River City Group and Van Mens & Wisselink's annual Pre-ICE meeting took place at the Industriële Groote Club in Amsterdam on Jan. 19, 2007. This year's event will be remembered not only for the splendid presentations, superb drinks and atmosphere, but also for the stormy weather conditions making it fairly impossible for attendees to arrive on time.
After last year's presentation by Martin M. Sychold, associated with the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, and Tjeerd Veenstra, director of De Lotto and member of the executive committee of European Lotteries (EL), this year the attendees were addressed by Mark Davies, co-founder of Betfair and the company's most regular spokesman at conferences, on television and on radio. He has played a key role in most of Betfair's major milestones in the last six years, developing the much-talked-about memorandums of understanding with sporting bodies around the world and leading the company's work with the U.K. government in the run-up to the Gambling Act 2005. He also led Betfair's lengthy discussions with the Treasury, as well as the fight for licensure in Australia, where he worked with the federal and state governments prior to the company gaining the right to an Australian base in February 2006.
In brief, Davies advocated that the remote gaming landscape is changing rapidly. Global players like Betfair understand that non-gaming companies are devoted to commence gaming activities. By means of cross-pollinations, companies try to increase their turnover by offering gambling products. For instance, global airline companies are considering offering remote games on board of their jets on continental flights.
In his opinion, companies active in the gaming industry--often one-trick ponies--should anticipate to the aforementioned development. By offering other gambling-related services, traditional players may succeed in spreading their company risk. This may be prudent if one realizes that government policies may change overnight (e.g. the United States), leaving companies active in the industry empty handed. Betfair is, therefore, expanding its product offering beyond betting exchanges.
Davies also touched upon the EU member state governments' monopolies on remote gambling. He strongly believes that a compelling reason for these governments to maintain their monopolies is their objective to safeguard tax revenues deducted from gaming activities. In his opinion, there is no pressing reason for the governments to prolong these policies, as Betfair expresses its willingness to contribute to the tax revenue. In addition to this, recent developments give reason to believe that these monopolies should no longer be retained. It seems that the European Commission supports this vision as they send letters of formal notice to the member state authorities questioning the gambling monopolies.
Two additional lawyers addressed the audience. Tony Coles, a senior partner with Jeffrey Green Russell, briefly discussed the latest developments in United Kingdom on gaming legislation. In general he believes that the recent developments in the United States, i.e. banning on-line gaming by applying the so-called money tracking approach, may influence member state government officials in their respective approaches toward gambling. He also elaborated on the famous “Gutshot” case, and summarized the case as “plain stupid.”
The third speaker, Quirino Mancini, a partner with Italian law firm Sinisi Ceschini Mancini & Partners, discussed the impact of the latest Italian gambling liberalization. He stressed that due to newly adopted gambling legislation, there is uncertainty as to whether certain remote games fall within the scope of aforementioned legislation. Furthermore, he advocated that the prime reason for liberalization was the budget deficit of the Italian government. This seems to confirm that member states tend to use their gambling policies to compensate budget deficits.
Unfortunately, Dr. Wulf Hambach, a partner at Hambach & Hambach, did not succeed in conquering the aforementioned Dutch weather barrier, leaving him with no time to address the crowd. Nevertheless, the organizers thank him for being present at the cocktail reception and are positive that he will address the attendees next year.
This year's event set a new attendance record of 70 people. Among the attendees were representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, representatives of various regulatory bodies and parties active in the industry in Malta, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Plus, many new faces were given a unique opportunity to meet and greet parties already successfully active in the industry.
Betfair's Mark Davies (right) chats with Dutch justice ministers.
Attendees listen to Tony Coles' presentation.
Justin Franssen, Van Mens & Wisselink.
Quirino Mancini, Sinisi Ceschini Mancini & Partners.
Tony Coles (right), Jeffrey Green Russell, and Justin Franssen, Van Mens & Wisselink.