In one of the most rewarding conference sessions of last week's Global Gaming Expo 2004 - G2E, titled 'International Challenges and Opportunities: Exploring the Possibilities' Russia emerged as the brightest and most dynamic gaming environment, according to two of the major speakers. In their own special way they brought the participants' attention to a territory which for most people still carries the 'bad press', if we can call it that, of the Cold War, attrition and incipient convulsion.

In what could have turned into a programming nightmare for the session when only two of the scheduled six participants arrived, the reassembled speakers braved the early morning start and conveyed not only the current position but also the bright future. Michael Boettcher, CEO of Storm International BV, spoke with such passion and protection of his adopted country that many in the crowd gasped in admiration as he unravelled the treasures of Russia, right down to his respect for their resilience and his love of the Russian people

The moderator of the session was John Harris, a 38 years veteran of the industry with vast experience in several countries, and the first speaker was Frank McFadden, CEO of Casinos Austria, whose exposition was extended to cover from Europe, where they enjoy a state devised monopoly in their country of origin which is being challenged by two businessmen who have applied for licenses to try to break CA’s hold, to South Africa where they operate 5 casinos and India where they operate the only full gaming property, which is a cruise ship. Casinos Austria has just been awarded 2 gaming licenses in Germany, where they were the only bidders, as most operators shy away from the high gaming fiscal impositions in the country.

After McFadden’s opener, the turn fell to the second original speaker Ales Husak, Chairman and Managing Director of SAZKA, a.s. of the Czech Republic, who informed the audience of a novel online gaming system that they are set to run in their country in the format of video lottery terminals.

Martin Canepa, President of the Latin American Association of Gaming Operators, presented the current situation in the region. As is the norm in this part of the world, no year goes by without the usual dose of ‘threats and opportunities’ for the gaming industry. Right now, the biggest threat to the industry comes from the biggest country where the Brazilian president closed, through an executive order, more than 1,000 bingos in the country earlier in the year. As is also usual in these cases, the operators have sought succour in the country’s judiciary, and managed to reopen over 100 operations, pending lawsuits and constitutional charges against the state, which turns matters into a field day for the legal profession but leaves over 100,000 industry employees on the streets.

On the matter of opportunities, Chile offers the best gaming perspectives. The country is working on the regulations that will enable the Chile Gaming Law, approved by parliament last month, to grant 24 new gaming licenses available throughout the country. Already there are major companies from as far afield as South Africa looking at investment possibilities for expansion into the leading country in the region.

Boris Belotserkovsky, President and CEO of Unicum Group of Companies in Russia, gave an impressive presentation about his company that also manufactures slot machines for this market of over 200 million people in a territory that spreads to an astonishing eleven time zones. Showing the confidence of a scholar, Belotserkovsky’s power point presentation took us through the stats that have turned Unicum into one of the leading gaming groups in the world, and will be part of a future feature for this publication.

When Michael Boettcher took the podium to tell us in an irrepressible and tongue-in-cheek manner of the wonderful gaming set-up in Russia, he was also guarded about the fact that though the country is good for gaming business, with a per capita 4 slot machines per 1000 people, they were happy to be left to their own devices! Indeed, having only the gaming tax situation to be concerned about, and no meddlesome gaming regulators or casino commissions for the time being, Boettcher made the case for gaming self-regulation, which works well for the industry in Russia as it has in many other jurisdictions before.

One expects that there is very little that Boettcher doesn’t know about the gaming business, having gone through several territories before settling in Russia, where he is happy enough to seek, along with other leading operators such as Boris Belotserkovsky, to help the authorities with the difficult task of getting down some gaming regulations for an ordered development of their industry. One also hopes, as most responsible operators do, that the local gaming legislation will be a workable and industry-promoting instrument when it becomes law, if the input from operators is accepted. The lasting impression we have from this Russian gaming industry standard-bearer is that although an industry businessman his hopes and expectations for the country stretch far beyond the constraints of his profession and are set on the future development of the country as a whole.

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