Leaving Summer Behind

Dear friends and colleagues,

As you read this, many of us are still coming down from the high that was our Rome conference in partnership with IAGR. You will no doubt have heard about the success of the event from record attendance, a hugely diverse audience, impeccable hospitality and conference sessions of the highest quality. It was an organisational triumph and the many personal expressions of appreciation that I have received bear witness to that.

The team behind the Rome conference was small but dedicated with many hours being spent by both IMGL and IAGR members and staff. I will not list them all here, but they can be assured of my thanks and appreciation for their monumental efforts. I would, however, like to single out my opposite number at IAGR, Ben Haden, for being such a super partner and a delight to work with. I think both our organisations are stronger as a result of our partnership and we all look forward to joining forces again in the future.  Having a common platform facilitating communication and interaction between regulators, operators and all other gaming industry stakeholders in a safe, informal and friendly environment is indeed the way forward.

There were many highlights for me, not least the opportunity to host such a successful conference in my hometown.  A couple of brief but important moments stand out for me.

It was a pleasure to present my predecessor Marc Ellinger with my president’s award for his excellent stewardship of the IMGL especially during the headwinds of Covid. We owe him a great debt of gratitude.

I was also happy to hand over certificates to the very first winners of our European Student Writing Competition. I look forward to this competition building on a solid foundation that is now in place and going from strength to strength.

It may be another couple of months before the end of my presidency, but our member meeting in Rome felt like the beginning of an orderly handover of responsibility. I was delighted to participate in the member’s vote which unanimously elected Marc Dunbar as the next IMGL president. He had been around the organisation for many years and already served us in numerous different ways.  I could have not thought of someone most suited and ready than Marc to take over the steer of the IMGL, and I will be pleased and indeed honoured to continue to provide him with all the support and advice he may wish to get from me at any time.  I am confident that we will be in capable and reliable hands.

Finally, it remains only for me to thank you, our members, for your support over the past two years. It has been an honour to serve as President of the IMGL, a special organisation to whose foundation I was proud to be part some 20+ years ago, and one which I hope to continue to serve for many years to come in an effort to further expand its global reach and membership base.