April 2019 Presiden’ts Message

We are pleased to announce that the IMGL 2019 Spring Conference in New Orleans was a tremendous success.  Kelly Duncan, John Maloney and Donna More put together a great program of topical interest to gambling law professionals and other gambling industry stakeholders.

I’d like to once again thank our keynote speakers – Tim Wilmott of Penn National and Ronnie Jones, the Chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, who we were honoured to have join us. In addition to the keynote presentations, there was a considerable number of panels on topics highly relevant to the gambling sector, including ‘eSports’, ‘Sports League Entitlements’ in the context of sports betting, ‘Gaming, Elected Officials and the Media’, ‘Sports Betting – Lessons from Europe’ and ‘Card Rooms and Tribal Gaming’. Further, there were a number of discussion panels covering issues such as: ‘Sexism in the Gaming Industry’ and ‘the Wire Act’.

There were also a number of social events including our Gala Dinner at the renowned “Brennan’s” (sponsored by Fox Rothschild), our Welcoming Event at the Windsor Court Hotel (sponsored jointly by GLI and Spectrum) and our Closing Reception at the Tableau (sponsored by Jones Walker). Indeed, I would like to thank all of the sponsors of the New Orleans conference and particularly Konami for their continued support, as our Platinum sponsor.

As for upcoming events, I would like to remind you of our Autumn 2019 conference which is taking place in Munich from 11 to 13 September 2019. The Munich conference committee (led by Wulf Humbach) is arranging a fulsome conference to be held at the famous Charles Hotel.

Registrations for both accommodation and the Conference are available on the IMGL website.

Also, please note 1-3 April 2020 in your diaries for the IMGL 2020 Spring Conference which is to take place in Athens. Plans are well underway. Suffice it to say, IMGL has chosen Athens as a venue that will be a first for IMGL and will be a very attractive destination for our members and their guests.

The Executive Committee was very busy at the New Orleans conference, not just in arranging events but also in planning for the future. Several new committees have been formed. These include a Publications Committee (to be chaired by Marc Dunbar) and comprising Kok-Keng Lau, Simon Planzer, Stephanie Bates, Peter Kulick, Anna Soilleux-Mills and Veronique dos Reis. This Committee will focus on the outward facing aspects of IMGL, including the development of the IMGL website, IMGL publication platforms and social media.

We are looking forward to hearing from the Committee on their proposals for the manner in which we can provide more content and information relating to IMGL and its services; both to its members and more generally. We look forward to receiving their recommendations in Munich.

Also formed was a Young Members Committee (to be chaired by Matthias Spitz), an Indian Gaming Committee (to be chaired by Mike McBride) and an Educators Committee (to be chaired by Tony Cabot). IMGL looks forward to the work of these committees and their recommendations.

I look forward to seeing you all in Munich, and other upcoming IMGL events.

Best wishes,

Jamie Nettleton

President