Need To Know: the big R
As if to emphasise how the industry has to dance to its tune, regulation forced its way back onto the news agenda with a vengeance this week. A chink of light in California, a setback in the Netherlands...how can the industry negotiate this ever-changing terrrain?
After the most fleeting of vacations, to borrow a phrase from our friends across the Atlantic, regulation forced its way with a vengeance back to the top of the news agenda this week.
First to the punch, the US state that first entertained the idea of an intrastate poker system, California, introduced its bill “ finally – with urgency status, meaning it could take effect immediately upon legislative passage and signature by the governor. The US panel on Day 1 of EGR Live this month will of course be providing the lowdown on this and the bills in New Jersey and Florida, by including two pivotal figures in the US intrastate push, Secured American Games’ Jim Tabilio and iMEGA’s Joe Brennan.
Rather less promising news for the industry however followed yesterday, with Ladbrokes and Betfair losing their long-running battle to overthrow Dutch monopoly De Lotto. The implications of this and of the slow march of the local licence model across Europe will also of course be tackled on Day 1 of EGR Live, by the stellar pan-European legal line-up of Wulf Hambach, Thibault Verbiest, David Clifton, Santiago Asensi, Justin Franssen and Quirino Mancini.
The explosive growth regulation can bring to a market was also illustrated by Italian poker market leader Microgame unveiling a 151% increase in profit last year. This is of course a market in which alternative games have rapidly become an important part of the egaming landscape. Dermot Smurfit of GameAccount and Shay Shevach of Rummy Royal will be discussing this on the Spotlight on alternative games and opportunities panel, which closes Theatre 2 on the first day of EGR Live.
As its full-year results revealed this week, NetPlay TV has also benefitted from a regulatory change of sorts to expand its business onto the UK’s terrestrial TV channels. Both the group’s non-executive chairman Clive Jones and chief executive Martin Higginson will be explaining their strategies in more detail at EGR Live.
GMTV chairman Jones will be appearing on the Spreading the word panel on Day 1 to give his take on what the industry needs to do to hit the mainstream. Higginson meanwhile will appear on Day 2 on the Spotlight on TV Gaming session alongside Jurian Van Der Meer of Endemol and Crispin Nieboer of Poker Channel-owner Gaming Media Group.
Finally, as also revealed this week, the view from the player side will also not be neglected at the event, with Yahoo! Unveiling exclusive new research into online gambling behaviour on Day 1.
See you there.