Catherine Myers, CEO of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation in Australia, and an IAGR trustee, tells Focus Gaming News about the importance of sharing regulatory policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Exclusive interview.- With just a couple of months to go until IAGR 2021<\/strong> in Boston, Focus Gaming News caught up with Catherine Myers<\/strong>, a trustee at the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) and CEO at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation in Australia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The IAGR conference, which takes place from September 12 to 17<\/strong>, was postponed from last year due to the upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But it has bounced back with the launch of the first International Regulatory Awards<\/strong>, which aims to contribute to the recognition of innovation and excellence in gambling regulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The theme of this year\u2019s conference is Disrupting the Regulator \u2013 Sparking innovation in regulatory practice<\/strong>. Myers says it\u2019s precisely the disruption in gaming<\/strong>, not only due to the Covid-19 pandemic but also changes in the industry and in regulation, that makes it a crucial moment to bring regulators together and to promote and share their work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a great deal of disruption. Disruption from Covid, but also disruption in the form of innovation from industry<\/strong>,\u201d Myers says. \u201cSo it\u2019s really created an opportunity for IAGR to create these awards to recognise the great regulatory policy work<\/strong> that\u2019s going on across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are five categories in the inaugural awards, but what makes an International regulator of the year \u2013 the headline award? <\/p>\n\n\n\n “What we\u2019re looking for are changes that have been impactful.”<\/p>Catherine Myers, CEO at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe expect that the shortlisted nominees will really be able to demonstrate improvements to regulatory practice where there are tangible benefits for the communities<\/strong> in which they operate,\u201d Myers says. \u201cAnd really what we\u2019re looking for are changes that have been impactful, both from regulator outcomes but really also supporting driving the industry forward with the innovation that we\u2019re seeing across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Myers highlights the increased frequency of collaboration between regulators, especially in areas where new markets are opening up, for example in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCovid has accelerated the use of technology in collaboration<\/strong>,\u201d she notes. \u201cWhat we expect to see is IAGR being able to facilitate more of that collaboration using technology, rather than just the annual conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo some of the things we\u2019re turning our minds to are what are the tools we need on our website that will help support collaboration amongst regulators.\u201dhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wX7MlUwJEHI<\/p>\n\n\n\n Myers stressed that regulators can learn from each other<\/strong>, even when their markets might be very different since seeing changes in other markets can help regulators evaluate whether the issues may be relevant to their own jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can learn a lot from what goes on when new markets open up.\u201d<\/p>Catherine Myers, CEO at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think we can learn a lot from what goes on when new markets open up: what risks are there, what opportunities. We can learn from those that are leaders in this space about what they\u2019ve learned from opening up a new market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe IAGR conference presents an opportunity for people to present information relating to those new markets<\/strong>, and once you\u2019ve got that content, it really does help that discussion amongst regulators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not only collaboration between regulators. Myers also highlights the importance of collaboration with the industry, the community and with legislators<\/strong>, turning insights from various stakeholders into legislative thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think that regulators have a lot to contribute to the legislative process<\/strong>. Within our own jurisdiction, we have a very close relationship with the department that\u2019s responsible for government policy and legislation, and there are a number of ways that we contribute to their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe provide data and information <\/strong>on how the existing framework operates, we provide insights into the legislative framework where we think there might be gaps or there might be some ambiguity<\/strong>, and if we can talk about how that then translates to when you operate it in regulatory practice, they get some tangible insights into what changes they might like to make.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the major challenges posed by the combination of intense regulatory scrutiny and regular Covid-19 lockdowns in the past year, the gaming industry has become better at pivoting<\/strong>, Myers says, getting used to opening and closing at short notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom our jurisdiction\u2019s perspective, that\u2019s how we\u2019ve had to respond to government restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think that the pandemic and health regulations are front of mind for casino regulators. Within my own agency, we\u2019ve been funded to create two public health and wellbeing teams, and those teams are responsible for going out into the hospitality industry and the gaming industry to ensure that they\u2019re compliant with our chief health officer\u2019s restrictions, so I think there\u2019s another layer that are casino operators and gaming operators need to be thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just compliance with gaming regulations now<\/strong>; it\u2019s also compliance with public health and wellbeing legislation.\u201d<\/p>Catherine Myers, CEO at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just compliance with gaming regulations now; it\u2019s also compliance with public health and wellbeing legislation, so there\u2019s a lot on their plate and there\u2019s a lot of work to be done to ensure that they set themselves up in a way that they can continue to get their patrons into their business but also protect the health and safety of their staff and patrons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out the\u00a0full interview with Catherine Myers<\/a> on the Focus Gaming News YouTube channel. Don\u2019t forget to\u00a0subscribe!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Catherine Myers, CEO of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation in Australia, and an IAGR trustee, tells Focus Gaming News about the importance of sharing regulatory policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Catherine Myers, CEO of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation and an IAGR trustee, highlights the critical importance of global regulatory collaboration and innovation amidst industry disruption. The IAGR 2021 conference in Boston will feature the inaugural International Regulatory Awards, recognizing excellence and fostering shared learning, particularly concerning new market entries and multi-stakeholder engagement.","focusai_entities":"Catherine Myers, Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, IAGR, International Association of Gaming Regulators, Focus Gaming News","focusai_location":"Australia, Boston, Japan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IAGR Awards Impact","query":"How will the International Regulatory Awards specifically drive tangible improvements in global gambling governance frameworks and foster cross-jurisdictional policy harmonization?"},{"label":"New Market Regulatory Learnings","query":"What specific regulatory challenges and opportunities have emerged from recent new market openings, such as Japan, that IAGR members are actively addressing through collaborative initiatives?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,158],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-20494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20511,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20494\/revisions\/20511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}IAGR\u2019s International Regulatory Awards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Benefit of global connection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pandemic and gambling regulation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n