"2019 was a big year for IAGR in many ways"

Based in Las Vegas, the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) consists of representatives from gaming regulatory organizations throughout the world whose mission is to to advance the effectiveness and efficiency of gaming regulation.

In an attempt to delve into the regulatory advancements which took place across the globe this year, as well as the organization’s accomplishments, Yogonet spoke with Paul Newson, the president of the independent association: "In many ways, 2019 was a year of renewal: we transitioned to new Secretariat arrangements with Full Scope Management in 2019 and welcomed a new IAGR Secretary and Board members, and we are also in the process of transitioning to a new logo."IAGR also progressed its strategic planning to set the direction for the next chapter in its leadership of international gambling regulation. As explained by the association’s president, development of IAGR's strategic plan is ongoing and they are wrestling with how to posture the association to ensure its best positioned to advance efficient and effective gambling regulation globally.

When asked about pending challenges for the organization going forward, Newson said that while IAGR is a tremendous mechanism to influence public policy thinking and regulatory approaches, the association is also exploring discussions around what does leadership in this space look like going forward that might involve a greater public policy advocacy role; establishing international best practice standards; advancing common standards and practices towards greater harmonization; accreditation for regulatory professionals; evaluations; and education delivery.

"We are grappling with these questions and many more as Trustees debate and inform IAGR's strategic approach and how it can best support efficient and effective gambling regulation going forward,” he explained.

According to Newson, 2019 was a big year for IAGR in many ways. Themed Regulating the game, the association organized the #IAGR2019, a conference that took place in Montego Bay Jamaica, attended by senior international regulators and increasingly industry leaders and stakeholders. The conference focused on how to facilitate a secure, vibrant, sustainable, safe and responsible industry. "It was the first time we called for abstracts and were completely overwhelmed with the interest in speaking at our annual conference," Newson explained. "The many internationally distinguished and leading speakers on the #IAGR2019 program and span of topics ensured the event provided exceptional content and challenged and provoked thinking and debate about gambling policy and regulatory practices as well as known and emerging issues and opportunities in the industry." 

IAGR’s president also shared his views on the current sports betting and online gaming global landscape, and the role technological advancements play in the process towards regulation. "The capacity for rapid technological advancement to facilitate innovation and introduce new products that disrupt and transform industry and regulation is remarkable. While artificial intelligence isn't new its application in the regulatory and consumer protection space is in many ways nascent and its potential applications to enhance public policy and regulatory outcomes are incredible," he said. "The immense power of big data and behavioral insights are being harnessed by sophisticated betting operators to provide highly personalized marketing and inducements to nudge more frequent or continued participation in gambling activity."

Newson also explained that gambling advertising and player inducements remain a controversial issue in many jurisdictions with regulatory responses spanning prohibition through to light-handed or limited regulation. "On one view, regulators need to be more nimble and less timid about introducing new technology and products and supporting innovation with regulatory sandbox type approaches that allow in-lab or in-venue trials of new products to inform both regulatory and commercial considerations. Another view might recognize that there is a tremendous opportunity for an individual or collective leadership across gambling operators to invest and apply known and emerging technology to support positive play and better mitigate the risk of gambling harm," he added.

According to IAGR’s latest report, the most pressing challenges for regulators were regulatory developments in other jurisdictions, cross-border marketing of online gambling, betting on eSports, social gaming and gambling with cryptocurrencies. The top five areas of concern regarding gambling-related crime were illegal gambling, money-laundering, cheating, match-fixing/spot-fixing, and underage gambling. When asked about his assessment of the current situation in these areas in largest jurisdictions, and the association’s approach for emerging markets such as the US sports betting, LatAm and Japan, Newson explained that "there are definitely key principles and practices that can be considered from jurisdictions with more established markets and mature regulatory frameworks for sports betting or land-based casinos and I think IAGR has a key role to play in facilitating this going forward."

However, he admitted it was difficult to apply a replica policy or practice to another jurisdiction without accommodating often substantial differences in nature and scale of industry and the regulatory, political and cultural context which may necessitate a nuanced or very different approach. "What I can say is a contemporary and robust regulatory framework that empowers regulators with sufficient independence and tools to effectively supervise industry and enforce laws to secure industry integrity, fairness and consumer protection and safeguard pubic interest while concurrently enabling industry innovation and responsible development is necessary,” he explained. “My observation is new regulatory frameworks need to ensure they include meaningful enforcement powers and significant penalty provisions that don't unnecessarily criminalize every contravention but do apply steep penalties for more serious wrongdoing. The risk of very serious pecuniary penalties being visited upon an operator is a necessary consequence of serious misconduct. Where the scale of penalties available or incurred is insignificant the capacity to influence culture or deter wrongdoing is limited."

Finally, Newson unveiled the company’s plans and focus for 2020. He said the organization has just launched a call for abstracts for speakers for IAGR 2020 conference being hosted by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in Boston over the week 20 - 25 September. #IAGR2020 is themed Disrupting the regulator: sparking innovation in regulatory practice. "We want to embrace technology to advance the regulatory craft and ensure we are best utilizing technology to secure industry integrity and best protect vulnerable players," he explained.

"Our focus into 2020 will be to finalize our strategic planning and speak to our regulatory community and industry about IAGR’s direction and contribution going forward. I'm personally interested in advocating for advancing common standards towards greater harmonization and better leveraging off policy thinking, regulatory decisions, and intelligence and investigations as well as enforcement actions taken in international jurisdictions. This is an ongoing conversation but an important one," Newson concluded.