International Gaming Summit Conference Program Committees
The Conference Program Committee and Sub-Committees plan and coordinate the IAGA International Gaming Conference program, recruit key gaming industry leaders and regulators from around the world to participate as speakers, and ensure that each year's topics address cutting edge and current issues involving all facets of the gaming industry and the regulation of gaming.

Primary Planning Committee
          DR. BRETT ABARBANEL is Executive Director the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, International Gaming Institute, and Associate Professor in UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration. She has a research affiliate appointment at the University of Sydney School of Psychology’s Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic. Dr. Abarbanel's research explores the intersection of of gambling with esports, video games and traditional sports. She also has extensive experience in gaming operations and technology, responsible gambling and community relations, and gaming history.


          BAHAR ALAEDDINI is a Partner at Harris Hagan in the UK and specialises in all aspects of online and land-based gambling law. She advises many of the world’s largest land-based and online gambling businesses (B2C and B2B operators) as well as many start-ups, investors and leading international law firms. Bahar has extensive gambling legal, regulatory and licensing experience advising on legal classification, licence applications, investor due diligence, change of corporate control applications, complex group restructuring and specialist regulatory matters relating to mergers and acquisitions. She also advises on regulatory compliance assessments and investigations and licence reviews.
         

KATHERINE BAKER is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Boston office, where she serves as the leader of the National Gaming Team. Ms. Baker focuses her practice on gaming regulatory and litigation matters, and she helps casino gaming, iGaming, sports betting, fantasy sports, sweepstakes and emerging format operators, vendors and entrepreneurs navigate state and federal, commercial and Tribal gaming issues, including the use of financial technology (FinTech) solutions. Ms. Baker advises gaming clients on regulatory compliance and licensing and legislative strategy, provides legal opinions in support of operations, and serves as gaming regulatory counsel for corporate transactions.  
           


TONI BOARDMAN, AWS
         

JEFFREY CATANZARO is a Principal and US Head of Legal Managed Services for KPMG. With over 25 years of experience spanning legal and consulting roles, Jeff combines deep legal expertise with a strong focus on operational excellence and innovation. A lawyer by trade, his approach integrates cutting-edge solutions with a thorough understanding of organizational challenges and opportunities. Jeff’s extensive background includes delivering transformative results across a wide range of industries. His expertise in process design, contract management, and risk mitigation enables him to craft solutions that optimize operations while addressing complex legal and operational challenges. 
         

SUE DAWSON is Chief Legal Officer for Light & Wonder, a leading global provider of social, land and online casino games listed on both the NYSE and ASX. Before joining L&W, she was in-house counsel for both Inspired Entertainment and Gala Coral Group and spent 10 years in private practice advising clients in the betting and gaming sector. Working in gaming her entire 25-year career with both B2B and B2C operators has enabled Sue to gain a wealth of knowledge and expertise of gambling law across various verticals and jurisdictions.

  


         

CHRIS ELLIOTT is a partner with Wiggin and is a commercial and regulatory lawyer, concentrating on providing UK regulatory and compliance advice to various stakeholders in the online gambling and gaming industries. “I specialise in all aspects of gambling law and have extensive legal, regulatory and commercial experience advising many of the world’s largest online and land-based B2C and B2B gambling businesses. I engage with stakeholders on a daily basis, whether they are operators, software suppliers, regulators, payment service providers, start-ups, investors or financial institutions.
         

JUSTIN FRANSSEN is the co-founder and partner at Franssen & Tolboom where he leads the firm's gaming and gambling practice group. His comprehensive advisory and litigation practice regularly deals with sector-specific acquisitions and complex public affairs processes. Prior to his admission to the Dutch Bar, Justin acted as general counsel for a gaming developer in Amsterdam and New York. His career as an attorney at law began at an associate firm of KPMG, where he founded their European Gaming and Entertainment Services Group.

