The Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2024, organized by HIPTHER, ended with tremendous success, marking the biggest achievement of the summit series so far. The summit exceeded expectations and left a lasting impact on attendees, from insightful discussions and top-notch panels to lively networking events.
On March 26th and 27th, leaders from the fields of gaming, technological development, innovative startups, and regulatory creators gathered in Prague to exchange information on the latest trends, strategies, and cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of gaming. The summit kicked off with a panel discussion titled “Gambling Industry Spotlight: Czech Republic,” which was attended by our institute’s secretary, Petr Kozák. Along with Jan Urbanec, Jakub Kolomičenko, and Robert Skalina, they focused primarily on the latest developments in the Czech gambling market.
The recent adoption of the amendment to the gambling law, which brings about a number of changes, has set the stage for the market to gradually adapt. As Petr Kozák pointed out, there has been a positive shift in attitude towards illegal online gambling recently. This includes simplifying the process of blocking illegal websites and the ability to block websites promoting illegal gambling. However, it will take a longer time horizon to evaluate how effective the simpler blocking of illegal websites will be in practice. At the same time, he also reminded that the state’s approach motivates players to switch to illegal operators, especially due to increased taxation on gambling and stricter taxation of winnings combined with a rigid approach by authorities in permitting new products on the market.
Jakub Kolomičenko from Kaizen Gaming then highlighted new measures to protect players, such as the introduction of a so-called panic button. We are pleased that operators, like us at IFGR, welcome measures that serve to protect players.
Before the evening announcement of this year’s GamingTECH CEE Awards 2024, the director of IFGR, Jan Řehola, spoke in his panel discussion, emphasizing the key role of the Responsible Gaming project and the benefits of majority market participation in it. Similarly to the Czech Republic, where companies such as Fortuna CZ, Chance, SAZKA a.s., and Tipsport collaborate on the Responsible Gaming project and mutual data sharing enables more effective player protection across the legal market.
Together with Jan Řehola, Matej Novota debated the need for standardization of responsible gaming measures and the role of operators in this process. Bill Pascrell also spoke about the innovations in the concept of responsible gaming in the USA. In overseas, the debate on this issue is gradually gaining momentum with the legalization of online betting, and the practices from EU countries can serve as a good example for inspiration.
The Responsible Gaming project defended its first place!
During the evening award ceremony, we successfully defended last year’s victory at the GamingTECH CEE Awards 2024 in strong competition.
With our Responsible Gaming project, we succeeded in the category of Best Support for Responsible Gambling at the Summit. We are very pleased that our long-term efforts in the prevention and education of society have repeatedly received international recognition. This victory is even more valuable to us when we were in the final selection alongside companies such as Casino Guru, EGT Digital, Fortuna, Gamblers Connect, Kindred Group plc, Mindway AI, PIN-UP.TECH, SOFTSWISS, and Wazdan.
