Conference Program

GLI Seminar

Certification matters: The importance of regulation and certification from a recognised test laboratory

Devon Dalbock, Chief Operating Officer – Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, GLI

This session explores the importance of regulation and highlights best practices. It will examine how regulations are adapting to the digital world and offer some insights into the regulatory challenges associated with online gaming. Finally, it will provide insight into the role of a recognised test laboratory and explain the relevance of certification.

GLI Seminar

Software signatures: What are they and how can they protect the integrity of your machines?

• Pierre Otto, General Manager, GLI South Africa
• Wendall Kaba, Senior Gaming Technology Advisor, GLI South Africa

What is a signature, and how are they generated? The panel of experts will give examples of how a signature will change even if one character in the original file is changed. They will also discuss the importance of making sure the software on your machines hasn’t been altered in any way.

GLI Seminar

Gaming and technology approval process

• Devon Dalbock, Chief Operating Officer, EMEA, GLI,
• Pierre Otto, General Manager, GLI South Africa
• Wendall Kaba, Senior Gaming Technology Advisor, GLI South Africa

Innovation is the cornerstone of gaming technology advancement. Gaming industry technical standards were written specifically not to limit the use of future technologies, yet applying these same technical standards to emergent technologies presents challenges and might require regulatory clarification or interpretive intent. This session will explore Skill and Hybrid Gaming solutions along with the technology and logic used to make gameplay decisions and ensure player fairness.

GLI Seminar close

Artificial intelligence will transform our industry

Earle G Hall, Chairman, International Gaming Standards Association and CEO, AXES.ai.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will redefine the gaming experience.

From customer service to marketing to responsible gaming and anti-money laundering, AI will transform all aspects of gaming.

This provocative presentation will educate you on the opportunities as well as provide safeguards to ensure that both regulators and operators have tools to welcome AI into their world while mitigating the risks.

Real-like examples of the opportunities and risks will provide reference points to evolve your understanding of what AI really is and can do.

Earle G. Hall is an internationally recognized entrepreneur, futurist, visionary, and innovator in several fields of technology and neuroscience.

Doing the right thing in a changing world: The regulatory view from Great Britain

Andrew Rhodes, CEO, Gambling Commission, Great Britain

Andrew Rhodes will deliver his thoughts on how the current UK Government review of gambling laws is impacting the largest online jurisdiction in the world and how the Commission’s work to tackle illegal online gambling is delivering real results for consumers across Great Britain.

IAGA Panel

Staying ahead of the online curve: Managing shifting regulatory challenges and opportunities

• Kirsten Clark, Executive Director, International Association of Gaming Advisors (Moderator)
• Sara Condo, Director of Regulatory Compliance, International Game Technology (IGT)
• Devon Dalbock, Chief Operating Officer, GLI Europe
• Anders Dorph, Director, Danish Gambling Authority

Global regulators are continually tasked with evaluating and implementing new technology and other service trends that are present in industries unrestricted by comprehensive regulatory frameworks. This presents numerous challenges and often leads to frustration, as regulators must safeguard the gambling products and services they offer while ensuring their jurisdiction stays current and balances responsibility with profitability and sustainability.

This session will explore some of the challenges regulators face due to the evolution and expansion of online gaming products, exploring issues like shifting consumer demands, ensuring responsible growth, the reality of cyber security concerns, balancing sufficient testing requirements with market responsiveness and more.

Gambling and the law®, best practice: The case for evidence-based regulations

Professor I. Nelson Rose, Professor Emeritus, Whittier College and Visiting Professor, University of Macau

The phrase “best practice” was coined in the 1960s and referred to procedures that real-world evidence showed were efficacious. Since then, the phrase has expanded to include practices that are not empirically based but rather based on ideology, social engineering, or worse, “common sense.”

For example, without studies, experiments, or any empirical evidence of any kind, jurisdictions started requiring slot machines to have pop-ups telling players how much money they have lost. Sounds like a common-sense way to reduce problem gambling.

Researchers have now concluded that pop-ups probably do cause many gamblers to bet less. But a study found pop-ups caused one group to bet more: compulsive gamblers.

Before the first casino opened in Atlantic City, the New Jersey Legislature required casinos to close at 4am, to give gamblers a cooling-off period. What could possibly go wrong?

Hundreds of tired and intoxicated people were dumped on the streets, becoming victims of car accidents and street crime. It took regulators years to convince legislators to change the law.

Every human activity creates unforeseen consequences. This presentation will ask regulators to see what could possibly go wrong with statutes passed with the best intentions.

