Paul Herzfeld, born 1955, has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of Casinos Austria International since 1997. He joined the parent company, Casinos Austria AG, in 1975, where he was appointed to the Board in 2001 and became Deputy Director General in 2006. As Chief Executive Officer of Casinos Austria International, he manages the Casinos Austria Group's extensive international activities, including its existing operations and development projects in Canada, Argentina, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and the UK. Mr. Herzfeld was also elected to the Board of the European Casino Association in 2005. He holds a Masters Degree in Commercial Studies from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

Petter joined the Unibet Group in 2005. Prior to that date, he was CEO and Managing Partner of OMD Sweden AB, which is part of the international Omnicom Group. From 1994 to 2003 he held various senior positions within Swedish-listed Modern Times Group MTG AB. These included CEO TV3 Sweden, CEO TV3 Scandinavia and VP Global Broadcasting.

Petter was a Member of the Board of Cherryföretagen during 2001-2003 and Ongame e-solutions during 2004-2005. He holds a BSc (Econ) from Stockholm University, Sweden.

Ed has been Managing Director of eGaming at Ladbrokes since March 2008. Ed has over ten years experience in the online betting and gaming industry beginning his career as General Manager at PA Sporting Life before becoming Commercial Director at Blue Square soon after it was founded in 2000. More recently Ed has worked in Gibraltar both as Managing Director for Victor Chandler International and Development Director for the AIM listed 32Red Plc.

Thomas Murphy is the General Counsel & Company Secretary at William Hill PLC, the largest bookmaker in the UK, with gambling interests in various jurisdictions. He joined in February 2007 and has responsibility for all legal, regulatory and governance matters across the group.

He has been involved with large businesses all his working life. Having originally qualified and practised as a lawyer at the Bar and then Clifford Chance, Thomas has been advising companies for over 15 years, on corporate, finance, regulatory and commercial issues.

James Scicluna is General Counsel at BetClic, who he joined in August 2008 with a brief to set up and manage the legal department. BetClic is today the leading private online betting and gaming operator in France and Southern Europe. It is a member of the Mangas Gaming group.

James is a lawyer qualified both in the UK and in Malta. He has practiced in both jurisdictions, including four years spent at Jeffrey Green Russell in London’s West End prior to joining BetClic. He has been involved in advising online betting and gaming businesses since 2001.

In 2004 Nadia Hristova becomes a Legal advisor for some of the biggest manufacturers and operators in the gaming business in Bulgaria.

Since 2006 she is a Legal Advisor of the Bulgarian Trade Association of the Manufacturers and operators in the gaming industry /BTAMOGI/ and in 2008 is elected as a member of the Management Board of the Association.

Nadya is a member of the International Associations of Gaming Advisors /IAGA/.

She is also a member of the Legal Commitee in EUROMAT /European Gaming and Amusement Federation/.

She has a Master Degree in Law from Sofia University "St. Climent Ohridski". Now she is obtaining a Second Master Degree in European Law and International Business Law from University of London, UCL.

She speaks Bulgarian, Russian, English.

Nadia has six years of experience exclusively in the gaming business.

Ms. Bernadette M. Gierlinger studied Business Administration and Computer Technol-ogy at the University of Vienna. Beside her studies she worked as a working student at Siemens Austria AG.
After finishing her studies in 1991, she was employed as a tax consultant and public accountant at SOT (now Ernst & Young).

In 1993 she started to work in the Fiscal Administration, where she was Deputy Head of a Tax Audit Division, dealing with bank and insurance business. A few years later, in the first half of 2002, there was a big reform in the Fiscal Administration, where she was responsible for the implementation of controlling in Tax Offices.

Atle is the General Director for the Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority. He was the 2007 Chair of the International Association of Gaming Regulators.

A former deputy minister in the Ministry for Police and Justice Affairs, Atle has also served as a political advisor in the Ministry for Transport and Communication, including 20 years experience with politics and sate administration. Atle participates on a number of different boards and committees.

Since 1993, Mrs. Birne has worked as Director Financial Market Policy department of the Ministry of Finance Republic of Latvia. With the establishing of Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection on 1998, Mrs. Birne starts her career as Director of Inspection.

Mrs. Birne is a graduate from the University of Latvia, Finance and Trade faculty and on 2001 she earned the Master’s degree in social science.

Signe Birne is very active with her point of view on development of gaming business all around the Europe, since 2001 she holds a position as a Member of the Executive Board of GREF, Gaming Regulators European Forum, now she is a Chairman of the Executive Board of GREF.

Originally from Durban South Africa, Rolf lives in Oslo, Norway, where he graduated with a law degree from the University of Oslo in 1995, specializing in intellectual property and international human rights. He has previously worked on land concessions and area planning at the Ministry of Agriculture and legislation and individual cases related to oil pollution in the North Sea at the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority.

Since 1998 he has worked as a gaming regulator, first with the Ministry of Justice and Police, and since 2001 with the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs. In his previous and current position within gaming his scope of work has encompassed EU/EEA-law, all aspects of legislation connected to gaming machines, I-gaming, bingo, provisions and regulations on lotteries and sportsbetting. He has also supervised the administration of Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian state-owned gaming company, as well as the Norwegian Gaming Authority. He has been particularly involved in the Norwegian Slot machine case and Ladbrokes case which question the compatibility of Norwegian gaming law to EU/EEA-law.

