do not have the same powers throughout the countries. But of course, the operators, they have a lot of data, which they can provide and then it’s up to them. How are they going to use it? SP: Jason, I think mobile and mobile gaming has been quite a transformer for the industry. And in a way, the internet and mobile, at the higher level, at the political level, at the societal level have been true transformers. Not just in Europe and North America, if you think about Africa for instance. JL: I think one of the great things about the development of new technologies is the democratic way that it’s been rolled out. Access to technology has allowed rapid development in countries that perhaps would have been, traditionally, less developed than say Europe and North America. So, access to technology has been a liberating force. The IAGR conference is going to be in Botswana next month and gaming is still considered in a really positive light in Africa. You speak to my African colleagues, they’re full of enthusiasm, they love what they do, they work well with their industry, it’s dynamic, exciting, it’s fun. It’s what it used to be like for regulators. It’s a lot more measured in Europe now and we’ve essentially changed from knowing the nuts and bolts of how everything worked. Now you need so many different specialist roles within regulation. And you need a technology specialist, but we’re always one step behind. And the one thing you guys can do to us, you can swamp us with data. One of the things that I say to my team is do not ask for information from the industry that you’re not going to be able to analyze and use, because you can just get lost in it all. So, I think regulation has become a bit more difficult. You have to be a lot more specific about what you’re looking for. But overall, I see the development of technologies being fantastic, innovative, embracing democratic and fun. SP: That was a really good pitch for the value of data. But it also takes regulators who appreciate the data and do something with it. When we look now at success factors in the gaming industry, we already mentioned that security and priorities may have been a little bit different. Nowadays, we talk about data breaches. It might have been a bit different back then. When you look at the success factors what is still valid nowadays that was valid back then? EM: Fun. This is the most important. Why are people ready to spend their money? Because they want to have fun. And sometimes, many people today forget that gambling is first about having fun. It is right that there is talk about problem gambling, but we should not forget that most people gamble because they have fun. It could be a land-based casino or an online casino or online betting: the purpose is to have fun. And if you want to be fun, you need to have a great product. So, it’s all about the product, it was true 30 years ago and is still true today. It’s even more true today where you face lots of competition. 30 years ago, illegal gambling was within the borders and police could keep track of it and stamp it out. Today, illegal gambling is everywhere. It’s a global problem, which shows the importance of having a great product, which is sometimes in opposition with the dogmatic position of politicians who want to target the legal sector. Because they cannot target the illegal sector. SP: We see this phenomenon a lot. Not just in one jurisdiction but in many. Instead of focusing on hitting the black market, a lot of attention by regulators or legislators is placed on hitting the licensees. One of the factors is that it’s much easier to hit licensees than the illegal market. Now, let’s move to our second part, which is about the question what the regulated gaming industry has achieved and delivered? Jason, I know you have looked at some data and some facts and figures. What would you say? JL: Yes, in preparation for this chat, I asked my staff at IAGR to look at some of our old records. And the one thing I discovered is that they’re not as up to date as I thought they should be. But we have had, successively over many years, a Statistics Working Group that has produced data, which is very, very useful. But I’m just going to refer very quickly to the UK market, partly because I remember or mostly remember the numbers, whereas for the worldwide market I don’t. But it’s illustrative. Back at the turn of the century, the UK didn’t even measure anything outside of casino gambling and bingo. There wasn’t any online of course, and they had around £3 to £4 billion worth of drop as they called it. Move forward to 2014. You have a new regulator, the Gambling Commission, the whole industry has been brought into the net. And that number has jumped to what is now £14.1 billion in GGY. So, we are seeing pretty much a doubling of the sector
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