Bren O'Brien opens the conference with a wrap of the racing year that was. From the highlights and standout performances to the talking points and turning points that shaped the sport, he sets the scene with a sharp, considered read on where racing has been and the momentum it carries into the year ahead.

• Bren O’Brien - Managing Editor, The Straight

Don Carducci sets the tone with an incisive read on the Australian market: where it sits today, the forces shaping it, and where it's heading next. Drawing on his equity research vantage point, he frames the commercial landscape and the trends that will define the conversations across the two days to follow.

• Don Carducci - Head of Emerging Companies, J.P. Morgan

Innovation is no longer confined to the betting screen. From biometric monitoring that tracks an animal's health in real time, to the platforms powering wagering markets, to the data science reading customer behaviour, technology is now reshaping every link in the chain.

This panel brings together innovators from across that spectrum to explore where the real breakthroughs are happening and how the same tools driving commercial edge are increasingly being turned to integrity, welfare and player protection.

Product, technology and commercial leaders will get a fast-moving look at the innovations set to define the next few years - and what it takes to stay ahead of them.

• Stephen Crispe - Managing Director & CEO, Racing and Sports (moderator)

  • Jake Henson - CEO, Betmakers

  • Troy Benton - GM, Growth & Innovation, Tabcorp

  • Nadine Grinblat - Australasian Associate, Focal Research Consultants

  • Lonnie Bossi - CEO, VetChip

Prediction markets are gaining serious ground globally, letting people trade on the outcomes of elections, sport and beyond, and increasingly encroaching on territory traditional wagering has long called its own. As capital and attention flow into these platforms, the industry is being forced to reckon with a new kind of competitor - one that doesn't always sit inside the regulatory frameworks built for traditional bookmaking.

As the line between betting and trading continues to blur, this fireside chat asks what prediction markets mean for an industry built on a very different model of risk, pricing and customer relationship, and whether they represent a genuine threat to traditional wagering, an adjacent opportunity, or something the industry hasn't yet worked out how to categorise.

• Dan Lovecek, Principal, Senet (moderator)

  • Tom Waterhouse - CEO, Waterhouse VC

  • Robert Cantwell - Partner, Lathrop GPM

  • Julian Hoskins - Principal, Senet

Stolen identities, synthetic profiles and automation have turned fraud into a high-volume, industrial operation - slipping through onboarding and cashing out before anyone notices, and evolving faster than the defences built to stop them.

This session goes inside the contest between the industry and the people trying to beat the system: how the threat is changing, where the biggest vulnerabilities sit, and what smarter detection, data enrichment and shared intelligence can do to close the gap.

For risk, operations and commercial leaders, it's a practical look at protecting revenue, customers and integrity without adding the kind of friction that drives good customers away.

Most people experience the racing industry from a single vantage point. Mary Collier has had the unusual privilege of seeing it from many different seats, across a career spanning race clubs, principal racing authorities, wagering operators, peak industry associations, boards and government.

In this keynote, she draws on that cross-industry perspective to explore why decisions that appear obvious from one seat can look entirely different from another, why alignment matters more than agreement, and how understanding the responsibilities that come with different seats can transform the conversations that shape our industry.

A thoughtful session on perspective, leadership, alignment, and what it takes to move an industry forward together.

• Mary Collier - Strategic Advisor - Racing Industry Reform, Racing Queensland

This discussion explores the key levers the racing and wagering industry can pull to make betting more appealing, more engaging and ultimately more sustainable for future generations of punters and the industries that rely on them. We'll hear from professional punters on the key issues shaping their investment decisions, including trust, fairness and the future of wagering, before Michael Horne provides the operator's perspective on where that relationship is heading.

• Matt Welsh - Co-Founder, Betsy (moderator)

  • Kingsley Bartholomew - Founder, Wolfden

  • Matt Taylor - Co-Founder, Wolfden

  • Bella Anderson - Mounting Yard Analyst

  • Michael Horne - Chief Wagering Officer, Amused Group

An expert panel on the commercial and structural forces shaping thoroughbred breeding and syndication today. From market pressures and the health of the foal crop to how different jurisdictions are responding, this discussion spans the challenges facing the industry - and the growing role of syndication in broadening ownership and bringing new participants into the sport.

• Cameron Rodger - Co-Founder, Evergreen Advisory (moderator)

  • Andrew Hore-Lacy - CEO, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia & Aushorse

  • Bruce Slade - Director, Kestrel Thoroughbreds

  • Lachlan Fitt - Co-founder, Evergreen Advisory

No two markets regulate gambling the same way. The pressures may have similarities across jurisdictions, but the responses reflect very different priorities, politics and appetites for reform.

This panel brings together senior regulatory voices from New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom for a candid read on where their markets are heading, how their approaches differ, and what the policy trajectory means for a sector that shares the same challenges but plays by different rules.

For operators, regulators and advisers watching reform gather pace at home, it's a rare chance to compare notes across three mature markets and to consider what today's international developments might signal for the questions Australia takes up next.

