On February 26th the Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS) held its Free Webinar on “Balkan Gaming Landscape: a Maze or Amaze? Deep dive in the markets” topic. Prominent experts and professionals in the gaming and entertainment industry gathered to discuss the latest trends, developments and challenges facing the Balkan markets.
Moderator of the webinar was Rossi McKee, Co-founder of Telematic Interactive Bulgaria and Honorary Chairman of the Association of the gaming industry in Bulgaria (AGIB). In the discussions input and comments were made by representatives of several Balkan countries – Angel Iribozov, Chairman of the Association of the gaming industry in Bulgaria (AGIB), Dan Iliovici, Vice-president of ROMBET, Romania, Ovidiu Iosif, Executive Director of “Joc Responsabil” Association in Romania, Zoran Puhac from Serbia, Secretary General of European Organization for Gaming Law (EOGL) and Vasko Ilijevski, President of Macedonian Sports Betting Association.
Throughout the webinar, the speakers provided insights into the prevailing market conditions in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro. Delving into crucial themes like gambling advertising, implementation of responsible gaming policies, and the reception of new laws and regulations in the industry, the discussions were both enlightening and comprehensive. To the moderator’s question „What are the key challenges faced by gaming professionals in the Balkans?”, Zoran Puhac responded: “The elections had the key challenge. During the election time all politicians try to find out something new to improve their image and that’s the problem.”. In this regard Angel Iribozov added: “Although the politicians in between might have a certain kind of misunderstanding around other sectors, gambling has always suffered from the tax ambitions of the politicians”.
At the end of the session, the panel of experts engaged with the audience by providing insightful responses to a variety of questions on topics regarding the total ban of gambling advertising and the key challenges faced by the companies directly involved in the sector. “We have the experience of Italy, which went on this total ban a few years ago and I haven’t seen any research on the impact of this ban on advertisement. But the governments nevertheless are not aware of any scientific approach or any kind of research. They are purely populistic…In fact nobody can bring some proofs that these measures are effective.” – said Dan Iliovici, in response to the question „Do you think that the total ban of gambling advertising is a good idea in any market?“
At the end of the webinar, each participant was awarded a Certificate of Attendance, recognizing their commitment to professional and continuous development in the field.
The topic gathered significant interest among the audience, which was active in the Q&A section. The speakers promised a follow-up session in order to delve deeper into the implementation and discussion of the forthcoming changes they shared were to come into force.
A recording from the webinar is available to watch for free on the EEGS YouTube channel – https://youtube.com/eegamingsummit.For any inquiries and more information on future initiatives of the Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS), please contact info@eegamingsummit.com.