Peter Naessens is a staff member for the Belgian Gaming Commission. He studied law at the university of Brussels, criminology at the university of Leuven and social work at Campus Kortrijk. He has a large experience in legislatory advice.

Within the Gaming Commission his focus of activities is the development and maintenance of the regulatory framework of gambling and he follows with special interest the European Evolution on regulation of the Gambling Market.

As the Executive Director of Poker Voters of America, Melanie Brenner oversees the operations for the organization including member and legislative outreach, education and fundraising. Ms. Brenner has 25 years experience as a political consultant working on candidate and issue campaigns in California and Florida.

Prior to her work for Poker Voters of America, she served as Executive Director of One Brick, a national public service non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of volunteerism. Ms. Brenner received her Bachelor's Degree and graduate training at the University of Texas.

Keith Furlong serves as Vice President with the Catania Consulting Group, Inc (CCGI), a government relations and consultancy firm with extensive experience in gaming issues. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), a trade association established to promote strict government regulation and fair and responsible trade guidelines in the interactive gaming industry. Prior to joining CCGI, Keith was employed by the MWW Group, where he served the firm's Trenton, New Jersey-based clients.

In addition, Keith also served 5 years as the Public Information Officer and Legislative Liaison for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), the casino regulatory arm of the Attorney General's Office. During his tenure at the DGE, he was the lead media spokesman and legislative representative for the Department of Law & Public Safety on casino-related matters. Prior to his appointment to the DGE, he served as Chief of Staff to New Jersey Assemblyman Frank Catania (R-Passaic).

Keith received his graduate degree (MA) in Corporate and Public Communication from Seton Hall University. He is a cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland (BA).

Khalid Ali has been Secretary General of the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) since October 2008.

Prior to working with ESSA, Khalid was an Account Director with Weber Shandwick where he spent almost seven years working with European Institutions and international organisations.

He began his initiation into EU affairs via an internship as a researcher to a UK MEP.

Khalid holds a Masters degree in European Law from the University of Aberdeen.

Thibault is a founding partner of the Law Firm ULYS (www.ulys.net). He is a member of the Bars of Brussels and Paris, and a recognised specialist in international gaming law; he is a professor at the University of Paris I Sorbonne teaching European gaming law and General Member for France of “International Masters of Gaming Law”.

Thibault is co-author of the Internet Gambling Report (Las Vegas) and founder of the EU portal www.gaminglaw.eu. He is also advisor for the Belgian Gambling Commission and expert at the Belgian Federal Parliament for gambling matters.

Thibault speaks French, Spanish, English and Dutch.

The Law Firm ULYS is one of the leading gaming law firms in Europe, representing major European casino groups and bookmakers.

Santiago is partner of Asensi Abogados, a law firm specialising in the Gaming, Audiovisual and Entertainment sector with offices in Spain. Santiago was the in-house lawyer for an online operator for three years. His firm provides legal advice to a large number of slot suppliers, software providers, sports betting, casino, bingo and skill games operators and gaming jurisdictions with interests located in Spain/Europe.

Santiago is the General Member for Spain of the International Masters of Gaming Law. Asensi Abogados is a co-partner law firm of the portal, Gaminglaw.eu.

Santiago has collaborated on the Spanish Gambling Market Report for the Media Entertainment Consulting Network. He is a frequent speaker at gaming conferences and publishes articles about the Spanish gaming industry on a regular basis. He has been a member of the Studies, Reports & Projects Commission of the General Spanish Bar Association.

Dr. Wulf Hambach is a partner and co-founder of the law firm Hambach & Hambach Rechtsanwaelte, a specialised law boutique for advice on German and International Law of the TIME-industries / Telecommunications – IT – Media & Entertainment, with a special focus on Gaming Law.

Since several years Wulf is a General member of the International Masters of Gaming Law as well as Member of the International Association of Gaming Advisors. Furthermore he is co-founder of the European portal on gaming and gambling law (www.gaminglaw.eu).

In 2008 he was recommended as No.1 in german Gaming Law by the independent ranking commentary “Chambers and Partners”. Recently he was awarded as “Lawyer of the Year 2008” by the World Online Gambling Law Report, the leading sector publication.

Quirino is a Partner at Sinisi Ceschini Mancini (www.scm-partners.it), a general practice firm with offices in Rome, Milan, Genoa and Republic of San Marino. The firm’s main areas of practice are telecommunications, new media and sports & entertainment.

Over the past decade Quirino has developed an almost unique knowledge and practice in matters related to national/EU gaming and betting legislation, assisting several Internet and land-based casinos, gaming houses and sportsbook companies in connection with their Italian operations and market entry projects as well as advising on all related licensing, regulatory and compliance aspects

Quirino has been involved in various phases of the flotation of some of the largest online gaming companies on the London Stock Exchange as well in most acquisition, joint-venture and licensing deals recently entered into between foreign-based gaming operators and Italian licensed ones. He also acts for and advises many operators who entered the terrestrial and online Italian betting & gaming market following its recent liberalisation (Summer 2006).