Facilitating innovative, evidence-based approaches to player health and social responsibility

• Lindsay Kalbfleisch, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Greo

The Canadian gambling market is rapidly evolving, and estimates are that the online gambling market will double from $3.8 billion in 2022 to $6.2 billion by 2026.

This increasingly crowded, commercialised, and borderless gambling market is giving rise to population health concerns – placing greater pressure on the responsible gambling, player health, and social responsibility departments of crown corporations (government-owned gambling operators) operating gambling across Canada.

Because they have more control over the provision and commercialisation of gambling, government-owned gambling operators have the potential to manage gambling-related harm more effectively than markets that permit private operators.

For crown corporations to strengthen their social programming and demonstrate outcomes to minimise gambling-related harm, effective “backbone support” is necessary.

In this session,  you’ll hear case studies illustrating innovative programming aimed at minimising gambling-related harm achieved by Canadian crown corporations with the backbone support of Greo Evidence Insights. Implications for other jurisdictions will be highlighted.

The need for synergy among the African States to ensure a collaborated fight against money laundering, terrorism financing and syndicate gaming

Lanre Gbajabiamila, Director General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Nigeria

The rising popularity of social media marketing for lottery advertising is the main factor driving the African lottery business. As the use of smartphones increases in Africa, several lottery games based on mobile applications are appearing. Again, indicating a significant potential for regulators and licensed operators to expand into this sector, through increased synergy among African countries.

The rise of the lottery sector has also been helped by the rising usage of lottery proceeds for philanthropic endeavors. The income generated by the lottery industry in Africa implies that this business segment has enormous potential for expansion.

In response, American and European sports betting companies are rapidly entering Africa; this has led to the introduction of policies for effective regulation of remote gaming in Nigeria by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission.

This presents an insight into understanding exactly how much money is spent on lotteries in Africa, and the need for synergy among African States cannot be overemphasized.

The African sports betting market has a promising future. Participating in lotteries is one of the most popular gaming activities in the world as social media’s increasing use and the lottery’s all-around appeal have created a totally new online game genre. Players will always find a way to participate, regardless of whether operators have licenses or not. Therefore, establishing controlled and regulated lottery markets is essential to fully unlock the potential of gaming in Africa while combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

Socio-economic impact of gambling in Limpopo province, South Africa

Londani Mathavhane, Senior Manager, Compliance, Limpopo Gambling Board, South Africa

Join us for an insightful presentation on the regulation of the gambling industry in South Africa, with a focus on the Limpopo province. The objectives of this regulation include protecting society from excessive gambling, ensuring player protection and industry integrity, generating government revenue and supporting charitable causes, promoting economic empowerment, growth, development, and employment.

Based on a research report commissioned by the Limpopo Gambling Board (LGB) on the socio-economic impact of gambling in the province, this presentation will outline the extent to which these objectives have been achieved. We’ll discuss the challenges posed by problem gambling and how the LGB, in collaboration with the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, plans to address them.

Moreover, we’ll explore the impact of illegal gambling on licensed activities and its hindrance to achieving the established objectives. The presentation will offer a concise overview of how the LGB will utilize the research findings to inform future decision-making processes, including licensing, responsible gambling awareness, combating illegal gambling, and identifying potential research projects.

How regulators can own more of the unregulated gaming space

Adam Bjorn, Chief Operating Officer, Plannatech

This session explores how regulated operators and regulators can address the challenges posed by the unregulated market.

Opening remarks

IGSA centralised responsible gaming solution

Mark Pace, Vice-President, IGSA

More and more gambling jurisdictions are looking for ways to better protect vulnerable individuals from potential gambling-related harm. The most effective is the centralized Exclusion System, which ensures no excluded person can legally gamble.

Some gaming jurisdictions have and are looking at implementing means-tested gambling limits, including seeking to achieve a 360-degree view of player activity to identify potential harmful behaviour proactively. However, the currently proposed solutions may have some issues.

Means-tested solutions that rely on information being provided by the players or general average salary statistical data may be less than accurate. Other data points being contemplated to determine what a player may be able to afford may also not be very accurate. The idea of a 360-degree view of the player is a great one, however challenging to achieve since it requires player activity data from all of the gambling sites, potentially runs into personal data protection issues, and does not adequately protect operators who may view sharing player activity data as inviting competitors to try and ‘steal’ customers away.

IGSA has developed a process that fully anonymizes both players and gambling operators, centralizes Limits in the same way as Exclusions are centralized, and eliminates the Limits loopholes that exist today.

