Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Right to the Source. My name is Robin Harrison, and I'm here, as ever, with the Boo Boo to my yogi bear, Mr. Ed Birkin. Ed, how the devil are you? And I imagine you got that one.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: I got that one.
What was the Ranger called?
[00:00:28] Speaker A: I don't know. When I. When I quickly Googled Famous Jewels, that was the first one that I saw that we haven't done before.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Surely you're more like him trying to keep me in check.
Unsuccessfully.
It's not Ranger Ted. The Ranger from Ranger.
Ranger Smith.
Ranger Smith. There you go. Do you know when the Yogi Bear show was from?
[00:00:56] Speaker A: I'm not sure.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Starts in 1958. There you go. We've already given a fun fact for the listeners.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Fair enough.
That's remarkable. Start. So, speaking of what? Speaking of what?
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Speaking of podcasts.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Podcasts.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Podcasts.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Industry podcasts.
Okay. Yeah. So this is. So this is interesting. I mean, obviously, there are a lot of industry podcasts.
Now, someone.
Let me see if I can find the post. Someone commented.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Someone claimed that. Or just posted PR things.
Carefully crafted print, which some probably are. Maybe ones that get guests.
But I don't think anyone can claim this is A, carefully crafted or B, has any positive public relations.
As half the time you try and stop us getting sued and me just isolating us from various members of the industry, society in general.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, That's. I think that's fair.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Your boss, you know, backed us up on that. Mr. Alex Pratt. I mean, he got the name of the podcast wrong, which makes me question his assertion that he listens to us each week. But, yeah, he threw us out there and called us chaotic.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: I believe he said Ed Birkin and Robin Harrison are total chaos. But listen closely, and you pick up so much data and insight that you should be paying for.
I would say that is the best review we have. We have ever got.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's right. I mean, first of all, where else on an industry podcast could you find out when Yogi Bear first started? Or that the Olsen twins sell leather trousers?
Secondly, I think he's, you know, just right that he references me first as the. The lead.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: You had to bring it down to that.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Well, it's your boss who said it.
Another fact. Another fact. 2. 1. Do you know what that is?
That is the current lead in the Stanley Cup Final between the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and I think it's the Colorado Avalanches. It doesn't matter who they're playing, Keith. So we're doing well. It will have changed by the time this is out, and as you like to point out, that's my second team, which isn't really what you should have,
[00:03:36] Speaker A: but you're a fallback team, I think I called it.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: But the number 5 is the number of Ted Lindsay awards, which is effectively the best ice hockey player voted by other ice hockey players, which is awarded to Conor McDavid, my hero for the Oilers, and that is tied with Wayne Gretzky as the most ever awarded to a single player. And it's just a shame that he, you know, is not looking at getting a Stanley cup, at least back to Edmonton.
But.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's very nice that he got those, those awards and that does put him on a par with Wayne Gretzky, who of course he gave a spellbinding performance at the World cup draw last year, especially when I think he tried to pronounce Curacao, who obviously played Scotland in a warm up game a few weeks ago, scored first, but Scotland triumphed, I think 4:1 in the end. And then followed that up with 4 nil destruction of Latin American giants. Bolivia.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Look, I mean, talking about Curacao and Scotland, small teams justice, World cup, it's already a joke and it hasn't even started.
We've seen FIFA have been accused of selling official tickets through unofficial resale sites, pretending they're resale ones because they can't sell the official ones at the right price. So there's a match between Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, I think, and people have spent up to 700 on a ticket and funny enough, it's just not sold out. I mean, how is that a World cup match
[00:05:24] Speaker A: if these teams qualify?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Yeah, through the fact that it's just been expanded and I know they want. But it's not the best teams, it's just the teams, a number of teams in specific regions. So yes, you want it regional, but how's Italy not there and Cape Verde is.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Because Italy didn't qualify. Italy didn't make it through the qualifying rounds. It's like you look at Scotland, Scotland top their group, lest we forget.
So even if the World cup, even if the. Of course, the Scott McTominay goal, Kieran Tierney from 20 yards, Kenny McLean from the halfway line. Lawrence Shanklin also scored, but no one remembers that one.
It was genuinely stirring stuff from a titan of the game.
