Change of the Guard as GREF celebrates its 25th Anniversary

The Gaming Regulators European Forum (GREF) met for its annual conference
and business meeting in Dublin, Ireland. 

The conference was opened by the Irish Minister of Justice, Frances
Fitzgerald T.D, in the presence of 70 delegates from 25 European
jurisdictions.  The Minister acknowledged the continuing need to strengthen dialogue on mutual interests to ensure a high regulatory standard across Europe and was pleased to confirm
Irish participation in this process.

The main themes for the meeting were detection and mitigation of match
fixing, perspectives on the 4th money laundering directive, national
self-exclusion systems and gambling related advertising in Europe.

The Chairman of GREF, Director General of the Swedish Gambling Authority,
Hakan Hallstedt expressed his pleasure at the outcome of the various meetings
and confirmed his belief that GREF was of continuing value and significance to
both established and more recent regulators in Europe today.

“I look forward to seeing GREF go from strength to strength” commented
Hallstedt, stepping down after a successful completion of his two year term in
office.

Incoming Chairman, Dr Jason Lane, CEO of the Jersey Gambling Commission,
paid tribute to

Hallstedt’s contribution saying “we have been extremely lucky in GREF to
benefit from Hakan’s experience and he leave’s GREF a strong and vibrant
organization”.

Specific issues that are being addressed over the coming year include:

Development and implementation of effective counter measures against match
fixing and dealing with related irregularities that could threaten stability
and trust in the gambling market.

Building on the work of the EU Expert Group to share knowledge and
experience of licensing regimes and to build a common template for sharing
information on any issue of importance to meet the future demands of the
European gambling market.

ENDS

Notes for Editors

GREF is an association of European Regulators from across the continent of
Europe founded in 1989 celebrating its 25^th anniversary. The Forum
has two main objectives: to provide a forum in which European gaming regulators can meet, exchange views and information and discuss policy on gaming matters; and on special
occasions and with the agreement of participants represent the different views
of European gaming regulators and also provide a central point of contact