The International Association of Gaming Advisors (“IAGA”) concluded its International Gaming Summit in Philadelphia, PA, held from October 28-31, 2014. The IAGA International Gaming Summit is the premier annual event for bringing together advisors from all sectors of the gaming industry: operators, suppliers, attorneys, regulators, investors, bankers and educators.
The program this year addressed the rapid and dynamic changing needs of advisors in gaming. The international list of speakers included industry leaders and key government officials, including:
• Tim Wilmott, CEO Penn National Gaming
• Gavin Isaacs, CEO Scientific Games Corporation
• Lau Peet Meng, chair of the International Association of Gaming Regulators and senior assistant commissioner of police, director operations in Singapore
• Birgitte Sand, incoming chair of the International Association of Gaming Regulators and CEO of the Danish Gambling Authority
• Geoff Freeman, president of the American Gaming Association
• Frank Fahrenkopf, past president of the AGA and co-founder of IAGA.
The IAGA International Gaming Conference was held back-to-back with the annual conference of the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). Attendees at both IAGA and IAGR represented gaming jurisdictions from throughout the world, including those in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.
2014 president of IAGA, Tommy Shepherd, a partner at Jones Walker LLP, said, ”This was an outstanding summit and one of our best attended, with almost 300 delegates. Our conference topics and speakers were commercially relevant and incredibly timely. I believe this made the IAGA International Summit one of the most substantive and informative gaming conferences of 2014. Year after year, this continues to be a wonderful opportunity for gaming regulators and industry advisors from all over the world to network with key decision-makers and hear thought leaders analyzing global trends in the gaming industry.”
At the Summit, new IAGA officers and trustees were named. IAGA officers for 2014-15 are President Katie Lever, Bally Technologies, Inc.; Vice President Martha Sabol, Greenberg Traurig; Secretary Michael Cohen, Caesars Acquisition Company and Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc.; Treasurer Laura McAllister Cox, Greenberg Traurig; and General Counsel John McManus, MGM Resorts International. Trustees elected were Greg Brower, Fiona Russell; Kevin Mullally, Tim Donovan, John Hagan, and Larry Orlansky, while those reelected as trustees were John McManus, Thomas Talos, Michael Nielson and John Stawyskij.
The 2015 IAGA International Gaming Conference will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia from June 2 to 5, 2015.