But if the World cup hadn't been expanded, Scotland would have still qualified. So just chucking that out there when you talk about small teams.
But, but look, I mean, ultimately Italy didn't qualify, obviously It's a shame. Very fond memories of when it was time, is it?
[00:06:31] Speaker B: It's quite amazing. Yeah.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: But, yeah, it's quite funny, actually.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: But, you know, they won. Did they win it when it was 2006? 2000? No. When did they win the Euros? When they're beating them?
[00:06:46] Speaker A: 20, 21.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, but they didn't qualify for the World cup then, did they?
[00:06:52] Speaker A: No, they didn't.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: It's already turning into four. I mean, what. So. So now Trump's got rid of all Iranian tickets.
There was a World cup ref because he's from Somalia. I think he's been banned from entering the us so he's not allowed to do it anymore.
It's just the whole thing.
I mean, I thought Qatar was a bit of a ridiculous place and everything that was happening there, but this just seems like. It seems even worse.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: It's. It's still the World Cup.
Like, this is the thing. It's kind of an emotional pull. And I think that.
I mean, I think it's kind of a different experience now because everything's so terminally online. But you remember when you, like, you're little, you know, back in the, I don't know, like the 50s or something, did the attitudes just, like, never kind of change from that era?
But it's like you'd watch these things on TV and you'd see players that you never saw before.
You know, I remember watching, you know, France 98 and you see Toribo west and he's got the. You know, the neon green braid, stuff like that. There's this kind of, you know, it's almost this kind of like child, you know, kind of like pull from your childhood, basically.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Well, you know, I'm sure when you watch the Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia game, you will also see players you've never seen before. So there you go.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: Yeah. The thing is, with the World Cup, I kind of.
I go into a kind of mode and it's like. Will watch everything because it's. It's a World Cup. It just. It still feels like this, well, special thing.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Players you haven't seen before, then just come and watch Sheffield Wednesday in League One next season.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: I'd rather not.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Me too.
Right.
Up $60 billion.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: $60 billion? What does that mean?
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Well, it's. It means it's a bit more than 59 billion.
That's how much you reckon will be wagered through legal sports books. And for clarity, that does not include prediction markets because they are not licensed as gambling entities.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Because apparently they're not gambling. So through legal sports books.
60 billion on the World cup, which is a 71% increase on our figures from the 2022 tournament.
Now, 5.7 billion, we think will be waged across the host nations, which are
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Mexico.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: The United States of America. Yeah.
And Edmonton Oilers base Canada.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And which of those is going to have the most handle out of the three of them?
[00:09:48] Speaker A: I would say the United States.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Well, on our data, it's close, but we reckon actually, yes, the United States, 2.9 billion. But in Mexico, closer, close behind at 2.5.
And then Canada, obviously, it's only, it's only the, the lotteries and Ontario that, that we have as.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: And Alberta will be like.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah, Alberta will be by then in
[00:10:13] Speaker A: the tournament, I think. July.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: How much did the US generate in soccer handle across June and July last year?
[00:10:23] Speaker A: June and July last year there was no major tournament, only the Club World Cup, I think. Was that last year?
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Yeah, when Chelsea somehow won it.
Didn't they think they beat PSG in the final and then got dismantled in the Champions League this year,
[00:10:48] Speaker A: I would say.
30 million.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: $1.3 billion off handle. Anyway, there's your fun facts on the World Cup.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: And, you know, how many matches are
[00:11:07] Speaker A: going to be a hundred?
[00:11:11] Speaker B: 104 versus 64 normally.
But those extra 40 are just gonna be low quality, let's be honest.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, some of the, you know, some of the games, like England, Croatia, ones like that, I mean, it's. It's hard to care, isn't it?
[00:11:31] Speaker B: Well, to be honest, yeah. I find it hard to care watching English football.
Although if Jude Bellingham's not playing, maybe I will watch it.
Who knows, maybe I'll give Thomas Tuchel's man a little chance. But under Southgate, that was a no go.
That was an absolute.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: I thought he was, I mean, like, near the end, they were quite.
