Speakers

Aleksey Belinskiy

Studio Director/ Lead, Senior Architectural Designer, Steelman Partners Europe BV

Aleksey attended the renowned PRATT Institute in New York for his architectural studies after learning Civil Engineering in Ukraine and USA. He graduated with honors with a degree in Architecture.

He began his career in New York, working on the design of high-end retail and residential projects for such clients as Versace (flagship store, residence and retail locations nationwide), Cirutti (New York flagship store), Escada (retail locations nationwide) and H.Stern Jewelers (New York flagship store). Later,he managed nationwide expansion programs for Escada company stores and other retail clients such as Coach and Venator Group. In addition, he has also designed award winning restaurants for such celebrity chiefs as George Perrier and Susanna Foo.

After 2001 Aleksey moved to the Philadelphia area, where he expanded his gaming/ hospitality portfolio; working for Boyd Gaming/MGM (Borgata Casino and Spa in Atlantic City) and MTGA (Mohigan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs). He successfully headed the $65 millionrenovation/conversion of Philadelphia Race track to Philadelphia Park Casino for Greenwood Gaming as well as worked on a number of resorts in the Caribbean and Florida areas.

Aleksey managed Steelman Partners’ East Coast office in Atlantic City from 2007 to 2011 and has worked on many gaming projects in USA and in Europe. Successful business growth in Europe led to Steelman Partners opening an office in the beautiful city of Amsterdam where Aleksey overseesthe companies work in such countries as Holland, Greece, Slovenia andMonaco.

Currently Aleksey is thedirector of our European operations. He splits his time between managing ongoing gaming and hospitality projects and developing new business.

Andrew Tottenham

Consultant for Las Vegas Sands

Antonis Stergiotis

CEO, Club Hotel Loutraki S.A.

Mr. Antonis Stergiotis is Chairman BoD & Managing Director of CLUB HOTEL LOUTRAKI S.A. since 2004, as well as being the Administrator of the Joint Venture CLUB HOTEL CASINO LOUTRAKI.  Prior to this, in 2001 he was appointed Director of Corporate Strategy & Development in the above mentioned companies.

Additionally, Mr. Stergiotis was also Chairman of the Hellenic Casino Association and Member of the Board of the Business Council Greece-Serbia.

Mr. Stergiotis holds a degree in Economics from the University of Padova, Italy.  He has more than 10 years experience in the gaming & amusement sector and more than 20 years experience in the banking sector, having held several senior executive positions within major Greek and Multinational financial and banking institutions.

Birgitte Sand

Director, Danish Gaming Board

Birgitte Sand is a master of Law from Copenhagen University in 1985. BS started her career in the court of Taxation and moved on to a wide range of different positions and tasks in the Ministry of Taxation covering legal advice on corporate tax structures and tax on private companies, projects regarding innovation, development, strategy and change of organization and structures within the Ministry of Taxation.

BS has been in charge of the development of a nationwide IT salary system and head of the central IT department, and BS has for many years been a member of the board covering the nationwide planning of the tax production (what to focus on in regard to compliance).

For a number of years BS also taught various subjects.

BS took up her current position after several years of work as a member of the Executive Board of the Copenhagen Tax Center.

Carlo Pagan

CEO, Casino Campione

Carlo Pagan was elected Member of the Board of the ECA in 2011.

Carlo currently works as CEO at Casino of Campione d’ Italia and is also President of federgioco, a no-profit association founded in March 2007 by the four Italian casinos.

Before being CEO in Campione, he was General Manager and Board Member at the Casino of Venezia from 2005 to 2010.

In 2008, Carlo attained a Gaming Executive MBA at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Carlo is also professor of ‘Business and Marketing management’ at the University Ca’Foscari of Venice.

Chris Satchell

Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of R&D, IGT

Chris Satchell was appointed IGT’s Chief Technology Officer in June 2009 and expanded his responsibilities to include the leadership of Research and Development for the Company in July 2010.

As Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Satchell leads IGT’s efforts to continue developing ground-breaking and innovative products for the gaming industry. Satchell is responsible for the strategic technology vision and product development for the global leader in the design, development and distribution of gaming machines, content and systems.

Satchell came to IGT from Microsoft where he was Chief Technology Officer for the Interactive Entertainment Business, responsible for technical strategy and execution across the video gaming business including Xbox, Games for Windows, Xbox LIVE and future platform incubations.