 
         

DR. WULF HAMBACH is one of the founding partners of Hambach & Hambach. He is a co-publisher and one of the authors of the legal commentary “Glücks- und Gewinnspielrecht in den Medien” (Gambling and Sweepstakes Law in the Media, C.H. Beck Verlag). Since more than two decades Dr. Hambach is a sought-after lecturer at leading international conferences and board adviser of leading internet service companies. Lately he was involved as legal adviser in large M&A deals in the area of digital gaming services. Furthermore, he is Head of Regulatory at Hambach & Hambach.


         

WES HIMES is Executive Director, Standards and Innovation for the UK Betting and Gaming Council. Wes was the CEO of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA). Prior to that he was a Managing Partner with Instinctif Partners and before that founder and CEO of the Policy Action. Wes started the interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association (iGGBA) in 2000 which later became part of the Remote Gambling Association.

 
         

CATHY JUDD-STEIN most recently served as Chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and oversaw the Commonwealth’s launch of legalized sports wagering and navigated the successful closure and reopening of the casino industry during the pandemic. Prior to her appointment as the chief gaming regulator, Cathy served as legal counsel for five Massachusetts Governors, Executive Director of the Governor’s Judicial Nominating Commission, General Counsel for the Massachusetts State Treasury, and Assistant Executive Director, Director of Policy and Special Counsel for the Massachusetts State Lottery.
         

JACQUI KRUM is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Wynn Resorts, Limited, a position she has held since December 1, 2024. Ms. Krum originally joined Wynn Resorts in 2013 to assist with the development of gaming projects in the U.S. and abroad and was a member of the team that won the competitive gaming license bid in the Eastern Massachusetts area for Wynn Resorts. In 2015, she moved from Las Vegas to Boston to become the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Encore Boston Harbor, helping to lead the opening of that resort in 2019.
           

TIM MILLER
         

HERMANN PAMMINGER serves as an Expert for Public and European Affairs at the Casino Austria Group's Head Office in Vienna. His distinguished career spans over three decades starting in 1991 with Casinos Austria and focusing on project development across diverse regions including former Eastern Bloc countries.  Ascending through various roles including Head of Marketing, Hermann's career took a pivotal turn in 2013 when he joined parent company Casinos Austria AG, serving as an assistant to the Board of Directors and Head of CSR. Hermann also serves as Secretary General for the European Casino Association (ECA). 
         

LUIS PINEDO is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Bally’s Corporation, overseeing all legal, privacy, and intellectual property matters in North America for land-based and online gaming. With over 15 years in gaming, Luis has deep experience building and leading sophisticated and business-minded legal departments in startup, growth stage, and public companies. Prior to Bally’s, Luis led the legal and human resources teams at Rush Street Gaming (Chicago land-based casino) and Rush Street Interactive (online gaming in North and Latin America). His professional career began in management consulting after obtaining a business degree from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. 
           

SELDEN ROSS, Rush Street Interactive

 

Sportsbetting Sub-committee
         

RHEA LONEY, Chair, is Chief Compliance Officer of BetMGM where she oversees compliance in the areas of licensing, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering, and responsible gambling. BetMGM is live in 29 markets across U.S. and Canada with online sports betting, online casino, and retail sports betting. Rhea joined BetMGM in fall of 2022. Before joining BetMGM, she served as Vice President of Compliance for Penn Interactive building the first interactive compliance function for Penn Interactive. Prior to that, Rhea was an Assistant Attorney General with the Louisiana Division of Gaming for almost a decade focusing on horse racing, regulatory, and administrative law.
         

TOM ASTLEY joined The Football Association in January 2019 and is The FA’s Betting Integrity Investigator, leading on all investigations into potential breaches of The FA’s betting Rules including participant betting, inside information, match fixing and spot fixing, as well as having a responsibility for educating participants across all levels of football. Tom was also appointed to the Sports Resolutions Panel in April 2024. Prior to this, Tom spent nine years working for the British Horseracing Authority in their Integrity Department, and has also previously worked for the Gambling Commission in their Intelligence Unit and worked for Ladbrokes in a retail shop for two years.
         