They were quite pedestrian, I suppose, but in 2018, it was quite exciting.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: He did a fantastic job of bringing the players together and, and getting rid of these club fractions and making people want to play for England and all of that, but in my personal, maybe uninformed view, he was a terrible tactician. We should have.
We should have won so much. Maybe not, say, the World Cups, but in. When we lost to Italy, for example, in the Euros, he was just so defensive. Same with Spain, you know, so, no, I think it was terrible to watch. And they were all just Primadora on as the player. So, no, give me the Owls every time down in League one, I'm sure
[00:12:34] Speaker A: everyone Will give you the owl Z.
Now, I'd be interested in how a market like Brazil will perform for sports betting, because obviously it's Brazil, Jogo Benito and all that. They've got Carlo Ancelotti. He's very good at tournaments.
They've got Neymar in the squad. All these little, you know, all these little storylines. I mean.
And of course, the market has been regulated since January last year. So, I mean, what sort of handle do you expect on Brazil?
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Thanks for giving me the heads up together that who is it that they haven't taken. Who was actually, you thought, oh, who's it? The Chelsea lad, isn't it?
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Joel? Pedro.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
I mean, not like have anything positive to say about any Chelsea player, but I thought that was quite unfair, if I'm being honest.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: He was a good play. He's a great wee player.
I don't know. I need to say he was a wee player. I think he's quite tall, but never mind. He's just getting very Scottish. I mean, he's. He's. He's nothing. He's nothing compared to, you know, like a Ben Gannon Doak or something like that.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: We have 3.6 billion of Handel. I mean, it's difficult on GGR because it really just depends on the results. I know it sounds obvious, but on the results of the matches, so. But it will be. It's a good time.
Time zone for the American markets.
Obviously, Brazil are football mad, so I think they will be one of the beneficiaries of this. But I'm sure lots of people have said this. I think it needs to be viewed as a customer acquisition tool rather than a revenue generator.
You know, hopefully they'll get some.
Or the bookmakers would hope they get some results going their way. But even if they don't, I mean, let's be honest, a lot of the money that gets won by the punters will get recycled at some point. So even if you end up seeing it, you know, later in the year and it's not directly related to the World cup, it's still gonna. Still gonna flow through.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: That's good to know.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Do you want to know how much is going to be wagered in Scotland?
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Well, no one else does, so let's move on.
What do you want to talk about? What's been interesting on igb?
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Well, I walked into that one, didn't I?
So one of the things that I think has been quite interesting is the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, the gambling regulator in the uae, has a new CEO. Obviously, Kevin Mulally left the role in November last year.
But I think what's interesting is who they've hired.
So they've hired Kieran Carruthers obviously, as I'm sure you will know, Ed. He used to work at Crown Resorts. He also has worked at Wynne, at Sans and Galaxy, all in Asia.
And I suppose it's. Well, I mean obviously it's an interesting choice because this is a gambling regulatory authority and they brought in an operator CEO, you know, so it's someone obviously with a compliance background. He led a Crown through the kind of remediation process in the wake of the Bergen Report, which essentially said it was kind of rhythm with failings in its AML procedures and essentially brought it back to the point of being kind of like a licensable entity. And I think when you compare and contrast that with what you saw happen to Star Entertainment, where there was, you know, there was a lot of things like, you know, fairly kind of scandalous revelations in court about text between, you know, the executive team essentially looking to kind of fight any kind of remediation or kind of like tightening up of the compliance procedures.
Obviously it's more nuanced than that. That's just a very quick way of saying it. I think that's a really interesting choice to bring in. And also it's someone, someone that's coming more from that brick and mortar background, which I think is interesting because obviously you have the Wynne property as a result of the war. I think they have said publicly that they will experience some sort of delay to the opening times. We don't know what's no point in speculating.
But They've also launched Play971 as of course.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: So you've got wind being regulated by someone who was at Wynne.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: No, someone who was at the company decades ago.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Okay. I mean I'm sure that's positive for the industry and land based industry, the online.
I mean, quite frankly, I know you guys report a lot on the uae.
