Gaming Executive Summit Europe 2009

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In the context of the wider issues that are the concern of the online gaming industry, two issues predominate. One is the creation of a unified seamless European online gambling market. The other is the expectation of a regulated American online gambling market that will allow participation from offshore operators. The general opinion among the leaders of the online gambling industry was that neither of the above scenarios is likely to materialize in the foreseeable future. These opinions were expressed during the Gaming Executive Summit Europe 2009.

The Gaming Executive Summit Europe 2009 was held in Madrid from July 7 to July 9. The pre-conference workshop was held on July 7 and the actual conference took place on July 8 and July 9. On July 8 the deliberations centered around the future of the online gaming industry with respect to different markets and potential business models. On July 9 the focus was on the different sectors that make up the online gaming industry. All the big names in the online gaming industry were represented. Participants included Brian Hadfield from Cryptologic, John Kelly from the Gala group, Alex Kovach from Ladbrokes, Gigi Levy from 888 Holdings, Jim Ryan from PartyGaming and Roger Withers from Playtech.

Gigi Levy spoke on the future of the US online gambling industry and its repercussions for offshore operators. He said, "The US will be protectionist even if it regulates, and its withdrawal from its GATS (General Agreement of Trade and Services) commitments means it doesn't have to conform to any World Trade Organization regulation on Internet gambling." Therefore European online gaming operators will not benefit from legalization of online gambling in the United States. The major beneficiaries will be the land-based gambling companies in the United States that are ready to go online once online gambling is legalized. It is these companies that will be issued licenses to operate within the United States. He also pointed out that there are five US states that are looking at regulating online poker in order to boost their revenues. In this case also the licenses will go to US companies. Jim Ryan commented on the advantage available to gambling operators functioning in the United States. He said that these operators generate huge profits in the American market and use the cash surpluses to create competitive advantages in other markets.

The leaders of the online gambling industry also seemed to agree that in future the markets will be more nation oriented rather than moving towards a unified global market. This stemmed from the different regulatory mechanisms being adopted by different nations. This would mean that gambling operators would have to adopt different approaches in different countries. Playtech's Mor Weizer said that such an insular approach had enabled his company to become the number three poker network in Italy. Ryan foresaw that major media companies and state monopolies would become significant competitors in the online gaming industry and pose a real threat to the existing traditional operators.

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