The conference and exhibition for the sports betting and igaming sectors takes place at Meadowlands Exposition Center, New Jersey on November 30 – December 2, 2021, with Jones Blackhurst’s fireside chat with Lottery.com’s chief legal officer, Katie Lever, scheduled for the final day. 

The session will address some of the challenges facing an evolving industry, including the importance of building a sustainable diverse and inclusive workforce, and the impact of investors demanding improved environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings. 

Few people are better placed to offer insights on those issues than Jones Blackhurst, who made significant progress on them during her 20 years in senior government relations, public policy, and corporate responsibility roles at Caesars Entertainment, prior to joining the board in 2019.

Under her leadership, Caesars became the first casino to roll out a responsible gaming program, and made sizable reductions in energy usage, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. It also built a more diverse workforce, with 41 per cent of management positions held by women and 57 per cent of employees from minority groups.  

Jones Blackhurst’s celebrated career extends well beyond life at Caesars and she enjoyed two terms as Mayor of Las Vegas from 1991 to 1999. She now serves as the chief executive-in-residence of the UNLV International Gaming Institute, chairwoman of the Public Education Foundation, executive director of innovation for UNLV Black Fire, and vice-chair of the Nevada Donor Network Foundation. 

Rasmus Sojmark, founder and CEO of SBC, said: “We’re delighted that Jan will join us in New Jersey, for what promises to be a fascinating session. The sports betting and igaming industry faces many of the same corporate social responsibility challenges as the rest of corporate America, and everyone in our audience will be able to learn from the insights of one of the country’s leading experts on how to tackle them.” 

Jones Blackhurst’s session is part of a program of keynotes that runs throughout SBC Summit North America. It also features Soo Kim (chairman of the board of directors at Bally’s Corporation), and Bill Miller (president & CEO of the American Gaming Association).

Full details of the SBC Summit North America agenda and speaker lineup are available at the event’s official website.