(Jamma) On June 26 and 28, the members of the European Casino Association (ECA) met in Vienna, Austria, for their annual summer meeting and General Assembly.
This Meeting was hosted by Casinos Austria. It was an amazing event. The organization of the event was flawless and entertaining, including guided tours of the beautiful city of Vienna, a Paul McCartney concert and meetings held in the magnificent Vienna State Opera House. More than 30 people benefited from this great event in the beautiful city of Vienna. All attendees praised the hospitality of the Casinos Austria team and the way everything was professionally organised.
General Assembly
The General Assembly was attended by over 25 people representing ECA members from 23 countries.
The main items on the agenda of the General Assembly were the recent regulatory and policy developments at EU level regarding gambling services, the great progress of the activities of the ECA and the 5 working groups of the association, the election of a new ECA member to the Board, new associate member approvals and the introduction of the keynote speaker, Mr. Raf Keustermans, CEO of Plumbee.
European Union legislation and development policy
The highlight of the first half of 2013 is, of course, the European Parliament's report on online gambling, approved in parliamentary committee on 30 May 2013. With this document, presented on 23 October 2012, the Parliament has taken a position policy following the European Commission's communication on online gambling. During the General Assembly, ECA members discussed the positions of the association itself and the activities to raise awareness on the relationship. Also discussed were European Commission developments on ongoing infringement cases, administrative cooperation, and the Commission's two forthcoming recommendations on consumer protection and responsible gambling advertising. In addition, other key initiatives at the European level were discussed including the legislative process of the European Parliament on the revision of the anti-money laundering directive, and the evolution of the European Court of Justice on some cases.
ECA working groups
Each ECA working group presented its activities and projects. The main activities include the organization of ECA events gathering technological information with a view to legal and regulatory policy, research and analysis proposals with a view to forming ECA positions towards responsible policies, marketing tools and most importantly in the the course of this General Assembly, the remarkable developments of the Responsible Gaming working group to review the association's code of practices and the forthcoming ECA Responsible Gaming Framework certification.
Election of a new member of the ECA board
The two candidates were: Janne Perakyla from Finland and Carlo Pagan from Italy. Almost a plebiscite for the managing director of the Casinò Campione d'Italia, Carlo Pagan, who with 92 votes out of 105, cast representing 23 countries, was confirmed in the governing body of the Eca, the European casino association where they also sit Ron Goudsmit (Holland Casino), Guido Berghmans (of the Luxembourg Casino 2000), Matthias Hein (Spielbank Sh Gmbh, Germany), Bruno Cagnon (Groupe Lucien Barriere, France), Heliodorus Giner (Spanish Association of Casinos de Juego).
The re-election of Carlo Pagan is an implicit recognition of the commitment of the managing director of the Casino Campionese both in terms of training, which he also develops at an international level, and in terms of company results achieved in the field, the best market share obtained in 2006 when he was managing director of the Venice casino, and last year a similar result in Campione d'Italia.
The assembly of the European Casino Association, meeting in Vienna, also approved the code of conduct on gambling addiction, confirming the determination with which European casinos intend to tackle the phenomenon both in the preventive and therapeutic fields.
New ECA associate members
The General Assembly is pleased to announce the official approval of three new Associate Members.
Raf Keustermans, CEO Plumbee, who gave a remarkable and extremely interesting presentation on the development of social gaming, more specifically free-to-play games. He explained the rapid growth of this sector and the possible links and impacts on traditional gambling activities
ECA Awards
This year the Meeting Estate is proud to present three different ECA awards: the Innovation Award, the Marketing Award and the new Responsible Gaming Award. ECA members were invited to present their best promotional campaigns, initiatives and innovative responsible gaming projects of 2013. The aim of this competition is to exchange best practices among ECA members.
The award was presented during the Gala Dinner on 26 June in the prestigious Casino of Baden. The ECA is proud to announce that the winner of the ECA Responsible Gaming Award 2013 has been awarded to Holland Casino, while the winner of the ECA Innovation Award 2013 has been Casinos Austria and finally the winner of the ECA Marketing Award 2013 has been awarded to Olympic Casino.