• Jamie Nettleton - Partner, Addisons (moderator)

  • Dr Eliot Forbes - Chief Executive Racing Integrity Board NZ

  • Robert Cantwell - Partner, Lathrop GPM

  • Andrew Rhodes - Principal Consultant, Hawkbridge

Conference delegates are invited to attend an evening of networking on Wednesday 2 September.

Attire: Business casual and comfortable.

Address: Melbourne CBD location, confirmed on registration

The courtroom is becoming one of the most consequential arenas for the wagering sector. Class actions, regulatory enforcement and public inquiries are testing how far an operator's obligations extend - redrawing the line on consumer protection.

Drawing on a practice that spans acting for operators, regulators and government, Andrew Cameron KC, maps where the legal risk is concentrating, what recent cases and inquiries signal about operators' obligations, and how the Courts' thinking will shape what's required next.

For legal, compliance and executive leaders, it's an early read on the risks heading their way

• Andrew Cameron KC - Barrister, Aickin Chambers

The rollout of BetStop, rising regulatory expectations around identifying and responding to gambling harm, and proposed reforms to wagering advertising are reshaping the compliance landscape operators must navigate.

Bringing together regulatory policy, behavioural science and operator-side delivery, this panel asks how earlier detection and smarter data can ease operational burden rather than add to it. Expect a frank look at what's realistic to implement without degrading customer experience, how operators can build trust and stability into their protection frameworks rather than treat them as a cost centre, and what Australia's self-exclusion scheme, BetStop, has taught us so far.

• Sonja Bauer - Australasian Associate, Focal Research Consultants (moderator)

  • Dr Sally Gainsbury - Professor, University of Sydney

  • Carolyn Lidgerwood - Authority Member, ACMA

  • James Neary - Head of Customer Trust and Operations, Amused Group

The integrity of racing and sport faces pressure on more fronts than ever. Some threats are deliberate - race- and match-fixing, corruption and the misuse of inside information, while others are more systemic, from the challenges of governance and welfare to the sustainability pressures reshaping the industry from within. All of them test the confidence that participants, punters and the public place in a fair result.

This panel brings together law enforcement, strategic intelligence and racing administration for a frank look at the threats facing the industry today - how they're detected, how they're managed, and how the organisations charged with protecting racing and sport are working to stay ahead.

• Terrie Benfield - Racing Integrity Commissioner, Victorian Government (moderator)

  • Adrian Molloy - Principal Consultant, Gamma Strategic

  • Charlotte Mills - Consultant, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing

  • Anthony Thomas, Victoria Police

Illegal offshore gambling poses a significant threat globally to consumer protection, sport and racing integrity, and government revenue. As unlicensed operators become increasingly sophisticated, traditional enforcement measures are struggling to keep pace. This keynote will examine the scale of Australia's offshore gambling challenge, the risks posed to consumers and sporting integrity, and the Government's proposed new measures to strengthen enforcement against illegal operators. Drawing on the latest research and real-world examples, Kai Cantwell will explore how governments, regulators and industry can do more to protect consumers and ensure Australians continue to bet in a safe, regulated market.

• Kai Cantwell - CEO, Responsible Wagering Australia

Racing and wagering are often treated as separate interests, each fighting for its own corner of the value chain. Yet the health of one stakeholder shapes the fortunes of all: weaken wagering and racing funding erodes; weaken the racing product and wagering participation falls; and integrity failures damage everyone.

But this is only one of many competing priorities that must be carefully balanced across the industry. In this keynote, Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison looks beyond the racing versus wagering dynamic and explores the realities of leading a complex industry where stakeholders often have different, but equally legitimate priorities. He reflects on the challenge of balancing those interests while making decisions that support the long-term success, sustainability and integrity of the broader operating environment. Aaron discusses public confidence as a shared asset and Racing Victoria's unique role, as a Principal Racing Authority and steward of the collective interests of the industry, acting for the whole ecosystem in a way no single stakeholder can.

• Aaron Morrison - Chief Executive Officer, Racing Victoria

Australia's wagering and racing industry is being reshaped on every front at once - advertising reform, the rise of AI and data, and mounting pressure to keep customers safe and inside the regulated market. For the leaders running these businesses, the same question sits underneath it all: how do you keep growing when the rules, the technology and the funding model are changing at speed?

This showcase brings chief executives from across wagering, racing and regulation together for a candid conversation about where the real opportunities and risks now lie, from innovation and integrity to customer acquisition and the long-term sustainability of the industry. A rare chance to hear how the people at the top are placing their bets on what comes next.

• Don Carducci - Head of Emerging Companies, J.P. Morgan

  • Suzy Neilan - CEO, VGCCC

  • Karl deKroo - CEO, Brisbane Racing Club

  • Andrew Vouris - CEO, Entain Australia and New Zealand

  • Andrew Catterall - Group CEO, PointsBet