Responsible Gambling & Anti-money laundering with Dan Iliovici (Romanian National Office of Gambling) and Alex Henderson(The Ritz Hotel Casino London)

Prague – 25 January 2018 – The leading boutique style gaming conference in Prague has announced more speaker profiles and it looks like the event will cover all hot topics of the industry.

Responsible Gambling is among the most searched topics of the online and land based industry in regulated markets of the European Union and with the Czech market regulation coming into place, the clear path towards an optimal performance has to be enlightened.

The organizers are honored to announce that the Responsible Gambling topic will be covered by Dan Iliovici, the President of the Romanian National Office of Gambling and the panel will feature important industry speakers such as Alex Henderson (The Ritz Hotel Casino London), Martin Arendts (ARENDTS ANWÄLTE), Pieter Remmers (Assissa) and a special guest from Harris Hagan.

In a recent interview, conducted by European Gaming Media and Events, Alex Henderson was asked about what social responsibilities does preventing money laundering include?

Alex replied the following:  “In many cases, social responsibility and AML go hand in hand. If an operator has good AML processes in place they will often detect problem gambling concerns and vice versa. We have seen in the recent enforcement action that when an operator is punished for their lapses in social responsibility they are also punished for their lapses in AML, this is because operators generally do not do enough to protect their customers. If an operator has done enough to determine a customer’s Source of Wealth (SOW) they should know when that customer is spending more than they can afford. Therefore if that customer is spending outside of their known income, an operator should be doing extra checks to determine if the customer is spending more, because they either have a gambling problem or they are spending more because they also have some illegitimate funds that have not previously been uncovered.”

You can read the full interview here….

With this fresh announcement the team has also announced that Anna Wietrzyńska-Ciołkowska (DLA Piper) will join the “Focus on Poland” panel.

Below you will find a few details of the above mentioned speakers, who will be part of the panel discussions designed to bring the latest information at the second edition of Prague Gaming Summi.

Anna Wietrzyńska-Ciołkowska (DLA Piper) 

Anna Wietrzyńska-Ciołkowska advises clients on mergers and acquisitions (both share and asset transactions), as a part of which she specialises in coordinating comprehensive due diligence reviews.

She is the head of the Media, Sport and Entertainment sector group in Warsaw, advising both offshore and domestic clients on the legal aspects of gambling, gaming and promotional lotteries. This includes advice on the legality of particular business models in Poland, the compatibility of Polish gambling law with EU law, the process of obtaining a gambling licence, payment solutions and gaming tax. She also  represents offshore gambling operators’ associations in the Polish gambling legislation process.

Anna’s articles are regularly published in the Polish media and in European sector publications. Her opinions are often sought as an expert on Polish gambling law and she frequently participates in panel discussions on the subject. She is also a regular contributor to the DLA Piper blogs All-In and MSE, dedicated to gambling and gaming issues. 

Panel: Focus on Poland

Dan Iliovici(Romanian National Gambling Office - ONJN)

Mr. Dan Iliovici is the President of the National Gambling Office ONJN – the Romanian gambling regulator, monitoring and controling authority. During the last six years Mr. Iliovici represented the interests of the gambling operators as executive manager of two of the most important associations of the industry. He was also member of the Consultancy Council from NGO, actively contributing at the new gambling regulatory framework in Romania. Mr. Dan Iliovici is also dedicated to the study of problem gambling, initiating and promoting the most important Responsible Gambling projects in Romania. He participated as speaker at conferences and seminars across Europe and published more articles on responsible gambling topic.

Panel: Responsible Gambling, AML and Gambling Licensing Procedures in the European Union

Alex Henderson (The Ritz Hotel Casino London)

Alex specialises in preventing money laundering in its varying forms and has a very unique insight that is hard to find.

Alex Henderson is the current Head of AML at The Ritz Hotel Casino, one of the worlds most prestigious casinos. Alex has worked for the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of the AML expert witness team and has been involved in multiple high end money laundering investigations. As well as having worked for several years as part of the NCA’s AML expert witness team, Alex spent much of his NCA career working as part of the covert operations unit (Undercover operations) portraying many different roles, including the role of a high end money launderer. This unique insight into the mind of a criminal allows financial institutions to see the vulnerabilities and risks from a new angle. Alex advises a large number of organisations with regards to their AML compliance programmes and has lectured extensively in the UK and across Europe. 

Panel: Responsible Gambling, AML and Gambling Licensing Procedures in the European Union

Pieter Remmers(Assissa)

Pieter Remmers is a veteran in the area of responsible gaming, consultancy and training of gambling industry professionals. He has been involved in projects with the gambling industry already since 1989. Pieter started his career as the director of an outpatient clinic for addiction problems of Jellinek in the early 80’s.

His company Assissa Consultancy Europe works/worked on responsible gaming policies and programmes in a number of countries i.e. Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Malta, Sweden and others. Besides Pieter is a consultant world wide for as well as the gambling and betting industry land based and online, casinos, slot machine halls and lotteries and for regulators or other governmental bodies.

He works/worked with companies like: IGT/GTech/Lottomatica, Holland Casino, Unibet, Sun International, Svenska Spel, Gauselmann/Merkur, Betsson, Krijco, Fair Play Casinos, Staatsloterij, Lotto NL, Casino 2000, Cogetech, Betfair, National Lottery and many more.

Panel: Responsible Gambling, AML and Gambling Licensing Procedures in the European Union

Martin Arendts (ARENDTS ANWÄLTE)

Martin Arendts is an expert in gaming law, EU law and securities regulation. He studied law at the universities of Passau, Hamburg, Speyer and St Gallen. In 1995, Arendts founded ARENDTS ANWAELTE, now one of the leading law firms for gaming and betting law in Germany (www.gaminglaw.de). Clients include many private bookmakers and remote gaming operators, licensed in the UK, Austria, Malta or Gibraltar, as well as affiliates and media companies in Germany. Recently, Martin Arendts dealt with several administrative law, constitutional law, criminal law, unfair competition law, trademark and licensing proceedings in connection with sports betting, lotteries and poker.

Martin Arendts regularly writes for national and international legal publications and speaks at conferences. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Internet Gambling Report, World Online Gambling Law Report, European Gaming Lawyer, Zeitschrift für Wett- und Glücksspielrecht/European Journal of Gambling Law, MultiMedia und Recht (MMR), Gewerbearchiv, Casino & Gaming International and ISA Casinos.

Panel: Responsible Gambling, AML and Gambling Licensing Procedures in the European Union

More speaker profiles will be announced soon, but you may want to check the already confirmed line-up of speakers and register in time. The event is limited to 125 seats. 

Visit the official website of the event for more details: https://praguegamingsummit.com/