Supplier News
Costa Rica – 100 regulators joined GLI for 12th Latin American and Caribbean Regulators Roundtable
By Phil - 22 November 2019
A record number of regulators and legislators from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Portugal joined Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) as the company celebrated its 12th Latin American and Caribbean Regulators Roundtable in San José, Costa Rica.
This year’s Roundtable was attended by 100 government representatives. Attendees came from 19 countries, 32 government entities, and two government associations, including CIBELAE (Iberoamerican Association of State Lotteries) and ALEA (Association of State Lotteries of Argentina).
The countries represented at the Roundtable were Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, and Uruguay.
“Our great appreciation and gratitude go to the Junta de Protección Social (JPS Costa Rica Lottery) and its President, Mrs. Esmeralda Britton González, for their outstanding efforts during the organization of the conference. Without their support, there would be no Roundtable. We are thankful to the JPS Lottery and the Ministry of Public Safety of Costa Rica for bringing a delegation of local government representatives that was the largest to date. One of the Roundtable’s objectives is to have a positive impact on the host country’s industry, and we hope the conference was a success in this regard,” said Karen Sierra-Hughes, Director of Latin America and Caribbean Government Relations and Business Development for GLI. “We are humbled by the great success of this Roundtable, and we are grateful to the 100 government representatives that decided to join us this year. The wealth of knowledge shared was unparalleled, and we are certain it will once again result in important regulatory advances for the jurisdictions in attendance We are already looking forward to next year’s conference.”
The President of Junta de Protección Social, Mrs. Esmeralda Britton González, MBA, said, “I want to deeply thank GLI for considering Costa Rica as the venue for the region’s 12th Regulators Roundtable, held in our country. This is a very important event where regulators from all the countries of the region meet and information and experiences are shared that allow us to know the progress that each country has in terms of lotteries and gaming. The quality of the speakers, the strict order of the presentations, and the variety in the modality of each session allowed the participants to take full advantage of each panel. I recognize and congratulate GLI for the success of this event. I hope GLI will continue to conduct these educational events each year, which allow the regulated industry to continue advancing in the gaming world, learn from other experiences, and of course, advance in certification processes that allow us to improve the quality of the products and services we offer.”
The Executive Director of the Gaming Inspection and Regulation Service of Portugal, Mr. Luís Felipe Coelho said, “The Latin America and Caribbean Regulators Roundtable that took place in San José, Costa Rica will surely be marked in the memory of all its attendees as a high quality event for the topics discussed and the highest-level presentations that we had the opportunity to witness. Certainly, the exchange of ideas and experiences has enriched regulators for future actions in their respective jurisdictions.”
Mr. Manuel Antonio San Román Benavente, General Director of Casino Games and Slot Machines of Peru said, “I have had the opportunity to participate in the Regulators Roundtable promoted by GLI, which had an excellent setting in the city of San José, Costa Rica; a welcoming country with kind people and great economic development. My experience participating at all the Roundtables promoted by GLI to date with the collaboration of the host regulators that have welcomed us every year, has allowed us to bring new advances and improvements in the regulations of each one of the different countries participating. It should be noted that the continuous participation of regulators in the different Roundtables, when exchanging experiences allows us to keep up-to-date with the technological developments that are emerging year by year, as well as new techniques and solutions to the common problems that we are facing. Congratulations to the entire GLI team, as well as to Mrs. Esmeralda Britton, President of the Junta de Protección Social of Costa Rica, in her capacity as host regulator for this impeccable organization, which leaves in our memories pleasant and useful lessons.”
This year, the Roundtable hosted gaming and lottery regulators, government lotteries, tax and AML supervision authorities, and legislators. Speakers addressed critical topics, such as policy objectives and legislative updates, to more specific topics ranging from legal and technical compliance, social responsibility, and keeping crime out of the industry.
The event is produced through GLI’s highly respected educational division, GLI University®. Next, GLI will stage its North American Regulators Roundtable March 4-5 at the Tropicana Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.
