Swiss gaming regulator Gespa names Jean-Michel Cina as president

Jean-Michel Cina will succeed Jean-François Roth as president of one of Switzerland’s two gaming regulators.

Switzerland.- Gespa, the body that regulates gaming in the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, has named Jean-Michel Cina as its new president.

He will take over from Jean-François Roth on January 1 for a four-year term. He’ll be the body’s second president, with Roth having held the position since Gespa was founded as Comlot in 2006.

Cina was a state councillor for the canton of Valais for 12 years from 2005 to 2017 and led the conference of cantonal governments for several years.

He served a term as vice president of the cantonal specialist directors’ conference Lottery Market, and more recently as chairman of the board at the Swiss broadcasting corporation SSG SSR.

Meanwhile, Gespa’s board of directors has appointed Mirjam Webber and Professor Pascal Mahon to replace outgoing directors Bruno Erni and Jean-Marc Rapp.

Switzerland has two gaming regulators. Gespa, formerly Comlot, regulates gaming in the French-speaking cantons in the west of the country, which include Geneva and Jura.

Eidgenössische Spielbankenkommission (ESBK) regulates gaming in German-speaking cantons. Both Swiss regulators operate their own blacklists of unlicensed gaming operators.

Gespa said: “Gespa and the employees of the office thank their outgoing president and the members of the board for their long-term commitment.

“As members from the very beginning, they were significantly involved in the successful establishment of the authority and have done a lot to strengthen and professionalise supervision in the field of lotteries, sports betting and skill money games.”