I know people are looking for new areas of growth but quite frankly I think it's just largely except for a handful of people of complete irrelevance, it's not going to be a big market. It's like, oh yeah, but Dubai's got lots of people with supercars and fancy buildings.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: It's like, I think it's going to be, look, I think for the brick and mortar side, I think there's a lot of scope and there's a lot of potential there and obviously there's going to be more properties developed. The online side, I'm intrigued by it, but we need to see the market develop. You know, it's too early to kind of go in with absolutes. And I think the nature of the opportunity, the fact it's in the United Arab Emirates, I think kind of adds like a, like a fascinating layer to it. Like, I'm really kind of intrigued to see how that market develops and evolves.
You know, it's like, I don't know what sort of, you know, kind of like success there will be, but thinking back to, yeah, it was ICE 2025, so we obviously partnered with GTGRA for a kind of, I suppose like a mini, kind of like, you know, like couple of hours in a day kind of summit, you know, a few different, you know, kind of like panels, discussion groups where we're trying to sort of, you know, shed some light on the market, what's going on in it. And one of the really interesting things, and I think another reason why the industry is going to be interested is it's very much receptive to looking to kind of support innovation responsibly. And I know a lot of people say that, but there is this like genuinely, I do feel there is a sense of a collaborative approach between regulator and industry. And as we've talked whined about a lot in this podcast, it definitely feels that that is either lacking in a lot of markets or can't be formed because, you know, because of a regulations and legislation and tax, know in tax increases.
So I think that sort of the idea that first of all it's happening and second of all it's, you know, it's kind of is, it's, you know, kind of like cautiously welcoming towards the industry.
I think that's, that's obviously going to be one of the reasons why people are interested and then funnily enough, actually big market, well, it's, it's an interesting market. We don't know what the market's going to look like at this time.
But interestingly we have a pretty good
[00:20:08] Speaker B: day because it's our job. But you know.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, you just said to me, you just said to me, when I said before this, you want to talk about uae, you said no, because I don't have the data on it.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: We don't have any official forecasts out. We've done work on it beforehand to see how interesting it is.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Well, yeah, you've done some work.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: It's going to be about 350 million for the, on, on online, you know, and that's Online.
Yeah, unless I'm talking about the online bit, you know, growth. The growth in the onshore in Finland is going to be almost. Is going to between two and three times that, you know, that's interesting for people. Yeah, well, look how shiny or super sexy is it because it's just now I'm just going to do some ridiculous.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Stop zeroing in in the online bit. Like a moth kind of like stereotype
[00:20:54] Speaker B: about the fins, I don't know, eat herring or something. But no, it's just I think there's a lot of.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: I don't think the fins even do eat herring.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: No, that's what I was saying. It's a bad stereotype.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's a terrible.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: I reckon the Finnish must eat herring.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: I mean, I think most people eat herring. You know, it's like it's generally, generally if you have a coastline, you're probably going to have herring in your diet at some point.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Yes. Finns eat a lot of herring. There you go. Do you eat herring? I don't eat herring.
I'm not into roll mop. Anyway. Sorry, I interrupted. Yes. I think the land based will be interesting but there'll be a couple of people who will benefit, so. And the online will be very few people who benefit. So I just don't think as part of the. I get the bit about having a regulator that is more pro industry, but I just don't think for the wider industry it's, it's a particularly adds much to the growth narrative that's going to be open to most people.
Hence it's not an area we're focusing on. But I could be proven completely wrong.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: You could be proven completely wrong. And I think, look, I mean I was trying to kind of lead you on to the Finland piece because Obviously I think 50 companies have now applied
[00:22:08] Speaker B: for licenses, which is arguably too many, quite frankly.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: One.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Well, how many? I mean if you look at what's sustainable in other markets, I mean Denmark, Sweden, they tend to look at more closely.
You know, there's probably by the time, by the time you get to. When the licensing.
Well, December's the time you probably want to look at it, isn't it? Because I think it said it's going to take six months and it's going to launch in the beginning of July. So really the end of December, all of those companies could in theory get licensed. I think we're already up to now near a 60, 70, so let's say 70, 80 by the time we get there. There's just no way A market that size can sustain it, especially because there will be a handful of operators who will have most of the market.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
So in terms of kind of like ultimate market size for that online part, since you have such a fixation in the online part. And also. Well, and also because like retail is still under a Vikhouse monopoly. So what sort of size scale are we talking about?