In keeping with IGSA’s recently launched Responsible Gaming Committee, this process fits into the multi-tier framework entitled the Responsible Gaming Maturity Model (RGMM), offering regulators and operators a path from discovery to a highly quantifiable and predictable RG model.

The RGMM will ensure regulators and operators can grow from implementing basic policy to managing a precise dashboard of KPIs generated from quantitative data.

A jurisdiction wanting to improve player protection may find that implementing IGSA’s process is a quantifiable step forward in addressing Responsible or Safer Gaming issues.

Gen Z – natural born gamblers

Christina Thakor-Rankin, Principal Consultant, 1710 Gaming

Meet Generation Z. Predicted to be the biggest generational group in the history of the planet ever and coming to a gambling site near you soon.

This session looks at how we need to re-think everything we know about problem gambling to address the challenges of a new generation that marches to a very different beat.

From their values and belief systems to behaviours, characteristics, traits and attitudes to life and lifestyle, and understanding how this is a generation pre-conditioned to become problem gamblers and why we need to act now.

The potential impacts of legalised sports betting in the United States

Dr Rachel Volberg, Research Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

This presentation reviews the current status of legalized sports betting in the United States, including an assessment of the various legislative and operational models adopted, revenues generated, economic and social outcomes identified to date, and sports betting behavior observed in states where this activity has been legalized.

The presentation begins with a brief history of sports betting in America and follows with a review of the research literature on the impacts of sports betting internationally. This is followed by a review of the variation in sports betting legislation, regulatory frameworks, and operations across the 30 or more states that now operate legal sports betting in the USA.

Next, the focus turns to quantitative data from recent national surveys of gambling behavior carried out by the National Council on Problem Gambling in 2018 and 2021 and from a series of cross-sectional surveys and cohort research carried out in the State of Massachusetts since 2013.

The presentation concludes with policy recommendations based on the available evidence that are intended to optimize the benefits of sports betting while minimizing the harms.

The gambling landscape in Botswana

Peter Emolemo Kesitilwe, Chief Executive Officer, Gambling Authority Botswana

The presentation starts with an overview of the history of gambling in Botswana, delving into the country’s gambling legislation and its impact on national priorities. It will also explore Botswana’s Vision 2036, which is built on key pillars such as Sustainable Economic Development, Sustainable Environment, and Governance, Peace and Security.

The talk will align with Botswana’s government reset agenda, focusing on topics like digitisation and digitalisation, and value chains within the Botswana industry. Peter will also address the need for a mindset change, particularly in the context of responsible gambling versus problem gambling, supported by evidence-based research findings in Botswana.

The presentation will align with Botswana’s Transitional National Development Plan priorities, covering aspects like monitoring and evaluation, planning and delivery, private sector participation, and the development and support of small businesses in the gambling industry.

Peter will conclude by discussing industry risks and challenges, along with strategies for their mitigation.

Let’s have a ‘yarn’ about gambling harm in First Nations communities

Victoria Thomson, Deputy Director-General, Liquor, Gaming and Fair Trading, Queensland, Australia

In 2021 the Queensland Government commenced the development of a public health campaign to address the issue of gambling harm in First Nations communities.

A process that started with a standard, traditional approach to the design of a communication campaign turned into a journey of walking with communities in a process of deep engagement and co-design.

This reimagined process was in direct response to feedback from early stakeholder engagement: that the way the campaign was planned to roll out risked creating a final product that would be viewed by the audience as just another out-of-touch government announcement.

In this session, Victoria shares the steps taken and the principles behind them, along with some of the results of targeted research conducted directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The presentation outlines the steps taken as an agency committed to a culturally responsive, partnership approach to minimising gambling harm for First Nations peoples.

Fresh thinking on customer sustainability

Seamus McGowan, Associate Director, KPMG Economics, KPMG

Phase 2 – Smart responsible gaming in electronic gaming machines: Using real-time identification of at-risk play to deliver the right message at the right time

• Tracy Schrans, Principal and President, Focal Research Consultant
• Dr Tony Schellinck, CEO, Focal Research Consultants

Current systems for delivering responsible gaming (RG) actions during play of electronic gambling machines (EGMS) are relatively simplistic. Most are activated when a player reaches a certain time or money threshold during a session of play. Regardless of risk or affordability, all players that reach these pre-set thresholds for session length or turnover are uniformly exposed to pop-up messaging or staff interactions.

