From the President, November 2017

With the holiday season almost upon us, I am happy to report that the IMGL completed another successful fall conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 10-12. Our thanks to Brigitte Sand and Morten Ronde for their work in organizing the conference. The gala dinner was held in the historic Tivoli Gardens and the closing reception followed a tour of the city via canal boat. Congratulations again to Birgitte Sand who was awarded the 2017 IMGL Regulator of the Year-Europe at the conference.

The Copenhagen conference was followed by the always popular IMGL G2E reception at the Wynn Country Club in Las Vegas. Prior to the reception the IMGL 2017 Regulator of the Year-North America and IMGL Regulator of the Year-Indian Country awards were presented to Ronnie Jones, Chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board as the North American Regulator of the Year, and to David Vialpando, Chairman of the Santa Isabel Gaming Commission and Terry Hale, Interim Chief Regulator of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma as Co-Regulators of the Year-Indian Country. Congratulations again to Ronnie, David and Terry.

I would also like to congratulate the members who were elected as officers at the membership meeting in Copenhagen and who will lead the IMGL in 2018:

President: Jamie Nettleton (Addisons Lawyers, Australia)

First Vice President: D. Michael McBride III (Crowe & Dunlevy, P.C., Oklahoma)

Second Vice President:    Marc Ellinger (Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, L.C., Missouri)

Secretary: Quirino Mancini (Tonucci & Partners, Italy)

Assistant Secretary: Justin Franssen (Kalff Katz & Franssen, Netherlands)    

Treasurer: Marie Jones (Fox Rothschild LLP, New Jersey)

Assistant Treasurer:        Marc Dunbar, (Jones Walker LLP, Florida)

Affiliate Vice President: Douglas L. Florence, Sr. (3VR Nevada)

Vice President Educator: Keith C. Miller (Drake University Law School, Iowa)

The IMGL continues to get requests for its popular Masterclass presentations and will be conducting the following IMGL Masterclasses prior to the end of the year and in early 2018.

• IMGL Masterclass™ at EEGS, Sofia, November 21-22, 2017
• IMGL Masterclass™ at ARCI, Tucson, AZ, December 7, 2017
• IMGL Masterclass™ at NCLGS winter conference,  Miami, Florida, January 5-7, 2018
• IMGL Masterclass™ at ICE, London, UK, February 7, 2018
• IMGL 2018 Spring Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 7-9, 2018 
• IMGL Autumn Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, September 5-7, 2018

The IMGL Spring Conference will be held March 8-9th, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Aria Hotel under the heading of the Gaming Law Minefield and will be a joint project with the American Bar Association, The UNLV Boyd School of Law and the International Center for Gaming Regulation associated with UNLV. Also the IMGL fall conference will be held in the city of Prague, Czech Republic, on September 5-7, 2018. Mark your calendars accordingly.

Finally, I wish to thank our Executive Director, Sue McNabb for all of her hard work during 2017 and her assistance during my time as President. I look forward to 2018 being another successful year for the IMGL under the leadership of our new President, Jamie Nettleton.

Regards to all and best wishes for the holiday season,
Michael E. Zatezalo