C5 Alliance Guernsey recently attended the three-day ICE (International Casino Exposition) Totally Gaming 2017 conference at ExCeL in London, as part of Alderney Gambling’s ‘Team Alderney’.
The event, Europe's largest and most wide-ranging gambling conference, attended by over 25,000 people, showcased new developments across the gambling sector for both land-based and online casinos and offered a number of seminars on topics such as the latest legislative changes.
Marc Lainé, managing director of C5 Alliance Guernsey, who attended the event with client relationship manager, Adrian Bott said the event was an excellent opportunity for networking and it highlighted the need for Guernsey to refocus its efforts on attracting eGaming to the island.
“C5 was pleased to be able to support Team Alderney in raising awareness of the Bailiwick’s eGaming proposition. Once again there was a noticeable increase in participating jurisdictions this year with at least 60 different countries represented, including our Jersey neighbours. Government funding has played a key role in the growth of eGaming in jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man and Malta.
“ICE is the premier event in Europe for eGaming; the industry continues to grow globally and it is increasingly apparent to me that Guernsey needs to remind the sector not only that it is open for business, but that as a jurisdiction it is an attractive place to do business. We have a world-class infrastructure and connectivity on the island, a fibre network and three major data centres to serve the market. With back-office support and short journey times to London we are excellently placed. We are outside the EU and the uncertainty about the Brexit effect on tax in this industry” said Mr Lainé.
Competitor jurisdictions like the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Malta have been making hay for some years and the eGaming sector is now a primary employer and provider of significant GDP for those jurisdictions. Mr Lainé believes that Guernsey needs to consider the contribution this industry once made to the islands economy, estimated to have been in the region of £50 million a year, and develop a new strategy to reassert its place as a well-suited location for operators licensed by the AGCC (Alderney Gambling Control Commission).