MiGS14 Exceeds Expectations in 6th Year

migs14-160.jpg 26 November 2014, St Julian’s, Malta (Press Release) — The Malta iGaming Seminar head partners announced that MiGS14 exceeded all expectations. The event, which is in its 6th year, attracted over 400 delegates and reaped praise from various high profile industry leaders. Declan Hill, the investigative journalist who was a panelist on the discussion of Match Fixing delivered the keynote address titled, “How to Fix a Football Match”. Mr Hill, who is an international speaker, said that MiGS14 was one of the best conferences he has attended.

The event was kicked off by Hon. Dr. Chris Cardona, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Small Business and was followed by Hon. Jose Herrera, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth. Whereas Hon. Dr. Chris Cardona provided a summary on the status of Economy, Hon. Dr. Jose Herrera gave the delegates a breakdown of the importance of the iGaming industry and pledged that the industry has the Maltese Government’s full backing and support.

Joseph Cuschieri, Executive Chairman of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority Malta (LGA) also addressed the delegates with his follow up on last year’s achievements and his vision for the industry over the next fifteen months. During his address, he emphasised that Malta has to be proactive and treat every stakeholder as an important customer. He said that a process has been set in motion to make Malta the most efficient jurisdiction in the industry.

Speaking about the opening addresses, Sue Schneider, Partner of MiGS and owner of Egaming Brokerage said, “We are delighted that the Maltese Government and the LGA are supporting our event. It encourages us to know that our vision as a main stakeholder in the industry matches that of the Government of Malta. This is not only to enhance the Malta iGaming jurisdiction but to showcase our knowhow by providing cutting edge topical information through international experts to the community.”

The event continued with various topical discussions such as:
• “Innovations in Payment options” which was sponsored by RE/MAX Malta
• Responsible Gaming, which featured Hon. Silvio Schembri, Chairman of The Responsible Gaming Foundation as well as key industry representatives
• An industry report presented by PKF which was followed by Channel Agnostics and
• A panel discussion on poker, which featured very important stake holders in the global industry such as: David Jung, CEO of HeroPoker;\ Nicolas Levi, CCO of Ranking Hero; Steve McLoughlin of Poker Tracker and veteran Warwick Bartlett, CEO of GBGC and previous consultant to the Maltese Government.

Day two kicked off with the panel discussion of “Exploring New Markets” which featured two video presentations from Mexico and India respectively as well as a discussion between Graham White, Chairman of the Jersey Gambling Commisson and Tal Itzhak Ron from Tel Aviv Law firm Tal Ron Drihem & Co.

This followed a presentation on How to Maintain Synergy between Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click and Affiliate by Andy Blackburn, Head of Search for GameOn.

One of the main attractions was the keynote address of Declan Hill. Mr. Hill provided the audience insight in to what happens in the real world of fixing a football match. He provided evidence of live recordings of actual attempts to fix football matches and discussed the international network of Dan Tan and his alleged involvement in several match-fixing scandals. This was followed by an open discussion with: Declan Hill; Franz Tabone, Integrity Officer of the Malta Football Association and Nick Hagan, Sports Operations Director of Betfair.

The event continued with a discussion on handheld devices and day two closed with regulatory updates with guest speakers Wes Himes, Instinctif Partners and representatives from the Belgian and Dutch authorities as well as a UK consultant.

Speaking about day two, Partner of Capstone Group, Kris Baron said, “MiGS has matured over these six years and, this time, we delivered an all around iGaming conference. To have 90% of the delegates to come back on day two is something to write home about. This means that the content and speakers were excellent”.

Both days featured networking events. On day one the delegates were entertained at a cocktail reception hosted by the LGA, a free roll poker tournament sponsored by Poker Tracker and a party at Club 22 which was sponsored by Aliquantum Gaming and RE/MAX Malta. Day two closed with a harbour cruise sponsored by BMIT and the closing party, which was sponsored by Playson and was held at Monte Carlo Club Malta.

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