John Penrose
Minister for Tourism and Heritage (responsible for gambling policy)

John Penrose was elected as MP for Weston-super-Mare in 2005.

Before being elected to Parliament, Mr Penrose was Chairman of Logotron Ltd, a small independent company creating educational software for schools. Previously he worked in publishing, including as managing director of Longman, management consulting and banking.

Mr Penrose was Shadow Business Minister 2009-2010 and has served on the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

 

Malcolm Harbour
MEP, ECR, Chair of the IMCO Committee

Malcolm Harbour was elected to the European Parliament in June 1999, and re-elected in June 2004 and 2009. He is one of 2 Conservative members representing the West Midlands Region of the UK. He is Chairman of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and is a Member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. He is Vice-Chairman of the Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA) and a Member of the Inter-Parliamentary Delegation to Japan.

Malcolm Harbour takes a special interest in the EU single market, industry, science and technology policy. He is Chairman of the European Manufacturing Forum, the Ceramics Industry Forum and the Conservative Technology Forum. He is Governor of the European Internet Foundation. He has been the lead MEP (rapporteur) for major legislation on Telecoms, the Single Market and Motor Vehicle standards.

Since 2005, he has served on the CARS 21 High Level Group, a Europe-wide initiative to boost the automotive industry. He was named as a top 50 European of 2006 for his key role in broking agreement on the Services Directive. In May 2006, he was named the UK’s most Small Business Friendly UK Parliamentarian by members of the Forum of Private Business. In September 2010, he was voted Internal Market MEP of the Year.

Before his election to the Parliament, Malcolm Harbour spent 32 years in the motor industry, as an engineer, a senior commercial executive, a consultant and a researcher. He began his motor industry career in the BMC Longbridge Plant as an Austin Engineering Apprentice in 1967.

Malcolm Harbour was born in February 1947. He was educated at Bedford School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in Engineering, and at the University of Aston where he gained a Diploma in Management Studies. He received an Honorary DSc from Aston in 2008.

Jürgen Creutzmann
MEP, ALDE, rapporteur, report on online gambling

Jürgen Creutzmann MEP is Member and ALDE Coordinator in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and Rapporteur for the Parliament's report on online gambling in the internal market. Between 1973 and 2006 Mr. Creutzmann worked at BASF SE, lastly as Director for Subsidiaries Accounting Services where he was responsible for the accountancy of around 50 subsidiaries and affiliated companies of BASF SE. Since 1983 he has b een Treasurer and Board Member of the FDP Rhineland-Palatinate. He has held many positions in German regional politics including serving as a member of the Rhineland-Palatinate District Council since 1989, the Palatinate District Council since 2004 and the Rhineland Palatinate Regional Assembly from 1998 to 2009 (since 2001 as Chairman of the Committee for European Affairs) . He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009.

Christel Schaldemose
MEP, S&D, shadow rapporteur

Christel Schaldemose is a Danish member of the European Parliament. She took up office in 2006 and since then has been a part of the socialist group - now "Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats". Mrs. Schaldemose has a masters degree in history from the University of Southern Denmark. In the Parliament she is an active member of the Committee of Internal Market and Consumer Protection. In 2009 she was the rapporteur of the report on the integrity of online gambling.

Damien Abad
MEP, EPP, shadow rapporteur

Damien Abad MEP is a member of the Committee on Budgets, and a substitute on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. Damien is a French representative and member of the Group of the European People’s Party. He was a Public Affairs Consultant until he entered the European Parliament in 2009.

Pamela Brumter
European Commission, DG MARKT, Head of Unit

Is the head of unit in charge of business to consumers in the Directorate for services in the Directorate general for Internal market and services at the European Commission.

Lawyer by training, Mrs Brumter, a French national, has been working in various sectors in the European Parliament and in the Commission since 1986.

Over the last ten years she has been in charge of public procurement law and of recognition of professional qualifications. Her latest assignment was in the single market policy unit where she was entrusted with the re launch of the single market which led recently to the adoption of the single market act by the Commission. She took over the business to consumers unit recently and will follow the gambling sector.

Stefano Mallia
Member of European Economic and Social Committee, rapporteur, opinion on online gambling

Stefano Mallia is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since September 2010 where he represents employers. Since becoming a member of the EESC, Stefano has actively participated in a number of study groups responsible for the delivery of the EESC opinion on various key issues such as the EU Cohesion Policy, the next EU Budget, the Small Business Act and EuroMed relations. He is rapporteur for the opinion of the EESC on the Green Paper on online gambling in the Internal Market which is currently being drafted.

