2023 in Review

Dear friends and colleagues,

I think we can look back on 2023 as a year when the IMGL really hit its stride again after the disruption of Covid. It was great to see so many of you at the numerous industry events throughout the past twelve months including our receptions at ICE and G2E which were, as ever, oversubscribed. We had two exceptional conferences of our own and I must pay tribute to the chairs of the organising committees, Greg Giordano and Dr. Simon Planzer, for their tremendous work on both the content and social programs. We also enjoyed the support of a large number of sponsors whose generous contributions allowed us to put on a real show in both Napa and Zurich.

We are already at an advanced stage of planning our 2024 conference season, between our own Spring and Autumn events, and multiple Masterclass panels we will deliver in connection with other important industry shows.

In particular, April will see us head to Tampa Bay in Florida for what is shaping up to be another great learning and networking opportunity, while we will return to Rome in October, exactly 20 years after our first event was held there.

We will also announce the winners of our second Student Writing competition following the successful launch at Napa, a contest we are aiming at permanently attaching to our bi-annual conferences in an effort to make gaming law an officially recognised and fully respected specialist branch of law.

The Rome conference is a partnership with IAGR, part of a push to foster our already strong links and relationships with international gambling regulators. Another part of this initiative is a joint IMGL-IAGR Masterclass being held in London to coincide with ICE in February. This invite-only event for regulators, industry leaders and IMGL general members is another way in which we will be leading the conversation around gaming law in 2024.

One of my priorities as president is to expand the reach of the IMGL into new jurisdictions as well as recruiting new members from such categories as regulators, advisors, C-suite executives and senior compliance officers in order to offer the global gaming industry an ever broader and inclusive gathering and networking place to interactively exchange information, views, ideas, and last but not least, make new friends. Welcoming our first Ukrainian regulator to our Zurich conference and hearing reports of members spreading the word at the East European Gaming Summit and SBC’s LatinoAmérica Summit shows that this work continues. I am also excited about developments in Africa and would value the opportunity to talk with members about how we can increase our presence here too.

It is not all about geography: I believe we also have the chance to increase our representation among lawyers who work in-house for gaming companies. I hope our drive in all these directions translates into new and diverse members, conference attendees and, of course, readers of the IMGL Magazine. Speaking of which, I hope you enjoy this edition and I would like to take the opportunity to wish you every success in 2024.

Quirino Mancini