Positions held previously include:

• General Manager and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft XNA
• Director of Engineering, Microsoft Game Studios
• Executive Director, 3DO
• Technical Director, Silicon Dreams Ltd.
• Artificial Intelligence Specialist and Project Leader, Eidos Interactive PLC

Daniel Ledesma

Manager, Casino Gran Madrid

Darrell Rodriguez

Sr. Vice President, Global Games Studios, IGT

Darrell Rodriguez is IGT’s Senior Vice President Global Game Studios. He is an entertainment products executive with expertise in managing the full product lifecycle for video games, theme park attractions, online content, eCommerce and client software applications. Previously, he was president of LucasArts (the interactive game division of Lucasfilm), and Chief Operating Officer at Electronic Arts Los Angeles. At LucasArts, his leadership in all aspects of the business and keen focus on strategy and vision played a major role in the company’s success, resulting in best-selling products and unprecedented productivity. At EA, Rodriguez pioneered processes focused on game hit potential and played central roles in strategic planning, developing company culture, and hiring and retaining world class talent. Rodriguez has also held positions in product development and production at EarthLink, Walt Disney Imagineering and the Walt Disney Internet Group. Now with IGT, Rodriguez brings a deep and thorough understanding of game development strategy, and is responsible for producing IGT’s overall portfolio of games and licenses. He was born and raised in the Bay Area, and earned his MBA at the University of California, Berkeley.

Eduardo Antoja

Executive Vice President, COFAR and Director, Corporate Relations, CIRSA

Born in Barcelona, Spain,  in 1945. Obtained a M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1969, where he staged as a part-time associate professor from 1971 to 1976 teaching computer science and process automation.

Since 1979 to 1989 worked for AMP Inc. (now Tyco Electronics) in the Engineering and Marketing areas. In 1990 Eduardo joined CIRSA to head its Manufacturing Division. In 1998 he was appointed Director of Corporate Development for its international operations and elected as President of FACOMARE, the Spanish Manufacturers Association. In 1999 he was elected President of EUROMAT, the European Federation of Coin Machine Associations, serving until May 2008, when he was appointed Honorary President. Currently, Eduardo is Director of Corporate Relations at Cirsa Gaming Corporation.

Emmanuel Mewissen

CEO, Circus Group Belgium

Emmanuel Méwissen graduated from the University of Liege, Belgium, as a dentist in 1988. Since then he has gone on to become the CEO and Co-founder of Circus Group (Belgium) in 1992. Circus Group is involved in the leisure and casino industry (both offline and online), retail estate, LED screens network and management (ledcom.be) and online gaming software solutions(produwebgaming.be).

He managed the establishment of a partnership with Pokerstars to operate www.pokerstars.be website under the Belgium casino license. Emmanuel is also the Chairman of the Belgian Casino Association.

He was born in 1964 and is married with 3 children.

Gerhard H. Burda

President and CEO, Escapes Advisory Co.

Indrek Jurgenson

CEO, Olympic International

Indrek Jürgenson joined Olympic Entertainment Group AS as Chief Information Officer at the 5th of May 2003. His responsibilty was to develop strategic competitive advantages and increase productivity of company employees by optimally applying the modern information technologies thus adding the business value. His responsibilities included implementation and managing the entire group information technology policies. Since last year September Indrek Jürgenson manages the overall activities of the Group as Executive Board member and CEO. Today his main tasks are development of the company, Investment decisions and approval of the budgets, representation of OEG, Imago and reputation enhancement, the leadership of the management activities, coordination of activities of subsidiaries in seven countries.

Ivor Jones

Director, Leisure Research, Numis Securities Limited

Ivor read law at University College, London and then joined Schroders in 1987 as a graduate trainee in the corporate finance department, moving to corporate broking and then to work in the Chairman's office. He joined Lazards' corporate finance department and then moved to Sri Lanka to become General Manager of a soft toy manufacturer in 1993. On his return he joined Smith New Court (later Merrill) as an analyst of French equities. He joined the Media team while at Smith New Court and then left with the team to join Salomon Brothers in 1996. He started covering Leisure companies in 1998, latterly as head of the European Leisure team at Citigroup. He left Citi in 2006 and, after periods at Panmure Gordon and Evolution Securities, joined Numis in February 2010.

Janne Peräkylä

Executive Vice President, RAY

Mr Peräkylä is currently the Executive Vice President, COO/Finland´s Slot Machine Association (RAY) and Chairman of the Gaming Research Foundation Finland. Further experience in gaming includes: Head of Department (Funding Activities)/Finland´s Slot Machine Association (RAY) [2007-2009], his role as Chief Inspector at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health included being the Secretary of Finnish Gaming Board and Chairman of the Executive Group of “Peluuri” - Gambling Helpline [2000-2007]. He started off his cases in the gaming industry as a Grants Officer at RAY [1995-2000] after having completed his Master of Social Sciences at the University of Tempere, Finland. In 2004 he completed the Executive Development Programme/Gaming Management at the University of Nevada.

Jurgen Creutzmann

MEP, Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Rapporteur for the Green Paper on Online Gambling, European Parliament

Creutzmann was an employee of an auditing firm (1971-1973). Senior executive of BASF SE, latterly Director, Subsidiaries Accounting Services (1973-2006). He was Treasurer of the Rhineland-Palatinate FDP (since 1983) and a Member of the Rhineland-Palatinate District Council (since 1989).