[00:23:22] Speaker B: So if we look at 2028, it's the first full year, we're looking at one and a half billion US dollars should probably do in euros given their currency.
It's on here, you know, US$1.4 billion for the, the license market compared to 275 million now.
So no substantial growth.
But if we then look at actually the total market now, because you've obviously got the, the significant offshore portion, so the total market now we have at 1.5.
So it's pretty much saying that the onshore is going to be the size of the total market now, but you're still obviously going to have offshore. So it's going to grow the market more. You know, we still have another half billion that will be offshore.
So what's that putting it around 75% channelization?
Ish. A bit more, maybe 80.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: And
[00:24:20] Speaker B: yeah, depending how things. Things go. And you know, Vikehouse are obviously going to be there and have their competitive advantage in terms of being licensed before everyone else.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: But arguably whether, whether that still stay toned. I mean, obviously there's been some speculation that it could be taken into private hands.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, they have, I think it's fair to say they have much more stringent player protection rules at the moment than offshore operators do. You know, which has really hit their revenues, I suppose, for the onshore. You'd imagine that will be largely evened out, although maybe they will, you know, if it stays in state hands, continue to operate with more, more protections than, than what's needed necessarily on the licensing or what's legislated for. And they will still be at a slight disadvantage, who knows. And then the final bit I think is of stop using the word interesting because some people may not find it. So you do a lot.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: I'm pretty sure we tried to. Early on we tried to stop using the word interesting because we felt we
[00:25:30] Speaker B: were overusing it as well as the words Netherlands and Brazil. But that failed.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we failed on all accounts here. Let's be honest.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: You know, what happens to people who are either currently targeting the market or. I think I read somewhere about a September 24th cut off potentially. And then actively versus passively targeting.
So you know what the kind of bad actor provisions going to be.
But I did like the Finnish regulators guidance on filling out the ledger, the applications which was.
Read it carefully, fill it out properly, and don't keep asking for updates because us responding to updates takes away time from us judging the applications, which I thought was pretty fair.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's practical, it's honest.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: And then what else happened today, Robin, in the world of regulation, of market openings,
[00:26:33] Speaker A: what else has happened?
[00:26:35] Speaker B: I think there's legislation now passed in New Zealand or there was a milestone that happened in New Zealand today.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Oh, the regulations were released. Yeah.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: So again, another market.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: We talked about New Zealand before. We're not.
I mean, you didn't. You didn't sound that enthused about it at that time.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Nice. Like it's good. I think it's, you know, there's only gonna be, what, 15 operators I think they've stayed with now.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
I mean, well, I suppose that's quite a small market. So you've got choice, but you don't have too much choice. You know, it's just when it's kind of like a fixed quota of licenses that always seems to run into problems. Well, I mean, I'm mainly thinking about Germany here. I mean, Germany, obviously, I think tried to do 12 licenses which did not work and did not go down.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Well, neither is an open market in Germany, to be fair.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: No, it's. None of it has been great.
I was there on holiday the other week and it was very nice.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Okay. Do you know that during the war.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Because they were trying to make the.
What are they called? More like the blimps that you get over football stadiums in the U.S.
you know, those things, the airship type things.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: Zeppelin.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Yeah, that kind of stuff.
Because they were trying to produce so much of those using cow intestines. There was a shortage of sausages.
That is, if my recollection of last night's episode of the Chase with Bradley Walsh is accurate.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Well, I don't think that was the worst thing that happened.
[00:28:34] Speaker B: No.
No. But let's move on from that.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: Yep. I feel terrible about that. I'm not gonna lie.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: What? The sausage. I know. Shortage of sausage.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: Sausage. Sausage. Sausage. First, I am brat.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: First, I am a. I'm a sausage fan.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Did you think I was talking about something else?
Yeah, I know. I meant sausage, as in verst. As in, you know, the word for a sausage in German.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Oh, no, that one went over my head.
I get it now. You should be proud of that. That was good. Not the worst thing to have happened. Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: So what is your favorite verst?
[00:29:21] Speaker A: A. Probably bratwurst. Well, no, curry. Verst.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Curry.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: Curry Verst.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
I went to quite a nice hotel. There's at a conference in.