Stefano is the Deputy President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce Enterprise and Industry and represents the Chamber in the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD). He sits on the board of Eurochambre and is a member of the Strategic Committee within the same Eurochambre. Stefano holds a directorship in a number of companies in various fields such as EU consultancy, IT and financial services. Stefano holds a Masters degree in EU studies and an Honours degree in Business Management from the University of Malta. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta on Cohesion Policy.

Peter Naessens
Belgian Gaming Commission, Head of the Regulatory Advice

Peter Naessens is head of the unit Regulatory Advice, Research & Development 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 legislative advice. Within the Gaming Commission his focus of activities is on the development and maintenance of the regulatory framework of gambling, the implementation of internet gambling and he follows with special interest the European debate on regulation of the Gambling Market.

Francesco Rodano
Italian gambling regulatory body (AAMS), Head of Remote Gaming

Francesco, born in Rome, Italy, in 1970, is Head of Remote Gaming at AAMS (the Italian gaming and tobacco regulatory authority).

Ha has a Degree in Statistics and began working very early for a publishing house, soon focusing on the technological aspects of the publication process. He subsequently specialized in business-to-business marketing, holding different positions in private companies (two of them within The Economist and Allianz groups respectively), but always keeping an eye on the
“e-business” side.

In 2001 he edited a book series dedicated to the (then “trendy”) net-economy and served as CEO in a start-up software company.

In 2002 he moved, as Marketing and Sales Director, to the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the soon-to-be largest cultural centre in Europe (it hosts over 1.000 concerts and private events each year), where he also led the Fund Raising Department.

Eventually, in June 2007, he landed at AAMS, where, while serving as Head of the Remote Gaming Department, he accomplished both the regulation and launch of online poker, skill and casino games, and the reform of the Italian licensing system, now fully EU-compliant.

He is involved in the policy-making discussion at EU level and regularly attends the Working Party on Betting and Gambling within the Council of the European Union.

Reuben Portanier
Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority, Chief Executive Officer

Mr Reuben Portanier, an economics graduate, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority. Prior to joining the LGA, Reuben was Group Chief Officer with the Datatrak Group and held the positions of Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Information Officer and Departmental Manager HR, with Malta’s largest ICT agency, MITTS Ltd. Reuben also held senior consultants positions with Arthur Andersen’s representative office in Malta and with the Management Systems Unit Ltd.

Norbert Teufelberger
EGBA Chairman and co-CEO of bwin.party digital entertainment plc

Norbert Teufelberger has been involved in the national and international casino and betting business since 1989. He occupied key positions with Casinos Austria, was a consultant to the Novomatic Group of companies and co-founded a land based casino company currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market and on the Prime Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange. He joined bwin Interactive Entertainment AG (‘bwin’) in September 1999 and was instrumental in drawing up the initial business plan of the company and the subsequent structuring and preparation for its public listing. He was appointed to the Executive Board of bwin on 19 January 2000, being initially responsible for finance, administration and operations. He was appointed Co CEO of bwin at the beginning of June 2001. Outside the Group, Norbert Teufelberger is also chairman of the Supervisory Board of the European Gaming and Betting Association. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna.

Jacki Davis
Moderator, journalist, broadcaster, and Europe commentator

Jacki Davis is the Managing Director of Meade Davis Communications, an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events both in Brussels and in EU national capitals, the editor of many publications, a regular broadcaster on television and radio, and a Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre think tank. Jacki has been based in Brussels for 18 years, and was previously Communications Director of the European Policy Centre think tank; Editor-in-Chief of E!Sharp magazine; and launch editor of the Brussels-based weekly newspaper European Voice.

Andrew Beveridge
eCOGRA CEO, Chair of the CEN Workshop Agreement for Responsible Remote Gambling Measures

As CEO of eCOGRA since early 2003, Andrew Beveridge has become a renowned authority in fair and responsible gaming and online player protection. He brings nearly 13 years of experience in various areas of online gaming and betting to the position.

After completing articles and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Beveridge embarked upon a career in merchant banking in London and Hong Kong. His online experience began with MultiChoice, an international supplier of pay-television and interactive services, where he played a major role in the start-up of MWeb, South Africa's largest Internet service provider. Beveridge then led global business development for International Gaming Networks, the MultiChoice division created to develop interactive gaming technology across Internet and digital television platforms. Other responsibilities included the implementation of risk management controls and procedures for South Africa's first licensed online gambling organisation.