In October 2006, Quirino was massively involved, on behalf of various foreign-based bidders, with the licence tender called by the Italian gaming regulatory authority

Quirino is General Counsel to the Interperformances Group, the biggest European basketball players agency with offices in Italy, San Marino and the USA. He is a member of the editorial boards of the WorldOnline Gaming Law Report and World Sports Law Review and co-founder of www.gaminglaw.eu. He is a fellow member of the International Masters of Gaming Law, the International Association of Gaming Attorneys, the Sports Lawyers Association and the International Bar Association

Justin Franssen (36) started his gaming career as a croupier in the casino industry (land based and ships) while he studied law and philosophy at the Universities of Leuven (Belgium), Maastricht and Amsterdam.

Mr Franssen and his colleagues at Van Mens & Wisselink are engaged in the majority of past and pending proceedings on (cross-border) internet gaming before the various courts. VMW counts a range of blue chip remote and land based gaming companies amongst its clients.

Justin Franssen is the Dutch General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and a member of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys. He received a Band 1 ranking in the category “Gaming” in the Chambers Global Edition 2008 and 2009.

Peter specialises in gambling and business investigations. Regarding business investigations, Peter advises on all manner of regulatory investigations ranging from tax investigation and fraud to environmental cases.

As to gambling work, Peter has acted for clients across the gambling sector, both land based and remote. In particular, he has been advising on internet gambling for a number of years now and assists clients in a variety of different jurisdictions around the world with regulatory and commercial issues.

Jason is head of the gambling practice having specialised in electronic and television gambling for a number of years. Jason represented Littlewoods in the first major hook-up between an e-gambling operator and a television platform when it contracted with ITV and has continued to advise a number of major e-gambling providers and consumers including PartyGaming, St Minver, BOSS Media/GTECH, WagerWorks/IGT, Carmen Media, PokerStars, PlayUp, Smart Live Casino, Challenge Jackpot and others on internet and new media gambling.

As well as advising gambling operators Jason also advises a wide range of media owners on gambling matters, for example ITV, Five, Channel 4, Virgin Media, Fremantle, BT, UKTV, Bauer, Dennis Publishing, IPC and others.

Nick Hawkins is an English Barrister with 30 years’ experience. Since 2007 he has been Company Secretary and Legal Director of Danoptra Ltd, a major UK Gambling and Leisure Group, who are the parent company of, (among other subsidiaries) Bell Fruit, (one of the 2 largest UK gaming machine manufacturers, who also export, and are now involved in internet gaming ) , Gamestec , by far the largest supply company of machines to the UK pub sector, On Board Leisure, who run casinos on cruise ships and machines on ferries, (and through Three Services Automatics supply UK forces worldwide), and Leisure Connection, one of the 3 biggest sports management companies operating prestige facilities for Sport England and for local authorities across the UK. Nick was previously a gambling industry lawyer working in major firms in the City of London, and prior to that, a Conservative Member of Parliament in the UK 1992-2005. He held various roles in both Government pre-1997 and Opposition thereafter, including being Shadow Solicitor-General (2003). He had 2 spells as Shadow Minister (Opposition spokesman) for Gambling, and worked on the detailed line-by-line scrutiny of what became the 2005 Gambling Act in the UK. Prior to his time in Parliament, Nick was a practising Barrister from Chambers, doing a wide variety of advocacy, and civil/commercial/Chancery cases 1979-86, and then a senior corporate in-house Counsel specialising in Banking, financial services, insurance and payment systems/consumer credit. He was Company Legal Adviser, Access - (credit cards) 1987-9 and Group Legal Adviser, Lloyds Abbey Life plc, 1989-92.

In his present role, Nick takes a very active part in industry trade associations: he sits on both the Gambling Working Group, and the Sports Working Group, of BISL (Business in Sport and Leisure) and is actively involved in the machine industry group BACTA (British Amusement Catering Trade Association) and the UK RGA (Remote Gambling Association-sitting on its Executive Committee). He continues to use his close political connections to keep in touch, especially on industry issues, with major figures of all parties in the UK Parliament and in the EU.

Jaka Repansek LL.B, MBA, is a resident of Ljubljana and the founder of Slovenia based RePublis d.o.o., providing legal and business counsel to several Slovene and foreign media, IT and gaming companies. Repansek became affiliate member of IMGL in August 2009.

After graduating from Greenwood High School (Springfield, Missouri) in 1992, Repansek graduated with cum laude degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He gained his graduate degrees from Cambridge University in England (Diploma in European Community Law) and completed MBA study at the University of Kansas. Repansek is member of several international organizations and is active also as lecturer at legal and educational seminars and conferences.

Lorien is Head of Research for Global Betting and Gaming Consultants based at its headquarters in the Isle of Man.

He has previously worked as a racing journalist and also in business development for UK bookmaker William Hill. He currently serves on the executive committee of the Society for the Study of Gambling.

Speaker overview coming soon...