The use of these broad rule-based triggers for RG messaging and customer support tends to be ineffective in leading to improved outcomes for players; players either ignore the messaging because it is not relevant to their play or simply change machines before the threshold is reached to avoid detection.

However, if targeted RG actions can be linked to the occurrence of relevant behaviours this means that the right players can be exposed to the right support at the right time, making it more likely the messaging will be meaningful and acted upon.

Focal is conducting an international, multi-operator research project with co-funding through the National Research Council of Canada to identify more sophisticated approaches to identifying at-risk players using real time machine data.

Early results from Phase One of the research were presented at the IAGR Conference in Melbourne in 2022. In Phase Two, we’ll discuss how the types of automated interactions that can be identified by the Smart RG EGM, including targeted promotion of pre-commitment tools, self-administration of prescriptive risk assessment screens such as FLAGS or alerting staff that a personal interaction may be required, expanding player protection coverage to all those gambling on the machines.

Opening remarks

Strengthen regulations and controls for effective treatment of disordered gambling

Sibongile Simelane-Quntana, Executive Director of the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation

This session examines whether the South African Laws are sufficient and provide an adequate environment for those with disordered gambling to seek help. It goes without saying that the current laws could be strengthened to ensure that those seeking treatment and diagnosed with the comorbid condition receive effective treatment. However, the current laws do not provide guidance on how those affected by disordered gambling who are already feeling financial constraints should seek treatment and how it should be financed.

Most operators see the need and understand the unintended consequences of gambling therefore provide the required financial contribution towards the National Responsible Gambling Programme so that it can treat those affected and provide support to their loved ones.

Whilst some operators benefit from the regulations they do not see the need to contribute to treating those impacted by problem gambling. This status quo will remain unless the government intervenes through provincial laws and ensures that all operators contribute towards the National Responsible Gambling Programme so that it provides the needed treatment.

Monetisation in gaming: Understanding the risks of the increasing intersections between gaming, gambling and speculative investments

Professor Paul DelFabbro, School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Australia

In recent years, increasing attention has been directed towards the growing monetisation or ‘gamblification’ of gaming activities particularly through the growth of pay-to-play micro-transaction systems and features such as loot boxes. However, relatively less is known about the emerging world of digital assets, in-game currencies and blockchain technology that can create regulatory uncertainty because of their fusion of different digital technology areas, multi-party and often multi-jurisdictional nature.

Examples include ‘gambling ecosystems’ involving the interplay between gaming platforms, digital asset trading platforms and the growth of in-game assets and currencies.

Another important development raising similar issues is the emergence of play-to-earn gaming, which utilises blockchain technology (cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens). Such games represent highly monetized gaming experiences that can include the requirement to purchase in-game assets to play, the use of volatile and often inflationary in-game currencies, as well as exposure to risky investment vehicles such as yield-farming, staking and in-game trading of currencies and in-game assets.

As shown in recent research, such business models appear attractive to speculative investors who are more likely to have existing problems with gambling.

KPMG Panel

Ensuring regulators are fit for the future – the skills required to regulate in a changing world

• Seamus McGowan, Associate Director, KPMG Economics, KPMG (moderator)
• Trude Høgseth Felde, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Gambling Authority
• Elizabeth Lusk, Chief Strategy Officer, Greo Evidence Insights
• Jeanette Knowler, Manager, Gambling Compliance Team, Australian Communications and Media Authority

Gambling regulation has a long history. However, the recent increase in the number of jurisdictions looking to regulate and tighten regulations in some jurisdictions means there are plenty more lessons to learn.

The advent of new betting markets and new products, as well as additional ways to pay for gambling services, offers a number of challenges for regulators globally. With these changes, comes the need for new skills in order to regulate effectively.

This panel will discuss some of the key upcoming challenges for regulators and explore the skills regulators are likely to require to keep pace with these changes.

Morning sight-seeing tour

For delegates staying a little longer in Botswana, you can join event hosts, Botswana Gambling Authority, for a morning and afternoon tour of some local tourist attractions.

We’ll head to the National Museum and the Thapong Visual Art Centre in the morning.

A shuttle bus will run from the Grand Palm Resort. Please meet the shuttle in the car park at 09:00.

The morning tour is expected to run until 12:00.

Afternoon sight-seeing tour

The afternoon tour will take you to the Mokolodi Nature Reserve.

A shuttle bus will run from the Grand Palm Resort. Please meet the shuttle in the car park at 14:00.

The afternoon tour is expected to run until 19:00.