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Sports Betting Pioneer
Cathryn Lai
Chief Commercial Officer , OpenBet
Cathryn Lai might not think of herself as a pioneer , but her role as chief commercial officer at OpenBet indicates otherwise .
Lai is one of the few female executives in the sports betting industry . Lai , who is also an accomplished musician , has been in the gaming industry for nearly two decades .
Lai has been in her current position at OpenBet for nearly two years . She joined the former Scientific Games in 2018 , and made the transition to her CCO role when Light & Wonder divested the sports betting division .
“ In my role is as chief commercial officer , I am in charge of all the commercial activities and go-to-market strategy , commercial strategies , working with our internal teams to get live with new customers , being on the forefront of emerging markets and just building the strategy to what that is tied to .”
She began her career in retail gambling and moved to the sports betting side shortly after the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was repealed by the Supreme Court in May 2018 .
“ It was a growing market , and it continues to be a growing market ,” Lai says about sports betting . “ It reminded me of the days 16-17 years ago when gaming was becoming regulated in more and more states . I felt this was similar , and an opportunity I had to jump on .”
What Lai found when she got into the sports betting industry , however , was there weren ’ t a lot of women in the industry , especially in management or executive positions .
“ When you look around at CEOs or leadership positions and you don ’ t see a lot of women , you are going to say , ‘ Is that for me ?’ You can talk about an intimidation factor , but I think it ’ s less about intimidation and more about seeing if there are more people here like me that ascend into these roles ,” Lai says .
At OpenBet , Lai has spearheaded initiatives that help introduce women to the industry .
“ A woman is more likely to join a team when they see more women there ,” she explains . “ I look at my team and I have a pretty high percentage of women relative to other organizations in sports betting . That ’ s for a reason . I know there are a lot of brilliant women out there that may not be familiar with the space but will excel in it .” The same is true for women who want to participate in sports betting . “ There are a lot of statistics out there , but one is , women represent 50 percent of sports fans , and yet if you look at what percentage women represent of bettors , it is 35 percent ,” Lai says . “ So clearly , there is a growth opportunity here . I think overall , a lot of the operators are addressing it , as well as the B2B side too . We are making sure we are creating odds and content for a lot of the women ’ s sports .” Lai points to the Women ’ s World Cup as an example . “ We offered same-game parlay bets like player stats , shots , shots on target , assists , passes ,” Lai says . “ It ’ s the first time we have done this for women ’ s soccer across the board .” It is an industry Lai is very bullish about . “ I think it ’ s going to continue to grow , especially in the U . S .,” she says . “ There are a lot of huge states that have not legislated and are on their way . I also think sports bettors will become more mature . They ’ ll look for more diversity in what they can bet on .” — John Reger
32 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2023