Event speakers

Christer became CEO of Paf 2016 and has over 19 years experience in the online gaming industry. Previously Christer was an entrepreneur and management consultant with Bain & Co.

Fredrik Wastenson is the CEO of Svenska Spel Sport & Casino since 1^st July 2018. Prior to his assignment as CEO for Sport & Casino, Fredrik held a responsibility for all product development within Svenska Spel cross all categories. Fredrik has a background from international business development in various companies and industries, both as an entrepreneur  

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Olli Sarekoski is the President and CEO of Veikkaus Oy, the Finnish national money gaming company. Veikkaus Oy holds the exclusive right to operate all gambling in Finland.  Olli has been leading Veikkaus as a CEO since 2017 but has an extensive twenty years of history with Veikkaus as he joined already in 2003.  Prior to his present post, he held different executive positions in business operations, strategy and planning. Additionally, Olli holds the Supervisory Chair of the European Lotteries Responsible Gaming and Sustainability Working Group, and he has also acted as the chairman of the board of Lotteries Entertainment Innovation Alliance (LEIA).

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Velipekka Nummikoski, Executive Vice President in Veikkaus since 2017 and in gaming industry about 11 years. Before gaming industry several years in telco business and long term in politics as State Secretary and special advisor.

Gustaf Hoffstedt is the Secretary General of BOS, The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling, since 2015. Among the association’s members are all major private operators and suppliers that operate in Sweden.

Prior to joining BOS, Gustaf served as a Member of the Swedish Parliament for the Moderate party, and as vice mayor and chairman of the Social board in his constituency Gotland before that. Gustaf has fought for the abolition of the Swedish gambling monopoly and the implementation of a licensing system for more than a decade. He is pleased with the Swedish reregulation but at the same time concerned about political attempts to drastically change the newly implemented regulation.

Gustaf resides in Uppsala with his family. In his leisure time, he enjoys hiking in the mountains of northern Scandinavia.

Jari has worked in the gambling industry for a long time. At the beginning of 2020, Jari co-founded a consulting company specializing in gambling called The Finnish Gambling Consultants (FGC). FGC has helped dozens of operators, suppliers, and some start-up companies worldwide develop their gambling operations further. Jari has followed and analyzed the development of the Finnish gambling system for years.

Carl-Fredrik Stenstrøm is a leading advocate for a responsible and more sustainable gambling licensing model in Norway. As Secretary General of The Norwegian Trade Association for Online Gambling (NBO), Stenstrøm spearheads the work for a re-regulation through policy development in cooperation with a multitude of stakeholders.

He is a sought after key note speaker, participates actively in the public debate and is bringing researchers, policy makers, NGOs and operators together at the annually NBO Gambling Conference (Spillkonferansen)

Before joining NBO in 2019, Stenstrøm was Head of Commercial at state controled horse betting company Norsk Riksoto.

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Pekka Kaidesoja has worked in television and media for 30 years. He has worked in eight Olympic games for different broadcasters: YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company, Discovery and OBS Olympic Broadcasting System. He is specialized for international sport events, motorsport and harness racing among other topics.

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Jaakko has an extensive background in business and tech and holds an MBA. He jumped into iGaming in 2020 and learned the industry leading customer operations at Finnplay. From 2021, Jaakko has been leading Finnplay as Managing Director. Helping the company achieve record growth while fulfilling his vision of customer-centric operations. He has also overseen the company’s exit from unregulated markets after acquisition by Entain PLC.

Taina Grech is RG Governance Officer at Kindred Group, with experience in Responsible Gaming since 2018. Her expertise includes steering RG measures for player protection, ensuring regulatory compliance, identifying improvement areas, and managing liabilities. Taina has in-depth knowledge of understanding harmful gambling from her previous work with Kindred’s award-winning Player Safety - Early Detection System (PS-EDS). Known for her sound judgment in sensitive matters, she is eager to contribute to dynamic RG projects and initiatives

Susanna Saikkonen is a sustainability and corporate responsibility professional with over 20 years of work experience in strategic planning, communications and sustainability. She joined Veikkaus in May 2021, as a Vice President, Sustainability. Prior to joining Veikkaus she worked as a sustainability consultant for years, working with variety of industries and different type of organisations. She has also background in international development, building large partnerships related to social responsibility, child rights in supply chain, gender equality and community engagement. Ms. Saikkonen has an MSc degree from Helsinki School of Business and Administration.

Helena has an extensive experience from the racing and betting industry, having worked in various positions in the industry both in Sweden and in Norway since the late 1990s. Most recently, she comes from at position at Svenska Spel, where she managed the stated owned company’s attempt to launch betting on horses after the Swedish market was re-regulated in 2019

Timo Kiiskinen is Managing Director of Fennica Gaming Ltd since January 2022 when the entity has established and started international B2B operation. Since that he and his fellow fennicans has exported Veikkaus Ltd Game portfolios and business knowledgement for Lotteries around the world. The start of this Veikkaus daughter company has been successful and more are coming. He has strong background in several industries to business development and operations, digitalization of business and deployment of new technologies. As a part of his career Timo has led RAY business operations and Veikkaus TECH organization. There are also years in various roles in both publishing and TV businesses, tech companies and as entrepreneur.

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Mikael Bäcke has been the CEO of Bet25 since August 2019. Bet25 is a Danish gambling operator offering sports and horse betting both online and offline, as well as online casino services. Before his role as CEO at Bet25, Mikael served as the Chief Product and Business Development Officer at the Swedish gambling operator ATG. Mikael has over 10 years of experience in the iGaming industry and has also held various positions within the media industry.

Erkki Nikunen is the CBDO and Partner of Air Dice. He has been expanding Air Dice to over 12 new regulated markets and hundreds of new operators in the last 2 years. Erkki has been in the iGaming industry for 2 decades and majority of that time as an entrepreneur. He has extensive experience in entering new regulated markets from different provider point of views including platforms, games and payments.

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Minna Ripatti is a Finnish Attorney at Law who has over 13 years of experience in the iGaming sector. Minna has lived in Austria, Switzerland, and Malta for over 12 years and worked in the iGaming industry. As the Founding Partner of Legal Gaming Attorneys Law, she specializes in providing legal services to clients in the iGaming sector.

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Antti Koivula is an analytical and detail-oriented iGaming lawyer who understands the practical side of the industry extremely well. Antti’s background is extraordinary and it differentiates him from the field. Antti has LL.B and LL.M degrees and he joined Legal Gaming Attorneys at Law in 2021. His area of expertise covers Finnish gambling law, EU law, licensing, risk assessments and contracts.