Law will make or break industry, top CEOs agree
888's Gigi Levy, Unibet's Petter Nylander and Bwin's Norbert Teufelberger were among chief executives that agreed this morning that regulation of EU and US gaming markets is the number one issue facing the egaming industry, but were upbeat on both EU and US regulation.
888’s GIGI LEVY, Unibet’s Petter Nylander and Bwin’s Norbert Teufelberger were among chief executives that agreed this morning that regulation of EU and US gaming markets is the number one issue facing the egaming industry.
Speaking at the CEO Panel discussion of the European iGaming Congress and Expo (EIG) in Copenhagen, the business leaders reaffirmed the consensus found among operators including Betfair, Betsson, Bet365, Bwin and Unibet in this year’s Power 50 of top operators that laws governing internet gambling will determine the future growth of the industry.
888 chief executive Gigi Levy (pictured) said: “The big issue for the industry is regulation. Regulation, and in particular the recent ECJ verdict [against Bwin in the La Santa Casa da Misericordia case], is the big thing facing us. It is the one thing that could change the industry altogether on the European side.”
However the panel was optimistic that the EU and USA would eventually legalise online gambling.
Referring to the ECJ’s judgement against Bwin, Bwin co-chief executive Norbert Teufelberger said: “The ECJ verdict on face value is not positive to us, but we still believe that in the next two to three years we will see more [European] markets opening up for us. This will benefit local operators too, and will create a very tough time for the pirates.”
Teufelberger added: “We predicted that the ECJ decision would go the way that it did. But what disappointed us was the reason given: the idea that egaming is dangerous is just outright wrong. Protecting monopolies entices pirates, as the market in Holland shows. But we don’t believe that’s a situation that regulators want.”
Unibet chief executive Petter Nylander added: “Consumers have made their choice “ they don’t want the monopolies. Consumers have created the market and governments are just trying to catch up
Gigi Levy described the attempts to stop online gaming in the USA that followed America’ Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) as “completely useless” and said that “the US market continues,” continuing that “it is quite clear that regulators will try to catch up and that the market will open. We hope that other regulators around the world will see that, and rather than having consumers lose money and government lose tax revenue, will regulate.”
Norbert Teufelberger was also upbeat on the prospects of Asian market opening, adding that “we have a strong brand there due to short sponsorship” and that Bwin’s purchase of MMOG brand UnitedGames yesterday was primarily concerned with the Asian market.
However Jim Ryan did not share Teufelberger’s optimism about Asia, and said that PartyGaming had decided to de-focus on the Asian market and re-invest resources in preparing for the US market to open.