Safer gambling expert Martin Lycka will welcome former Liverpool and Leeds defender Dominic Matteo to SBC Summit 2025 for a live edition of The Safe Bet Show in collaboration with EPIC Global Solutions.

Matteo made 155 appearances for Liverpool between 1992 and 2000 before moving to Leeds United. During his time at the club, he played a key role in their run to the Champions League semi-finals and later went on to captain the side. He also enjoyed spells at Sunderland, Stoke City, and Blackburn Rovers, and represented Scotland at international level.

Since retiring at the end of the 2008/09 season, Matteo has become a leading voice in the safer gambling space, drawing on his own experience of struggling with gambling addiction. He now works with EPIC alongside his wife, Jess Matteo, where they serve as Lived Experience Facilitators to help raise awareness of gambling-related harm among professional athletes.

Matteo’s gambling addiction began towards the end of his career while playing for Blackburn. At its worst, he placed a £500,000 bet on a single horse race and accumulated debts of more than £1 million. His recovery began with the unwavering support of his wife Jess, whose role he describes as instrumental in helping him rebuild his life.

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That support proved vital once again in 2019, when Matteo was diagnosed with a brain tumour that required life-saving surgery and radiotherapy. Remarkably, the tumour had been dormant since childhood — leading Matteo to reflect that he had unknowingly played his entire professional career with it.

The couple have since dedicated themselves to educating players across the EFL, Scottish Premiership and PREM Rugby on safer gambling measures. Their work focuses on building awareness, helping players spot early signs of harm, and connecting them to the right support.

Matteo’s story brings a powerful perspective to SBC Summit’s Player Protection Stage, where he and his wife Jess will join Lycka for a live conversation on Tuesday, 16 September, from 16:30 to 17:00. Jess will share her insights on what it means to support a loved one through gambling addiction, including how families can find the right advice and access meaningful support.

Their session comes as SBC Summit 2025 prepares to host its first-ever Legends Charity Game, featuring football icons such as Kaka, Luís Figo, Cafu, Alessandro Del Piero, Patrice Evra, and more. Against that backdrop, Matteo’s appearance offers a timely reminder of the need to educate both current and former players on the risks of gambling harm.

Ahead of the live show, Lycka said: “Dominic’s journey is one of incredible resilience. His willingness to speak openly about his struggles and his fantastic educational work with athletes is deeply impactful.

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“Having him and Jess join me for this live edition of The Safe Bet Show brings an essential human perspective to the wider conversation on player protection. I’m honoured that I’ll be able to share the stage with them both in Lisbon.”

The Player Protection Stage will run across all three days of SBC Summit, from 16 to 18 September. Day one will focus on regulation, day two will explore the role of technology in player protection, and day three will be dedicated to research.

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Incline Gaming Marketing is redefining how gambling brands scale and succeed worldwide. Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick, the agency delivers end-to-end digital marketing services across user acquisition, CRM, and creative. In this interview, CCO Jo Dennis explains how Incline acts as an extension of operators’ in-house teams, helping them acquire players, boost retention, and compete globally.

Incline Gaming Marketing. Tells us what we need to know about the business.

Incline Gaming Marketing (Incline) is a full-service digital marketing partner dedicated exclusively to the regulated gambling industry. We’re not just a supplier of campaigns or assets, we run marketing operations end-to-end for our partners, functioning as an extension of their in-house team.

Our expertise spans user acquisition, CRM, and creative, delivered by specialists who’ve worked inside top operators and suppliers. With offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and London, we provide market-specific strategies and execution for brands in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and beyond.

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Founded by industry veteran Peter Laverick in 2020, Incline is part of The Conexus Group alongside Pentasia (recruitment) and Partis (strategy and M&A). Our partners range from household-name operators to ambitious new entrants, all looking for a team that can step in, own the process, and deliver measurable results from day one.

Who are the main players running the business day to day?

Peter Laverick, our CEO and founder, has led marketing at some of the industry’s biggest names, including BetVictor, Aristocrat, and PlayStudios. Chief Commercial Officer Jo Dennis joined through our acquisition of Random Colour Animal in 2024 (RCA was originally founded in 2018) and brings more than 25 years in brand and marketing strategy.

Chief Marketing Officer Oren Langburt has over 15 years’ experience in real-money gaming, including leading marketing at FanDuel. VP Partner Success Haig Sakouyan is a 20+ year industry veteran, ensuring our partnerships deliver beyond marketing.

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Talk us through Incline Gaming Marketing’s core service offering.

We operate in three connected disciplines that together form a complete managed marketing service:

• User Acquisition (UA): We plan, execute, and optimise campaigns across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, Apple, and programmatic networks, managing multi-million-dollar budgets. As an approved Facebook Business Partner, we’ve been rated the most effective media buyer in North America’s online gaming sector, achieving a 99.9% efficiency score.
• Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM): Our CRM specialists handle the full player lifecycle — from onboarding and first-time deposit conversion to long-term retention and reactivation. We combine data-led segmentation with targeted offers and creative to grow lifetime value while controlling bonus spend.
• Creative: We produce more than 1,000 assets per month, from brand identities and websites to broadcast-quality TV spots, slot game creatives, supplier content packs, and conference materials. All creative is performance-driven and integrated into UA and CRM campaigns for maximum impact.

When combined, these services allow us to act as a partner’s complete marketing department – – strategy, execution, and optimisation under one roof.

Which markets are you focused on? Are you pushing into any new regions?

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We built our reputation in North America, where we work with leading land-based and online operators across casino, sportsbook, lottery, social gaming, and daily fantasy sports. We now deliver integrated managed services in Canada, the UK, continental Europe, Africa, and Australia, tailoring each approach to local regulations, player behaviours, and market dynamics.

For many partners, this means we handle all marketing in new markets from day one – avoiding the time and cost of building a local team – and then continue as their long-term, embedded marketing function.

Why are your services particularly valuable to operators in the current industry climate?

Player acquisition costs are rising, retention is harder than ever, and regulatory pressure is mounting. Building and managing an in-house team with the full range of skills required – from media buying to lifecycle marketing to creative production – is expensive and slow.

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Incline solves that. We provide an instant, proven marketing department with deep gambling expertise, multi-channel capabilities, and global reach. Our managed services model means we don’t just advise, we execute, optimise, and deliver results. Whether launching in a new jurisdiction or scaling in a mature one, we know the levers to pull for sustainable growth.

What can we expect from Incline in the second half of the year?

We’re deepening our presence in Europe, Africa, and Canada while cementing our leadership in North America. Several major launches and brand refresh projects are underway, alongside scaled acquisition and retention campaigns for our long-term partners.

Our focus remains the same — provide operators and suppliers with a high-performing, fully managed marketing function that delivers measurable results faster, and with more certainty, than building it in-house.

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