December 2015 President’s Message

The high season of exciting international gaming conferences and trade shows is slowly coming to and end which gives me time to reflect on the year that has passed.

From an IMGL perspective, clearly, the Spring and Autumn Conferences stood out, as both conferences were special in their own way, of a high quality and a great success. I already had the opportunity to thank the organizing team for the IMGL Spring Conference for their outstanding work in one of my last messages. Now I would like to thank the organizing team for the IMGL Autumn Conference for their commitment and motivation in putting together the first ever IMGL conference to be held in Latin America and in cooperation with the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). A huge thank you therefore goes to Ernest Matthews, Jaime Varela and Carlos Fonseca.

I would also like to thank IAGR Immediate Past President Birgitte Sand and her team of organizers for the productive and very pleasant cooperation. I think it is fair to say that the conference marked a milestone for both our organizations and a first step towards increased future cooperation. We were able to enjoy an entire day of joint sessions, where regulators and representatives of the industry discussed issues such as Know-Your-Customer requirements and how to improve the cooperation between authorities and the industry. Participants, i.e. representatives and consultants of the international gambling industry, the legal community and regulators from all over the world were able to share their knowledge and expertise and engage in an open and trusting dialogue with each other. This provided an invaluable opportunity to get to know each other in a lobby-free environment, and I am confident that the conference was able to succeed in tearing down at least some barriers that exist between regulators and stake holders of the industry.

Also the IMGL Masterclasses have proven to be highly demanded and a perfect addition to our IMGL Conferences and our organization’s educational and networking goal. I am pleased to say that we were able to host nine IMGL Masterclasses at different major events in London, Gibraltar, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Berlin, the Isle of Man, Malta, Sofia and Tel Aviv – including ICE and G2E, where the Masterclass was particularly well attended.  On top of that, IMGL hosted receptions in London, Macao, Amsterdam, and Las Vegas which were also well attended and provided excellent networking opportunities. We have received positive feedback in relation to all of these IMGL events. I take this as a signal that our endeavors to promote the international dialogue between gaming lawyers, industry representatives and regulators by offering this conference format and our receptions are welcomed, especially due to the high standard we are able to provide.  Due to the success of the IMGL Masterclasses, I am confident that we will host many more Masterclasses going forward.

For now I will conclude by wishing you all happy holidays, time to relax and enjoy the winter time and all the best for the New Year.

Please mark your calendars for the IMGL reception at ICE, which will be held at the Haymarket Hotel, London on 3 February 2016, the IMGL Masterclass at ICE (4 February 2016) and the IMGL Spring Conference, which will take place in San Francisco (20 – 22 April 2016). I am also happy to confirm that our IMGL Autumn Conference 2016 will be held in Dublin. The dates will be circulated shortly.