JESS FEIL serves as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Compliance at OpenBet where she oversees the business’s global compliance function. Before joining OpenBet, Jess held the position of Vice President, Government Relations & Gaming Policy Counsel at the American Gaming Association. She started her career at a boutique law firm in Washington DC, where she advised gaming clients from all over the world on a variety of areas including regulation, compliance, and licensing.

 


         

MARCUS D. FRUCHTER  was appointed Illinois Gaming Board Administrator in May 2019. He leads the regulatory and law enforcement agency that oversees Illinois’ 15 casinos, 14 sportsbooks, and more than 8,500 video gaming establishments. Administrator Fruchter has directed implementation of Illinois’ landmark gaming expansion law, including the launch of the state’s sports wagering market and exponential growth in casino and video gaming operations. He has also spearheaded critical agency modernization initiatives and rulemakings. Prior to the IGB, Administrator Fruchter was a senior enforcement counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, serving on the Cyber and Market Abuse Units. 
         

Prior to joining FanDuel, JONATHAN NABAVI was most recently Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs for the National Football League (NFL) and is responsible for advising on all aspects of its public policy and legislative agenda and represents the League on a wide range of issues before Congress, the Administration, and other federal and local government agencies. Prior to joining the NFL, he served in a variety of senior congressional staff and political roles, most recently as Majority Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, providing strategic counsel to the Chairman. 
         

LEONARDO VILLALOBOS is Vice President & Deputy General Counsel (Policy, Integrity & Compliance) for Major League Baseball. In this role, Leo manages MLB’s sports betting integrity program and leads the league’s government affairs efforts on sports betting. Leo also advises MLB’s business development team and the league’s individual Clubs on regulatory, compliance, and policy issues related to gambling. Before joining MLB in 2021, Leo was a Litigation associate at Skadden Arps in New York. He earned a B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

 

AML / FinCrime Sub-committee


          VASILIOS CHRISOS, Chair, is a Principal with PwC's Financial Crimes Unit and has 20+ years experience assisting companies on all aspects of financial crime compliance, AML and sanctions matters. He has assisted casino operators with implementing comprehensive, risk-based AML and sanctions compliance programs, including executing enhanced due diligence for higher-risk patrons and investigating suspicious levels of play. He serves on the Global Advisory Board of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.


          GREG BROWER is a shareholder in the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.  His practice focused on litigation, government investigations, gaming regulatory matters, and government relations. He recently rejoined Brownstein after three years as the Chief Global Compliance Officer at Wynn Resorts. He previously served in several senior government roles including Assistant Director and Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada, Inspector General for the U.S. Government Publishing Office, and as an elected member of the Nevada Legislature.  


          BARAK COHEN, a Partner with Perkins Coie, represents companies and individuals facing government enforcement actions and investigations in highly regulated industries, particularly the regulated gaming, healthcare, and government contracting industries. Barak is a partner in the White Collar & Investigations practice, and co-chair / founder of the firm’s Cannabis Law group. He also works with the firm's Digital Media & Entertainment, Gaming & Sports industry group as the co-lead of the Gaming vertical, representing clients in the regulated gaming industry in litigation and investigation matters.
          OMAR KHOURY is the Chief Global Compliance Officer for Wynn Resorts, Limited, where he leads the Company’s global compliance strategy and oversees key programs including Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Corruption, and the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. He has over 20 years of experience in the gaming and financial services industries, with deep expertise in regulatory compliance, licensing, and policy development. Prior to joining Wynn, Omar served as the Senior Vice President of Regulatory Compliance at Everi and spent nearly 15 years at MGM Resorts International in various leadership roles, including Vice President of Corporate Compliance, Casino Controller, and Internal Auditor.

 
          ERICA OKERBERG, Vice Chair of Greenberg Traurig's Global Gaming Practice, focuses her practice on gaming law and promotional law. She has deep experience handling complex gaming licensing, operational, and regulatory matters for U.S. and International clients. She represents land-based and online casino companies, sports wagering operators, manufacturers and distributors, as well as other companies providing services to the gaming industry. Erica also has wide-ranging experience with analyzing and structuring social games, skill-based contests, and sweepstakes.