Casino Copenhagen welcomed the members of the European Casino Association (ECA) to Copenhagen, Denmark, for their annual Summer Meeting. The group praised the team from Casino Copenhagen for the impeccable organisation which lay behind the relaxed, warm and generous atmosphere of the event. Guided tours of the beautiful city and splendid meals offered the ECA membership rare moments of simply getting to enjoy each other’s company.
As lovely as it may sound, the summer meeting is never just about bringing the members together to socialise. The opportunity of being together also allowed for the membership to plan its upcoming year. There were 30 members representing all 24 member countries present at the ECA General Assembly, which took place on Friday 20 June 2014. Highlights of the assembly were the approval of the UK’s National Casino Forum’s application to join ECA as a full member; the EU Update during which the group discussed ECA’s positions and advocacy activities relating to the upcoming European Commission Recommendations on consumer protection and responsible advertising, ongoing developments of the European infringement cases, the European Parliament and Council’s legislative process on the revision of the anti-money laundering directive, the evolution of the European Court of Justice cases, as well as the impact of the recent EU elections; the working group updates during which the new working group on online gaming was ratified, the responsible gaming certification process was discussed, and plans to investigate the upcoming technological changes which will be introduced into the industry were made; and finally, the guest speaker, Jeffrey Scott Saunders of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies presented a vision of the future of the online casino world and the challenges facing land-based casinos.
The membership also enjoyed a little innovation motivating friendly competition during the awards ceremony as each member country presented their past year’s best innovation before the group voted on their favourites as a whole. This year, Hit d.d. Nova Gorica (Hit Casinos), Slovenia won with their marketing innovation, “Stay Connected Everywhere”. This program allows for guests to earn points both on and offline equally. The guest can then login online to see their total points as well as the advantages available to them. The more difficult decisions came in with second and third place, which were both ties. Second place was a tie between Italy and the Netherlands and third place was a tie between Finland and Serbia.
The membership was happy to be joined by representatives from the following of ECA’s associate members: IGT, Gambling Compliance, and Global Cash Access. The Managing Director from ECA’s partner, Clarion Events, was likewise present. It is commented upon time and time again that it is the coming together of the ECA members, associate members and partners which really adds value to these relationships.
Finally, we would be remiss not to express our gratitude to the years of tireless efforts and numerous successes of Gwendoline Motte in her role as ECA Executive Director. It is with regret that the ECA membership will be seeing Gwendoline leave ECA at the end of September, but it is likewise a joy to watch her move onto to a new stage in her life and professional career. Gwendoline will be missed at ECA and the membership wishes her all the best.