He is a Member of the Palatinate District Council (since 2004) and a Member of the Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Assembly from 1998 to 2009). He became the Vice-President of the Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Assembly in 2001 and held the post until 2006.

Malcolm Moss

Chairman, National Casino Industry Forum

Chairman of the National Casino industry Forum (NCiF) since 2011.

Parliamentary Career Headlines

Retired in May 2010 as the Conservative MP for N.E. Cambridgeshire after 23 years.

Ministerial Career 1991 – 1997

1994-97 Appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in Northern Ireland by John Major as the Minister for both the Department of Health and the Department of Environment.

Shadow Ministerial positions

Nov 2002-Nov 2006 - Dept. of Culture Media and Sport, led as Shadow Minister for the Opposition on both the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005

Moderator: Andrew Gellatly

Editor, Gambling Compliance

Andrew Gellatly was part of the founding management team of Gambling Compliance in 2006. Before that had an extensive background in covering technology, gambling and sport.  He wrote the Financial Times’s special report on the global gaming industry and has been a regular FT contributor on sport, gaming and technology for FT Digital Business. He was the founding editor of IGaming Business magazine and Sport Betting Update – a weekly international email newsletter published by the UK Press Association and author of ATE’s market intelligence report Russia: Opportunities in Gaming (2005).

Moderator: Lewis Pek

Editor, G3 Magazine

A journalist of over 18 years, Lewis has spent the last 12 years studying and writing about the games and gaming industry. As former editor of InterGame and InterGaming, Lewis set-up his own magazine, Global Games and Gaming (G3), with a view to bringing the then disparate elements of gaming under one roof. Launched in December 2002, G3 sought to pull together all the issues driving the convergence of platforms and technology in the gaming sector. Renowned for its in-depth reports and analysis, G3 continues to cast a wide net over casinos, betting shops, bingo, street gaming and slot halls/electronic casinos. A tough sell in 2002, technology convergence is now such a hot topic it's part of the ICC conference programme. Last year G3 further spread its coverage with the launch of G3i magazine, a title that examines online, mobile and interactive gaming from the perspective of land-based operators.

Moderator: Michael Pollock

Managing Director, Spectrum Gaming Group

Michael Pollock oversees all economic studies performed by Spectrum Gaming Group, including broad-scale impact studies for country, state and local governments, and feasibility studies for private-sector clients. His international work includes projects in Guam and Korea.

Pollock began analyzing the casino industry in New Jersey at its inception in 1978 and served as spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission from 1991 through 1996. He was a close advisor to the chair, and oversaw the Office of Legislative Liaison. During this period of rapid deregulation, his charge was to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the regulatory system.

Pollock is the author of the award-winning book, Hostage to Fortune: Atlantic City and Casino Gambling, published by the Center for Analysis of Public Issues in Princeton. This book examines the impact of casinos on Atlantic City and New Jersey.

He has testified on regulatory issues before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Indian Gaming, and has been a featured speaker at the Congressional Gaming Caucus, a group of U.S. House of Representatives members from gaming jurisdictions. He has also testified before a variety of state legislative and regulatory committees on gaming matters in New Jersey, Indiana, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Pollock has won 20 journalism awards, and is the former editorial page editor of The Press of Atlantic City. Pollock is often cited by national media outlets, including the New York Times, Star-Ledger, BBC, ABC News and National Public Radio.

He earned his MBA, with high honors, from Rutgers University, and has served as a member of the adjunct faculty of both Rutgers University and Richard Stockton College.

Moderator: Oliver Zugel

CEO and Chairman, Spring Capital

Oliver Zugel is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spring Capital, an international strategy and M&A advisory firm specialising in gaming.

Prior to Spring Capital, Oliver was Chief Executive Officer of Grup Peralada and Chief Operating Officer of Codere S.A., two of the largest international gaming groups in Southern Europe with major operations in over ten countries including traditional and electronic casinos, bingos, slot parlours, slot route operations, sports betting, and racinos. Spring Capital has advised leading operators and institutional investors on major transactions in Europe and South America, both in the offline and online space. 

Oliver's original background is in strategy consulting, where he was Managing Partner at Michael Porter's Monitor Group, and holds a First Class Honours Degree from London School of Economics.

Moderator: Philippe Vlaemminck

Partner, Altius

Philippe Vlaemminck heads the ALTIUS EU Regulatory and Trade Practice. He is widely regarded as a leading player in the current debate on gaming and gambling in the EU, and has been involved in every gambling case before the CJEU and the EFTA court. He also acts as a legal advisor to various EU Member States and operators. He regularly speaks on gaming issues and is a frequent contributor to gaming law periodicals and journals such as Public Gaming International (USA), European Gaming Lawyer ( UK), IGaming Business, World Online Gambling. He has been awarded the IMGL President Cup award 2010. Phillippe is Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and Member of the European Association for the Study of Gambling.

