Sydney hosts local and international regulators for gaming and casino regulation course

Earlier this month, 60 Australian and international gaming regulators attended the first ever casino and gaming regulation program held in Australia.

”Gaming Regulation”, a joint venture by Liquor & Gaming NSW and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) International Center for Gaming Regulation, ran from 11–16 August at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.

The six-day program was developed in consultation with casino and gaming regulators, and focused on compliance and enforcement, licensing, audit, responsible gambling, technology, emerging threats and regulatory challenges.

Liquor & Gaming NSW’s Executive Officer, Nathan Bennett said the course was a huge success and attracted delegates from all around the world.

“This is the first time, outside of Las Vegas, that casino and gaming regulators have been able to participate in an educational training program specifically designed to meet their regulatory needs,” Nathan said.

“This program has provided a platform for regulators in the Asia-Pacific and across the world to increase their supervisory capability and capacity, and to workshop their regulatory priorities and challenges with peers.”

Casino regulators from every Australian state and territory, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Ireland and Cyprus sent participants to Sydney.

Jennifer Roberts, Associate Director, UNLV’s International Center for Gaming Regulation led a faculty of four who, along with a small number of Australian-based subject matter experts, delivered the program to participants.

“It was exciting to learn from different jurisdictions, and do a comparison about how they approach gambling regulation,” said Jennifer.

Brendan MacNamara, from Ireland’s Ministry of Justice, attended the program as plans to create an Irish regulator continue.

“The intention of the (Irish) government is to move to the creation of an independent regulator, to regulate all forms of gambling,” explained Brendan.

“I (was) looking forward to hearing what all of the regulators from different Australian states and beyond have done in terms of their regulation of forms of gambling – what they found worked, what they found didn’t work.”

The program also included a number of networking events to allow delegates to build their contacts within the gaming and casino regulation space.

This project was supported by the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund.