Programme
Get ready for two and a half days packed with expert-led sessions, lively panel discussions tailored for European multi-channel casino operators. Hear from top industry speakers sharing insights on operations, compliance, technology, and customer engagement.
Enjoy exclusive networking opportunities designed to connect you with peers, sponsors, and industry leaders. All set in a stunning venue that blends professional learning with relaxed social experiences.
Join us at COS 2026 to gain valuable knowledge, build lasting relationships, and explore new business opportunities.
You can find the programme of COS 2026 below, or download a PDF by pressing the button.
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00 – 12:00 | Delivery of goods | |
| 08:00 – 18:00 | Installation of sponsor equipment | Sponsor Areas Hyatt Regency Conference Center |
| 15:00 – 17:00 | European Casino Association – Board Meeting (invited persons only) | Meeting Room Hyatt Regency Conference Center |
| 19:30 – 22:30 | OPENING RECEPTION | Regency Casino Thessaloniki |
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:10 | Opening words | Joris Dekker – COS moderator |
| 10:10 – 10:20 | Welcome @ COS 2026 | Lucien (Lucas) Wijsman |
| 10:20 – 10:50 | The value of Land Based Casinos in the modern world | Erwin van Lambaart - CEO / General Director Casinos Austria & Chairman European Casino Association |
| 10:50 – 11:20 | Why Land Based Casinos are essential for the future of city centres | Simon Thomas - Executive Chairman, Hippodrome Casino |
| 11:20 – 11:50 ☕ | Coffee break | |
| 11:50 – 12:30 | Points. Rewards. Comps. For decades, casino loyalty has been built on simple transactions. But today’s players aren’t just chasing perks - they’re chasing experiences, recognition, and seamless integration across land-based, online, and lifestyle channels. | Riaan van Rooyen - Hospitality and Casino Executive with a very extensive experience; including GM for Casinos in Africa (Carousel, Carnival City, Sun Int. Lesotho) Greece (Thessaloniki). |
| 12:30 – 13:10 | How Exceptional Teams Win Beyond Luck - Menno’s twenty-two-year quest to unravel the formula of truly high-performing teams has taken him from boardrooms to sports arenas across 25+ countries. His unique blend of tech expertise, leadership passion, and global experience, including executive roles in Bulgaria and Hungary, makes him an inspiring voice in team transformation. As founder of Surply.IO and 9Plus.Team, Menno delivers energizing keynotes packed with practical insights and vivid stories that help teams thrive, engage deeply, and stay resilient amid rapid change, especially in the age of AI. His dynamic style leaves audiences motivated, empowered, and ready to perform at their peak. | Menno Olgers - Olgers is the Architect of Human-Centric Systems & Exceptional Teams, a speaker, and founder of Surply and 9+ Teams, ventures dedicated to measuring, building, and realizing high-performing teams through behavioral dynamics. |
| 13:10 – 14:30 🍴 | Lunch break | |
| 14:30 – 15:05 | KEY-NOTE ADDRESS - People, Relationships, Listening and Customer- focused innovation: how land-based casinos can not only survive, but thrive in the digital age | Dennis Conrad - Executive Consultant for Select Casino and Gaming Clients Who Truly Care About Being Customer and Employee Focused |
| 15:15 – 15:50 | KEY-NOTE ADDRESS - In Dennis’ Opening Keynote Session for the Casino Operations Summit, he will use candor, humor, relentless logic and out of the box thinking, as he shares observations from his 50 years of work and play at hundreds of land- based casinos around the globe. He will highlight the casino operators who really “get it,” what they have done and what you can learn from it to thrive in the digital era of customers having numerous new choices. | Dennis Conrad - Dennis Conrad may be the loudest and staunchest casino customer advocate in the gaming industry. His signature column series “I Am Your Customer” and “Stop Doing the Stupid Stuff” have for decades pointed the way for the simple formula of finding out what your casino customers want, then giving it to them. |
| 15:50 – 16:30 ☕ | Coffee break | |
| 16:30 – 17:10 | Sport Bars in Land-Based Casinos (with or without Sports Betting). What’s the impact? | Rupert Ellwood - General Manager Paddy Power |