That's probably Germany and I couldn't be bothered to do the networking. So I just sat in my room and ordered a currywurst.
And despite being a nice hotel, it came with one of those little plastic fishing or may have even been a wooden one. Little fish and chip shop.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: Things.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, that's. That's part of the. In the little cardboard tray.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Then it just felt a bit sad that there was this kind of like finger food and drinks downstairs at this networking event. It was to do with hotel industry at the time. And I just sat on this little table with my iPad and this little.
Effectively just having sausage and chips with curry sauce.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: There is a place called Vittis in Wittenbergerplatz.
I think there's one across the road which is more kind of historic, whatever. But Vittis, it's just the best one.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Fun fact. Gonna take away the word fun from this irrelevant fact. Best food I've had in Germany has to be the kebab at Berlin train station.
I went back there every day for five days. The kebabs in Berlin are unreal.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Yeah, they are very good, though. The restaurant seems very good. Went to two very good ones when in Bazaar.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: I feel we've drifted.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, we have somewhat.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: You know what's not great scene in Germany, in my view, no offense to David Hasselhoff and others, the music scene.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: I don't know. Ramstein, the Erze.
You know, the whole neide deutsche Hearta scene.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: It's all quite heavy stuff, isn't it?
[00:31:18] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's not. Yeah. I mean, you do get some kind of more ballady stuff, but you're not exactly going to have kind of like a big nine.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Unknown Z. Glove Ballon.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Great song.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: Great song.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: About nuclear war.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: 99 Red Balloons is about nuclear war.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: I just thought it was a love song. Now you've upset me somewhat.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: No, it's about. It's about nuclear war.
Okay, then at the end of the song, just. Just to finish off that, after that bombshell, quite literally at the end of the song, the. The bombs have all dropped and then there's nothing left apart from the red balloon. Slay into the SK game.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: When I think of red balloons, I just think of the. It's like clown, clown with one at.
Isn't like a horror film of a clown holding a balloon or something?
[00:32:14] Speaker A: It based in the Stephen King book?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: No, I can't be doing that. I did however watch Crocodile Dundee and Crocodile Dundee 2 over the weekend.
They are a couple of classics.
Yeah, right.
That could lead us in nicely to Australia.
Don't have anything to say on that. So where are you taking us next?
[00:32:38] Speaker A: I think I'm taking us to the end of the episode. This has been slightly shapeless half an hour, but at the same time we hope that amid all the chaos we've created some. Oh, no insights one bit.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: I wanted to talk about that European Commission just, just, just data, especially being used for policy.
Like it's one thing people on LinkedIn just putting AI scraped everywhere and people believing it. Fine. You know what? If you're stupid enough to believe what some new news thing that's only just popped up on LinkedIn and clearly is just scraping and AI ing stuff and put stuff out, then that's your fault for not not having a brain to look at trusted data.
However, when it's being used for policy, that's just beyond wrong.
And I saw a thing where the European Commission are proposing to do a 3% levy on online gambling companies which will generate 1.9 billion of tax revenue a year.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: But will it?
[00:33:47] Speaker B: No, not if you add up how much revenue licensed operators make across 27 markets and times it by 0.03. It's not rocket science, it's just bullshit. So make about half that.
So that bombshell.
Yeah, it just does. Does my head in that.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: There's just crap out there.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Anyway, anyway, anyway, I think that's a good point to end on.
As ever, it has been illuminating.
And we will be back next week, most likely.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: One final question. Do you know the relationship between Yogi and the other one?
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Kind of ward of state, like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson?
[00:34:45] Speaker B: No, Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: Boo Boo.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Do you know the relationship?
[00:34:51] Speaker A: No.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: Do you not know if one's. They're brothers or anything like that?
[00:34:56] Speaker A: No. I would imagine he just, I mean, bears are bears, aren't they?
[00:35:00] Speaker B: He's a close, close protective mentor and sidekick relationship, often interpreted as a proxy father son relationship. So the fact that you chose this suggests that you think of, you know, our relationship of you as a proxy father figure for me, which is worrying, but sweet.
And on that bombshell, thank you very
[00:35:25] Speaker A: much for listening and we will see you in the next one.