Beveridge was responsible as CEO for a software developer which created the world's first integrated online and telephone sports and spread betting platform that has been successfully implemented at various UK, European and South African operations.

In May 2010 Beveridge was appointed Chair of the CEN Workshop Agreement for Responsible Remote Gambling Measures, and initiative involving over 30 participants from trade associations, licensing authorities, operators and experts on gambling behaviour, to develop a set of control measures that will help guide EU regulators and policymakers Beveridge also has an MBA from Edinburgh University.

Oliver Gray
EASA Director General

Dr Gray is currently the co-chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Code Revision Taskforce and has been Director General of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) since 1993. At EASA he is responsible for providing strategic input, lobbying the EU institutions, and managing the work of the five-person secretariat. He acts as an advisor in the creation and development of self-regulation across the world, particularly in the new Member
States and applicant countries of the EU. Prior to joining EASA, Dr Gray was Senior Committee Coordinator at the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels and Deputy Director General at the European Glass Confederation (CPIV). He holds a PhD in European Political Management and has been a visiting professor at the KUL University in Leuven, Belgium.

 

Simon Planzer
Lecturer in Law at the University of St.Gallen HSG

Simon Planzer teaches European Economic Law at the University of St.Gallen HSG, Switzerland. He works with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs where he is the Deputy Head of the legal service at the Integration Office.

Mr Planzer holds a law degree from the University of Fribourg and a postgraduate degree in EU law from the College of Europe. He further studied at the Academy of International Trade Law (Macau), the University of Montpellier I and Harvard Law School. During 2009-2010, he was Visiting Scholar/Researcher at Harvard Law School and the Division on Addictions (Harvard Medical School).

His research interests are at the intersection of law and sciences; in his doctoral thesis, he analyses the European case law on gambling from the perspective of empirical evidence on gambling addiction. He also works with the European Journal of Risk Regulation. He has published on questions regarding the European Internal Market, gambling law and addiction. In a recent report for the Responsible Gambling Fund in London, he provided a literature review on the 'Comparative Effectiveness of Regulatory Approaches and The Impact of Advertising on Propensity of Problem Gambling'. A qualified lawyer, Mr Planzer has practised as attorney at law and counselled in the field of gambling (planzer-law.com).

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Bühringer
Professor for Addiction Research at the Technische Universität in Dresden

Diploma in Psychology in 1973, PhD in 1981. From 1973 until 1987 Director of the Addiction Research Group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie, Munich, since 1973 Director of the IFT Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich. From 2002 Professor at the University of Constance, since August 2005 Professor for Addiction Research at the Technische Universität in Dresden.

Main topics of research: aetiology and course of substance use disorders and pathological gambling; mediators and moderators of change processes in formal and informal interventions; treatment service system analysis, public health issues

Member in scientific advisory boards and management boards of German and international associations in the field of addiction research; member of editorial boards of German and international scientific journals. Deputy Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Monitoring Centre of Drugs and Drug Addiction.

Antoine Dorin
French Poker Players Federation, Chairman

Antoine Dorin graduated with a degree in Law and Management from the University of Paris II.

For 5 years he was the heading a specialised recruitment website. He created his own consultancy in marketing and communications in the field of gaming. Mr. Dorin has had passion for poker for more than 10 years. He created and organised the “France Poker Tour”, as well as the student tournament “Campus Poker Master”. In addition to this he is the founder of the information website France.Poker.com.

Thanks to his broad experience and as his extensive networks he is a well-known specialist in poker practices in France.

Being the Founder and President of the French Federation of Poker players since its creation in 2005, Antoine Dorin seeks to promote poker and represent the interests of poker players through his federation. He now lobbies in favour of a dialogue with the French administration to put in place a responsible gaming policy, taking into consideration recent developments in the economy.

Philippe Vlaemminck
Partner ALTIUS

Philippe Vlaemminck heads the ALTIUS EU Regulatory and Trade Practice. He is widely regarded as a leading player in the current debate on gaming and gambling in the EU, and has been involved in every gambling case before the CJEU and the EFTA court. He also acts as a legal advisor to various EU Member States and operators. He regularly speaks on gaming issues and is a frequent contributor to gaming law periodicals and journals such as Public Gaming International (USA), European Gaming Lawyer ( UK), IGaming Business, World Online Gambling. He has been awarded the IMGL President Cup award 2010.

He is Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and Member of the European Association for the Study of Gambling.