| 17:10 – 17:50 | Panel Discussion and Q&A: Sport Bars in Land-based Casinos | Moderated by: Harmen Brenninkmeijer - Confirmed participants:The Hippodrome Casino, Casino Helsinki, Paddy Power, Gran Casino de Madrid, Swiss casino Winterthur |
| 20:00 – 00:00 🥂 | Evening program | Location to be confirmed |
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:40 | Why does Homo Ludens Play and Gamble? | Dr. Michael Auer - PhD in Psychology and Master’s degree in Psychology as well as Statistics. Played a pivotal role in developing a player- centric and science-based responsible gaming solution. Originally a marketer, he views Responsible Gaming as a way of creating a fun and safe gambling environment. |
| 10:40 – 11:20 | The Case for Operational Product Marketing - Casino Marketing is bogged down in communications, leaving a critical discipline exposed: Product Marketing. This is the strategic process of getting the right product into inventory, communicating its value to receptive players, and maximizing revenue and satisfaction throughout player and product lifecycles. | Nick Hogan - In this presentation, ReelMetrics CEO, Nick Hogan, makes the urgent case for Operational Product Marketing. Using hard data from the company's extensive field tests, Hogan demonstrates the discipline's game-changing returns in the critical areas of player retention, productivity, loyalty, satisfaction, and spend. He proves the point: Your most profitable marketing investments aren't on ads and free play, but on the product installed on your floor. |
| 11:20 – 11:50 ☕ | Coffee Break | |
| 11:50 – 12:30 | True Omni-channel Operators - A case study from Bombay Club | Ryan Best - Chief Risk & Compliance Officer – Bombay Club. A distinguished executive with over 20 years in the UK Mayfair and international casino industry, specialising in regulatory compliance within the gambling sector. His extensive experience extends to various areas within the industry and across regulatory sectors, showcasing his proficiency in integrating innovative technology, risk management, and corporate governance. |
| 12:30 – 13:10 | "How to Cheat a Casino", also known as the "Chinese Eleven" - Eleven scammers stole 140,000 Swiss francs from Swiss Casino Zurich and no one noticed. This was the largest casino heist in Swiss history. Swiss Casinos will receive the inaugural Award for Excellence in Casino Surveillance at the World Game Protection Conference 2026 in Las Vegas for detecting, managing and ultimately dismantling the baccarat scam operation. | Marcel Tobbler - CEO of Swiss Casinos since January 2024, leading Switzerland’s largest casino operator with four land-based casinos and the online casino swisscasinos.ch. He initiated the creation of Swiss Casinos Technology to develop and launch ReelLink, the company’s new solution that enables a true omni-channel player experience. |
| 13:10 – 14:30 🍴 | Lunch Break | |
| 14:30 – 15:30 | Gambling & Gaming on Cruise Ships: Land-based versus Ship-based Operations – What Can We Learn from Each Other? This session explores the similarities and contrasts between gaming operations on land and at sea. It highlights the unique learnings from shipboard gaming environments covering player behaviour, product mix, and operational agility and how these insights can inspire innovation and commercial success across both sectors. | Primoz Bohinc - Casino BizDev Manager @ Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. |
| 15:30 – 15:50 | Lessons from the Greek Regulator - With over 14.000 On-line operators black-listed in Greece, the Greek Regulator takes player protection very seriously. Hear first-hand what the impact of the Greek approach is. | Member of the Hellenic Gaming Commission |
| 15:50 – 16:30 ☕ | Coffee Break | |
| 16:30 – 17:10 | The Past, Present, and Future of Casino Gaming in Europe by Numbers - H2 Gambling Capital’s Josh Hodgson will provide a detailed analysis of the past, present and future trends in the European land based and online casino industry from a data led perspective. | Josh Hodgson - Josh joined H2 Gambling Capital in 2015 as a data analyst and has progressed to the role of COO following his instrumental advancement of the company’s data and regulatory services over the course of 10 years. |
