GIGSE winds up

16.06.2005

The final day of this year's Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo (GIGSE)started on a serious note but ended in typical light-hearted fashion as delegates from 47 countries started heading back to their offices and homes.

Online gambling issues in law and regulation were under the microscope by panels that reviewed everything from the UK Gambling Act to the US legal climate and recent actions against US advertising media by the Department of Justice.

In the UK, the soon-to-be-announced commission that will control gambling in Britain will be faced with consultation and framing regulation to govern companies seeking a UK home. And the word at GIGSE was that come August this year the industry will hopefully know what the tax rate for online gambling companies falling under British law will be, a key consideration for gambling groups considering a move to that jurisdiction.

The current sovereignty litigation on cross border gambling within the European Community was summarised by lawyers from several countries, trying to guide delegates in the sometimes complex path of legal action taken by state bodies that see their monopolies threatened by the borderless nature of on line gambling.

Later in the day, Sanjay Balakrishnan of Party Gaming in Gibraltar and Costa Rican based David Gzech of True Poker reviewed thevibrant poker sector and possible growth areas in terms of marketing, location and technological advances.

There seemed to mixed views on how fast mobile poker could take off. Most delegates could see the potential for this new area, and certainly all the main providers seem to be developing solutions in this area. Poker Room staffers put on an excellent practical demonstration of their good looking and cleverly focused product, showing razor sharp graphics. Using a large screen, delegates were taken through the intuitive steps required and were generally impressed.

Back in the Expo Hall, Gambling Federations Talia Paschini said that the provider had recently acquired an RNG certificate from the independent TST labs. With some 88 licensee brands on board, the group has introduced multi-currency services and is busy integrating the Tribeca Tables poker software with a July launch in mind for its licensees.

GFED has some 85 games in its inventory now, and is committed to launching a new game every month using its proprietary software. Caribbean Poker, described as a blend of poker and blackjack was on display, together with a slot called Dragon's Lair. The group is also set to offer the popular Oriental tile game Mahjong following a deal with Mahjong Mania.

Skill Gam,es are on GFED's agenda, too but will be outsourced from FUN Technologies subsidiary SkillJam.

Alan Weinrib's CredECard that was discussed at the EIG in Barcelona late last year was soft launched just before GIGSE as an anlternative payment solution for the industry. The full operational debut is scheduled for August this year.

Soaking up knowledge and making contacts was a 9 man delegation from the South African government, which is considering genuine regulation of online gambling, depending on the conclusions of a special study task force due to present its findings to government before June next year. The group, which included officials from the SA Reserve Bank has received advice on different regulatory options by well known figures in the international regulatory sector including Andre Wilsenach from Alderney and Andrew Beveridge, the CEO of eCOGRA.
A decision in favour of i-gaming could have benefits for the industry and the country, which has advanced telecommunications and financial services infrastructures.

On the Chartwell Technologies booth, Aideed Shortt told us that Chartwell Technologies was busy integrating the new MicroPower poker technology into its systems following the acquisition of this company recently. A no-download poker variant using Flash technology is due for introduction within the next two months.

Other Chartwell developments include new bingo offerings and intensive in-house activity is taking place on mobile casino and soft games. Impressively fast and slick looking soft games (one is called Matterhorn) were demonstrated on the Chartwell kiosk, with crisp and imaginative graphics and a fun gamestyle.

Although Skill Gaming is on the Chartwell agenda it is not apparently an immediate priority for the company. The full suite of Chartwell games is now available on both download and no-download platforms, and the companys 30 plus brands will have new games in all categories at the rate of 8 to 10 each quarter.

As we went to press GIGSE was closing on a high note of confidence, and not a little sense of fun after a thoroughly absorbing series of discussions and the ever useful networking. Segwat commuter vehicles were being used in a series of races between industry execs to raise money for a Californian problem gambling project this year, and $50 000 had already been reached before the conference began. The final champion had yet to be announced as we went to press, but our money was on Mike Staw of RTG, whio looked as if he had been getting in a lot of practice on the unusual two-wheeler.

With many delegates flying out to global destinations, River City officials were being congratulated on a particularly successful and confident online gambling conference that showcased an industry of growing maturity and positive ambitions for the future.