Oliver Zugel

CEO and Chairman, Spring Capital

Oliver Zugel is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spring Capital, an international strategy and M&A advisory firm specialising in gaming.

Prior to Spring Capital, Oliver was Chief Executive Officer of Grup Peralada and Chief Operating Officer of Codere S.A., two of the largest international gaming groups in Southern Europe with major operations in over ten countries including traditional and electronic casinos, bingos, slot parlours, slot route operations, sports betting, and racinos. Spring Capital has advised leading operators and institutional investors on major transactions in Europe and South America, both in the offline and online space. 

Oliver's original background is in strategy consulting, where he was Managing Partner at Michael Porter's Monitor Group, and holds a First Class Honours Degree from London School of Economics.

Pamela Brumter-Coret

Head of Unit Internal Market, Directorate General Markt, European Commission

Is the head of unit in charge of business to consumers in the Directorate for services in the Directorate general for Internal market and services at the European Commission.

Lawyer by training, Mrs Brumter-Coret, a French national, has been working in various sectors in the European Parliament and in the Commission since 1986.

Over the last ten years she has been in charge of public procurement law and of recognition of professional qualifications. Her latest assignment was in the single market policy unit where she was entrusted with the re launch of the single market which led recently to the adoption of the single market act by the Commission. She took over the business to consumers unit recently and will follow the gambling sector.

Peter Naessens

Head of Regulatory Advice Unit, Research & Development, Belgian Gaming Commission

Peter Naessens is head of the unit Regulatory Advice, Research & Development for the Belgian Gaming Commission. He studied law at the university of Brussels, criminology at the university of Leuven and social work at Campus Kortrijk. He has a large experience in legislative advice. Within the Gaming Commission his focus of activities is on the development and maintenance of the regulatory framework of gambling, the implementation of internet gambling and he follows with special interest the European debate on regulation of the Gambling Market.

Péter Staviczky

Fiscal Attaché, Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU

Péter Staviczky works as an Attaché - Responsible for gambling, export credits and State aid at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union. Previously, he worked in the Hungarian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of National Development at the State Aid Monitoring Office in Budapest as Head of Unit. He read Law at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law (1996-2001) and Comparative Law at the International Faculty of the University Robert Schuman Strasbourg (1999-2002). Moreover, he completed a banking-lawyer training in Deák Ferenc Institute for Postgraduate Education (2000-2002) and took part in the common European specialist course of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French École National d’Administration in spring 2002. He is an invited lecturer in numerous State aid seminars at the European Institute of Public Administration, European State aid Law Institute and European Academy for Taxes, Economy & Law. Furthermore, he regularly gives lectures to government officials, public enterprises as well as to representatives of banks and companies.

Ron Goudsmit

ECA Chairman and Secretary of Executive Board, Holland Casino

Ron Goudsmit was one of the founders of the ECA in 2005 and was elected as Chairman in 2006.

Ron Goudsmit has been involved in the casino industry since 33 years.

Started as a dealer in 1976, he has since held various senior executive positions within Holland Casino. Appointed as Vice President International in 1997 Ron Goudsmit has been responsible for all international business of Holland Casino.

In 2008 he was appointed as Secretary of the Executive Board at Holland Casino, the Netherlands.

Sophie Guillon-Morel

Head of Cabinet, ARJEL

Steve Myers

Managing Director - Development, Genting

Steven joined Stanley Leisure in 2003 as Development Director and subsequently headed the day activities of the Stanley Genting JV formed in 2004. After Genting’s recommended takeover of Stanley Leisure he became Managing Director Development of Stanley Genting (now Genting UK). He has extensive experience of the leisure market in a number of sectors responsible for hotel, restaurant, nightclub, visitor attraction and integrated resort facilities. From 2003-2006 he sat as alternate member to Lord Steinberg at the British Casino Association and also holds a Personal Management Licence from the UK Gambling Commission. His current focus is a £100m development, Resorts World at The NEC, Birmingham where a licence has now been granted for a new ‘large’ casino under the Gambling Act 2005.

His responsibilities within Genting UK relate to developing the business through business acquisition, real estate, construction and political lobbying in the pursuit of new licenses available under the Gambling Act 2005 in the UK, and overseas developments within the EMEA region. Genting UK’s parent company is Genting Malaysia which is in turn a listed entity of the Genting Group which has a combined market cap of over US$40 billion and over 58,000 employees.

Prior to his current role, he enjoyed senior roles within predominantly FTSE 100 leisure companies within the leisure sector including a number of divisions of Bass plc