VIGE 2017 – RECAP FROM E-GAME SPECTRUM | New developments of the gambling industry in the Netherlands and Serbia

The first ever gaming exhibition in Vienna took place last week – the Vienna International Gaming Expo (VIGE 2017) organized by EEGEvents - Part of EEG. Our media team attended the event and we have prepared short recaps about the seminars from the first two days of the expo. We also had the chance to talk to some of the speakers, all of them experienced professionals and visionaries  from the gaming industry.

After the Responsible Gambling talk VIGE2017 continued with panel talk about the current state of the gambling industry in the Netherlands and Serbia. 

Pieter Remmers from Assissa focused on the Netherlands and shortly presented the past and future policies for responsible gaming there. According to Mr. Remmers in the future not only land-based casinos and lotteries, but also eSports, DFS, VR and all other innovations should be subjects of responsible gaming campaigns. 

Mr. Remmers showed to the audience a picture from the year 1802 depicting a crowd waiting on a queue for lottery tickets. 'Nowadays, you can play thousands of games in just one hour', stated the speaker. 

The definition for responsible gaming given by Pieter Remmers emphasized the following: Policies and practices to prevent and reduce the harm of gambling. Responsible gaming is about informed choice to play well designed games in a secure and supportive environment.

According to the speaker the hardest thing about problem gamblers is that most of them would not go and seek help in the facilities – only 7-10% of them would ask for professionals help. In an interview for e-Game Spectrum Pieter Remmers shared:

Prohibition has never been a solution. It has to do with education and it has to do with motivation and changing your behavior. The regulation is also very important. There is a discussion between games of chance where you can't influence the results and games of skill where you can. Usually it's a mix of those factor and we should forget about the influence and just regulate it. 

The discussion continued with a presentation by Nikos Roumnakis, president of EOGL about the principles of the association with a main goal creating responsible gaming environment. He presented a map of established regulations across Europe, examples of monopolies and prohibition as well as countries with no regulation established. According to Mr. Roumnakis overregulating will kill the industry and taxes on winning are unacceptable. He insisted that balance should be found in order for the companies to legally operate and pay their taxes. 

Zoran Puhac also from EOGL presented the responsible gaming project on which the organization has been working in Serbia named “It's possible to quit.” 

So far in Serbia there have been certain programs and organizations from the NGO sector operating in the responsible gaming sphere. However, the aim of “It's possible to quit.” is to educate employees and popularize state hospitals help programs. Some of the results are certificating for companies and employees, as well as the publication of a special guide for employees. 

Author: Hristiana Petkova

Associate Editor