-time list.

O’Sullivan will be speaking about his role as ambassador for online bookmaker Betcris alongside the firm’s CEO for UK & Asia Hilly Erlich as part of the Sports Sponsorship Seminar in Conference Room 7 on Day 2 of the event.

This provides attendees at the Betting on Sports conference an exclusive opportunity to quiz the five-time world champion on his performance against Shaun Murphy in Shanghai last week, as well as how he kept his composure and produced ‘a little bit of magic’ to rally and retain the title in enthralling fashion.

During the final, O’Sullivan was forced to maximise his unique style of play, which has forced bookmakers to forge separate predictive algorithms in order to price his matches, something that was revealed when O’Sullivan spoke at the SBC Snooker Forum in Marylebone in 2017.

Andrew McCarron, Managing Director of SBC, said: “The presence of Ronnie O’Sullivan is always something special, not only is he one of the most iconic Snooker players of all time, but he is also highly engaging with some incredible stories and insights to share.

“We look forward to Ronnie sharing his insight on the relationship between snooker and the betting industry, as well as what the future holds for him within the sport following his incredible victory in Shanghai.”

During the lunch break following the Sports Sponsorship Seminar, O’Sullivan will be meeting delegates on the SBC Stand on the Betting on Sports exhibition floor.

Also part of the Sports Sponsorship Seminar is a panel discussion about gambling sponsorship and the current issues that the industry is facing if it is to remain a big player in the sponsorship world without further government intervention.

Chaired by former Football Pools boss Conleth Byrne, now Managing Director at 1pt, the panel includes 12BET consultant Rory Anderson, Football Media CEO Dean Akinjobi,Connecting Brands Founder Russell Yershon, Robert Davidman of US firm Fearless Agency and Liam McKee, Head of Media and Sponsorship at William Hill.

The Sports Sponsorship Seminar is preceded by a Diversity Seminar which has been put together with the help of the All-In Diversity project, which is being led by Christina Thakor-Rankine and Kelly Kehn. Also featuring speakers such as Paula Tibre, General Manager at PaddyPower Betfair, Sue Schneider, VP Growth & Strategy, Americas at SBC and Nick Jackson, Vice President at the Home Marketing Group, The Diversity Seminar will be looking at reputation, relationships and status as well as the Talent Development within the industry.

Attendees to Betting on Sports and CasinoBeats Summit will be able to register for the specialist seminars here.

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