September 2023
Attendees to the IMGL’s two annual conferences represent some of the world’s leading gaming lawyers and regulators. September’s Zurich event was no exception with industry experts traveling from five continents to Switzerland’s largest city. Joining them were two Asensi partners, Alla Serebrianskaia and managing partner Santiago Asensi who both played important roles in the agenda.
Serebrianskaia moderated a session on the relationship between the gambling industry and the media. The advertising of gambling products has been subject to increasing restrictions in recent years which is damaging both to the industry and the media. Serebrianskaia steered the discussion towards a more positive future as speakers Luís Portela de Carvalho of Clever Advertising, Yanica Sant from 888 William Hill, Malta, Tomas Enrique Garcia Botta of MF Estudio, Argentina and Quirino Mancini of Tonucci & Partners shared their vision for the two sectors to become allies in the fight against illegal gambling.
Asensi was one of the contributors to a panel on the contribution of sound regulation and effective enforcement to meeting the aims of regulators the world over. Keeping gambling safe, fair and free from crime is a universal objective but they are all jeopardised when players are driven towards the grey market. Asensi held out the example of Spain as a jurisdiction which made a very promising start when gambling was legalized but which is now bowing to political pressure and imposing greater restrictions on its licensees. The mood among other speakers on the panel representing Italy, Germany and the UK was sombre, but the message of the existential risk to licensed gambling was an important one for attendees to take back home.