| 17:10 – 17:50 | Brain Exercises you will not forget! - The Magic Message philosophy is that everyone is a mathematician. | Andrew Jeffrey - Andrew is a Primary Maths Consultant, Maths CPD provider and magician. His life’s work is to share a passion for mathematics with teachers and audiences alike. He is an award-winning stage and close-up magician, and multi-award- winning mind-reader and mentalist. |
| 20:00 – 00:00 🥂 | Evening program | Location to be confirmed |
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:40 | Things I wish I could change: Lessons learned from 40 years of operations analysis | Prof. Anthony Lucas (via Zoom) |
| 10:40 – 11:20 | AI Masterclass; From Hype to Hands-On for the Gambling Industry - A fast-paced, insight-packed education session with demonstrated methods to show how AI can revolutionise casino operations, from player insight to profit, with real world examples. | John Purcell - Join this 30-year veteran of the global gambling industry and AI thought leader, for a dynamic and practical AI Masterclass CEO | Gambling Industry Strategist | AI Innovator | Trusted Advisor to Casino, Slots & iGaming Leaders | Expert in High-Tech Gaming Products, AI & Operational Performance |
| 11:20 – 11:50 ☕ | Coffee break | |
| 11:50 – 12:20 | “Blind No More: The Shocking Shift When Players Actually Know the Game” - Since their inception, slots have been chosen by graphics and gut feel. Real-time RTP? Payout trends? Hold? Volatility? Betting DNA? Never! Now, a new player app rips open the kimono and exposes all. This isn’t about the tech. It’s about them - the players. It's about transparency, trust, and discovery. Players can finally see the math behind the magic. Do they switch games? Bet smarter? Visit more? Stay longer? Increase Spend? What stories do players' and their data tell? Come listen to what happens when an old script gets flipped and empowers a new generation of play. | Grant Stousland - Business Management Faculty and Entrepreneur. Founder and CEO of Slot Check; we share real-time slot performance data with players in a mobile app. The proven value we are creating for players translates into meaningful customer loyalty value for casinos. The numbers are compelling - Very! |
| 12:20 – 12:40 | Panel Discussion - What info should be provided to players to enable them make an informed choice about the game they are going to play? | Moderated by Joris Dekkers, Panelists: Grant Stousland, Nick Hogan, Lucien (Lucas) Wijsman |
| 12:40 – 13:00 | Using AI to predict Player Behavior. | Paula Murphy - Mindway AI - European Casino Awards Woman of the Year 2025. Enabling operators to enhance player protection |
| 13:00 – 13:20 | The future of verified self-sovereign digital identity - that acts as a personal key to unlock unlimited potential in entertainment, sports, hospitality, social media, physical access and e-commerce. | Remco Voorhorst - CEO – SIIP Group |
| 13:20 – 14:45 🍴 | Lunch break | |
| 14:45 – 15:15 | Player Development: How casino-specific CRM processes may enhance player development, player loyalty, and operational efficiency. | Evangelos Katsadas - CTO Logismos |
| 15:15 – 16:30 | End-note address - The future of Land-Based and Online Casinos in Europe. Compete or complement – that’s the question. Let’s bust a myth. Online casinos are not the death sentence for land-based gaming. And no, they’re not stealing land-based players. In this end-note address, I —global casino advisor with 30+ years of hands-on land-based experience —call out the fear and flip the narrative: land-based casinos are not outdated, they’re underleveraged. The immersive, social, and emotional power of a physical casino can’t be downloaded—and when marketed right, it doesn’t compete with online... it completes the experience. We’ll also discover that land-based casinos can offer valuable experiences for on-line players; giving on-line operators leverage over the competition. | Lucien Wijsman |
| 17:30 – 20:00 🥂 | Closing reception | Ian’s Bar - Regency Casino Thessaloniki |
Suggestions?
Every year our team works on creating an interesting programme with different topics. Do you have any suggestions for us, or topics that you would like to see on the programme? Please let us know!