Moscow hosts the largest gambling exhibition

On June 4, 2014, Moscow ECC "Sokolniki" welcomed VIII International specialized gaming expo-forum Russian Gaming Week.

On the eve of Russia's largest forum of gambling business professionals a lot of industry events were held. These shows are also reflected both in new concept of the exhibition and in list of its exhibitors and of course - in conference program, leading experts and the most important persons of the industry take part in.

"This year Russian Gaming Week Expo will be especially important event for the Russian gaming industry, as it is held on the eve of entry into force of important amendments to legislation that regulate the operation of all market participants.

Many companies today are looking for alternative solutions to continue their work. Key topics of our forum and conference agenda will be finding answers to these important questions -what to do and how to work on.

Over the past years, Russian Gaming Week has evolved into Russia’s largest show dedicated to gambling. Today it is a special place where leading operators, equipment manufacturers and service providers meet and demonstrate their achievements.

I believe that expo-forum Russian Gaming Week will become an effective business platform to share ideas and experiences, will show the whole range of the latest equipment and services, and will contribute to constructive dialogue between state and business structures,  and to fruitful cooperation between Russian and foreign companies.

Russian Gaming Week 2014 is officially open!"- Oleg Vlasov, director of RGW Expo, welcomed guests.

The opening ceremony was also attended by representatives of the companies, and sponsors of the event were entrusted to cut the red ribbon: Suren Khachatryan – CEO at Betconstruct, Eugeniy Morschinin - founder of OMI (brand Superomatic) and Dmitriy Cherkasov – head of Game Traffic.

Companies from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria, England, Portugal and other countries presented their stands at the show. Over 1,500 guests attended Russian Gaming Week Expo on the first day.

"We could not miss RGW Expo in Moscow - for us this is the event we are preparing for over a year.  Our company is a permanent participant of events of gambling industry held by Smile Expo. We came to show our products, meet old customers and partners - and find new ones. The show also features all of our major competitors, this year the list of participants is very good, so there are companies to compete with. Holding this exhibition is very valuable and simply a must for the whole industry, because people from regions come here to look for decisions. We will certainly take part in all the following shows held by Smile Expo," Maxim Baev, representative of multi-brand company GK Trio, told reporters.

Generally over 40 companies presented their products at the exhibition, among them: Betconstract, Tradologic, Superomatic, Game Traffic, Holo Loto, CasExe, Bingo-Boom, Rub-90, BC Olimp, Euromir, Baselogic, GK-Trio, InfoIntsale, Golden- Race, Igaming-Consulting, UB Gaming, Pari Match, MeridianBet, Betting's, NPS, Market Music, ScentAir, Outcomebet, Sensis, Chestnoe Lotto, Electroloto.info, Lotomag, Formula55, Winline, Hermes, "Hotel" magazine, «Login Casino», SaveSystems, Hot Games etc. 

Undoubtedly one of the most interesting new products at the show was the product of Holo Loto. Holo Loto showed a completely new, patented lottery system, using holographic technology and creating three-dimensional visualization. This technology allows combining unique images of characters, conducting the draw and constantly developing worlds of fabulous locations with incredible graphics and dynamic game.

Another surprise was the visit of ice skater Evgeniy Plushenko, who is the official ambassador of Bingo Boom.

At the same time RGW hosted a conference, whose attendees together with invited lawyers, analysts and representatives of organizations and government agencies spoke about recent legislative changes in their work, about the state of the market and discussed situation with gambling zones.

It was professional moderator and business coach Denis Nikitas, managing partner of "Communication Group 2C" and concurrently chief editor of "Segment" who was entrusted to hold a conference.

Yuriy Fedorov was the first to speak at the conference, telling about the highlights of amendments to the law and about creation of SROs.

Listening to report "Analysis of betting market" by Leonid Obozniy, the audience got to know exclusive facts and figures about state of the market, about "how much money were injected, invested and turned in online and brick-and-mortar bookmaking in 2014 in Russia and in the world".

Also, the audience listened with interest to reports related to legal issues.

As part of his speech, Konstantin Makarov (Bingo Boom) spoke about his vision of the situation on the bookmaker market due to the adoption of legal rules on compulsory membership of bookmakers in the SRO, which actually leads to monopolization of the betting market and makes government regulation weaker.

Sergei Ilyushchenko (Hermes) spoke about OTC trading, as an alternative to lottery products, about the legality of gaming machine visualization on the trading platform of dealing rooms and terminals, and about the possibility of 24/7 work when exchange is closed and about solutions to possible problems with government agencies.

Maria Lepschikova (LLC "Pravovaya Liniya") has traditionally responded to questions from the audience about how to protect business.

As a part of the forum roundtable discussion on the feasibility of establishing SRO in gambling business structure was held; President of NBA Yuriy Fedorov, Konstantin Makarov - lawyer and CEO of Bingo Boom; Leonid Obozniy - President of First Gaming; Athanasios Thanos-Marinos - executive director of EBGC, Betting Entrepreneur (Greece); Nicholay Oganezov - Director of Regional Association of Gaming Business in SFD; Maria Lepschikova - legal counsel of LLC "Pravovaya liniya" and other experts took part.

The discussion was mostly going between Konstantin Makarov, Leonid Obozniy and Yuriy Fedorov.

Appealing to opponents, who have stated the opinion that creation of SROs does not advantage anybody, President of NBA Yuriy Fedorov noted that the first whose interests will be at least protected - are players. He also noted that strict regulation in betting business is a distinctive feature of many states. "In Russia it is SRO, in the UK it is Gambling commission, in Italy it is MMC, and each of these organizations fulfills its function".

Responding to questions of the audience, Greek expert Thanos-Marinos said that the most democratic state in terms of gambling regulation is Italy.

In her turn Maria Lepschikova has also mentioned a number of not very noticeable at first glance, but very important changes in bookmaking sphere. For example, amendments to the law stated that after their entry into force, it will not be allowed to accept bets on any basic games of chance, bets on changes in exchange rates in the country; that is what today is popular in the form of poker, bingo, keno etc.

As a result, participants of roundtable agreed that SROs are important and necessary, but laws regulating their operation require substantial revision in accordance with international experience and Russian realities.

The first day of Russian Gaming Week Expo has showed that gambling industry is still at the peak of demand in Russia, market operators are getting ready for the new season and are ready to surprise visitors.

On June 5th Russian Gaming Week Expo will continue its work. Innovative technology in betting software, licensing for online casinos; using cryptocurrencies in gaming industry –visitors of RGW exhibition and conference will learn about these and many other issue. Conference visitors will enjoy the report of our special guest from Belarus - Ivan Montik who managed to do business in Austria using Bitcoin. Speaker will explain why gambling with Bitcoin is advantageous, effective and profitable both for operators and for players, and will also explain why in the future people will prefer to play in casinos that use Bitcoin.

On June 5 we look forward to seeing you in Moscow Exhibition and Convention Center "Sokolniki" (pav.4).