Ethics Session #1: Operationalizing Privacy: The View from both Inside the Organization and Outside Legal Counsel
The data security and privacy regulatory landscape is evolving quickly, requiring specific expertise to identify and address business and legal risks. This is especially true for global gaming organizations, many of which collect, process, and store various types of information, including personal information.  Our panel will provide attendees with a high-level organizational framework for managing key areas related to developing a robust data security and privacy by design strategy while addressing the changing legal and regulatory landscape with business growth and innovation in mind. Providing both an in-house and outside legal counsel perspective, we will discuss the importance of identifying, prioritizing, and assessing unique vulnerabilities to gaming organizations, including a review of the evolving international and US state privacy regulatory requirements and key factors for third-party management.  We will also discuss the importance of documentation relating to information privacy, security, risk management, ethical considerations, and human resources. We will also provide attorneys with an overview of the legal requirements and industry guidelines that govern law firms and attorneys as they grapple this ever-changing landscape and provide a review of ethics in action.  Attendees will walk away with a practical understanding of how to involve key stakeholders at various points in the compliance program development process and the importance of understanding the balance of business operations and data security and privacy requirements as it relates to their organization, employees, attorney ethical obligations, and the overall data security and compliance culture within an organization.

Presented by: 

• Nancy Ramirez Ayala, Esq., Vice President of Legal, Rush Street Interactive 
• Jordan L. Fisher, Esq. Partner and Global Compliance and Regulatory Advisory Practice Group Lead Octillo

Opening Comments & Keynote Address Introduction

Keynote Address

The future of iGaming in the US and Its Legal and Regulatory Challenges 
As more US states explore legalizing online casino offerings and operators and suppliers around the world express strong interest in entering what they see as a highly lucrative potential iGaming market, many continue to wonder what’s holding US iGaming back. Featuring a diverse mix of industry regulators, operators, suppliers and legal experts, this panel will explore the real and speculated expansion iGaming opportunities that lie ahead and will evaluate what hurdles exist to its legalization.  

Moderated by Paul Wierbicki, General Counsel fir Rush Street Interactive, the panelists include:

• Sam Basile, Vice President of Business Development & Licensing, GeoComply
• Mike Fries, Senior Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, LightAndWonder
• Steve Kastner, Vice President of PlayDigital Compliance, IGT
• Luke Rippee, Deputy Chief – Investigations Division, Nevada Gaming Control Board

Challenges Presented by the Expansion
of Unlicensed and Unregulated Social Gaming
The expansion of unlicensed and unregulated digital games in North America continues to present challenges for the US gaming industry as lines continue to be blurred between purely “play for fun” games and offerings that may fall within regulated oversight. This panel will discuss how peer-to-peer skill game contests, freemium gaming (a/k/a “social casinos”), daily fantasy sports variants, and online sweepstakes remain unregulated, have self-regulated and in some ways bump up against state gambling laws. The panelists will also discuss the status of Gambling Loss Recovery Act claims in the United States and regulatory interventions as to certain unregulated products.  In addition, the panel will cover the status and impact of the Coffee v. Google loot box case, the Apple/Google/Facebook “Simulated Casino” MDL and developments under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act on the freemium gaming industry and videogame microtransactions.

Moderated by Bill Gantz, a Partner with Duane Morris, the panelists include:

Lunch

Chief Legal Officer Roundtable
In such a diverse, rapidly changing industry like global gaming, overseeing a company’s legal responsibilities and challenges can be a daunting task and the contributions the legal team makes to a business’s success is often misunderstood as a result. This panel of General Counsels and Chief Legal Officers from leading gaming companies will discuss their role in enabling their respective businesses to succeed, their partnership with compliance departments, and the challenges of running an international legal department. They’ll also discuss development and improvement strategies, the internal and external issues that keep them up at night, what they look for and avoid when instructing external advisers and their involvement in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Moderated by Jeff Barbin, a Partner with Phelps Dunbar, the panelists include:

• Lorents Blankenberg, Legal Manager, Holland Casino
• Kim Barker Lee, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Bally’s
• Jim Sottile, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Light & Wonder

The Current State of Industry M&A 
With M&A activity expected to continue in the sector, keeping up to date on current transaction trends and challenges is critical. Featuring a wide range of transaction experts, our panelists will first consider some of the key takeaways and lessons learned from deals that have taken place over the past year and address issues encountered in heavily-regulated markets like the UK and US. Next, they’ll scan the horizon to consider what potential M&A activity might lie ahead in the next three to five years, including potential opportunities that might arise in markets that are pre-regulated or at the early stages of regulation.

Networking Break

Leading the Way: the Next Generation
of Safer Gambling and Responsible Gaming Measures
Developing and implementing effective responsible gaming measures that promote a safe gambling experience is critical to the sustainability of the global gaming industry. With central goals intended to protect the young and vulnerable by preventing underage gambling and ensure that players enjoy gambling as a form of entertainment, this panel will consider safer gambling approaches from around the world, highlighting best practices and key innovations. They will also discuss the vexed concept of affordability and the single customer view, and consider how technology can assist in promoting a safer, more effective responsible gaming environment.

The panelists include:

• Charles Cohen, Founder and CEO, Department of Trust
• Arthur Paikowsky, President, International Center for Responsible Gaming 
• Tiina Siltanen, General Manager, Casino Helsinki & Tampere