21May

IAGA Gaming Summit 2026 – join us for the responsible gambling panel moderated by David Whyte

21st May 2026 Harris Hagan 65

The 43rd annual International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) Summit will be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Florida from 2 – 4 June 2026.

As part of the 2026 Summit Agenda, Partner, David Whyte, who also sits on IAGA’S EMEA Engagement & Steering Committee will moderate the panel Innovations and Global Perspectives in Responsible Gambling on Thursday 4 June 2026. The session will explore:

The latest trends in responsible gambling programs worldwide, featuring insights from the UK’s advanced initiatives and the Better Gambling Forum’s work.

How the industry is addressing the negative community impacts of betting, including player health and youth protections, and compare international approaches to self-exclusion.

The funding models for research, prevention, and treatment and examining models across jurisdictions that do or do not work.

The session’s panellists are:

Stephen Martino, Chief Compliance Officer

Sarah McCarthy, CEO, Responsible Gambling Council

Jamie McKelvey, Deputy Attorney General and Responsible Gaming Coordinator, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement

Kane Purdy, Managing Director, Gamesys Operations Limited, and Chair, GamProtect, UK

Sarah Taylor, Executive Director, Hoosier Lottery

Date: Thursday 4 June 2026

Time: 1-2pm

Location: Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota

Register for the 2026 Gaming Summit. All Harris Hagan Partners will be in attendance – if you would like to arrange a meeting, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

05Jan

ICE Barcelona 2026 – John Hagan to speak at Sport Leaders Conference

5th January 2026 Harris Hagan 252

Between 19-21 January 2026, ICE Barcelona will again be providing attendees with opportunities to drive revenue through innovative solutions, technology, valuable insights, and unrivalled networking opportunities.

Harris Hagan co-founder and Partner, John Hagan will speak at the Sport Leaders Conference on Protecting Growth, Safety and Integrity in Global Sports Markets. The session will not only look at the roles played by data, technology, regulators and international sports leagues in protecting sports players and bettors, but will also touch on the regional and national market specificities that international operators need to attune with when entering emerging markets.

John’s fellow panellists will include:

Gossy Ukanwoke, Managing Director – KingMakers (BetKing)
Graciela Garay, Director of Ethics, Compliance & Integrity – CONMEBOL
Tom Santos, Chief Commercial Officer – Bet da Sorte

Please see the below details for your calendar:

Date: Tuesday 20 January 2026

Time: 12:15pm – 13:00pm CET

Location: CC4.1, Fira Barcelona Gran Via

Partners, Bahar Alaeddini and David Whyte will also be attending ICE Barcelona 2026. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss the UK market and how Harris Hagan may support you.

15May

IAGA Gaming Summit: A Fireside Chat with Andrew Rhodes moderated by John Hagan – “a discussion you won’t want to miss”

15th May 2025 Harris Hagan 216

The firm is proud to be a Silver sponsor of the 42^nd annual International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) summit which takes place this year from 9 – 12 June 2025 at the Ritz-Carlton, Berlin.

As part of the 2025 Gaming Summit Agenda, our Managing Partner, John Hagan, will moderate a Fireside Chat with Gambling Commission CEO, Andrew Rhodes on Wednesday 11 June 2025.

The session will consist of an open discussion and Q&A on the trials and tribulations of Andrew Rhodes’ tenure during an eventful period for gambling, the many learnings and successes along the way and the future direction of gambling regulatory reform in Great Britain.

Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025

Time: 9am CEST / 8am BST

Location: Ritz-Carlton, Berlin

02Oct

Global Gaming Expo 2024: Bahar Alaeddini to moderate a stellar panel of regulators

2nd October 2024 Harris Hagan 250

From 7-10 October 2024, the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) will make its grand return to The Venetian Expo.

In partnership with the International Association of Gaming Advisors (“IAGA”), it will host the panel Where Sports Betting’s Growth Sits on the Regulatory Agenda, which will be moderated by IAGA General Counsel and Harris Hagan Partner, Bahar Alaeddini.

The panel will examine the rapidly expanding US-based betting landscape after the pivotal overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act 1992 by the US Supreme Court, and feature insights from the following stellar panel of regulators:

Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive, British Gambling Commission
Dennis Mullen, General Counsel, Indiana Gaming Commission
Kirk Hendrick, Chairman, Nevada Gaming Control Board
Marcus Fruchter, Administrator (Executive Director), Illinois Gaming Board

Please see the below details for your calendar:

Date: Monday 7 October 2024

Time: 09:00 – 09:50 PST

Location: Bellini 2101, The Venetian Expo

Over the course of the conference, IAGA will also be hosting a wide range of sessions focused on other key issues facing global gaming.

Bahar will be attending G2E with John Hagan. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting.

30Sep

Harris Hagan promotes Jessica Wilson to Senior Associate

30th September 2024 Harris Hagan 270

Harris Hagan is delighted to announce that Jessica Wilson will be promoted to Senior Associate with effect from 1 October 2024.

Jessica has been a tremendous asset to the firm since joining as a newly qualified solicitor in 2019, working on the specialist due diligence and licensing aspects of some of the largest M&A transactions in the gambling sector in recent years, as well as advising our clients generally on gambling law and regulatory matters.

We congratulate Jessica on her achievement and we are confident that she will contribute enormously to the continued success of the firm.

11Sep

Julian Harris to speak at the International Association of Gaming Regulators and International Masters of Gaming Law conference in Rome

11th September 2024 Harris Hagan 253

Consultant & Founder, Julian Harris will be speaking on the panel at the International Association of Gaming Regulators (“IAGR”) and International Masters of Gaming Law conference in Rome which takes place this year from 21-24 October 2024.

The panel, How do the regulator, the regulated and the interested and affected parties work best together? will seek to provide a fresh perspective on where the opportunities to work better together really exist, especially in light of the different values and goals that the gambling sector stakeholder ecosystem is trying to achieve.

Julian will be joined by fellow panellists on Wednesday 23 October:

Atle Hamar, General Director, Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority, Norway
Annette Kimmitt AM, CEO, Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, Australia
Kevin Mullally, CEO, General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, United Arab Emirates
Ewout Keuleers, General Counsel, Kindred Group, Germany

For further details and to book your tickets, see IAGR’s website.

09Sep

Harris Hagan speaks at the Backing The Punt conference

9th September 2024 Harris Hagan 258

Harris Hagan is delighted to join the leading Australian gambling law firm Senet, virtually, for their two-day conference, Backing the Punt. The conference will focus on the issues, challenges and opportunities facing the betting and racing industry in Australia.

The event will take place on 11-12 September 2024 at the RACV City Club & Conference Centre in Melbourne. Partner, Bahar Alaeddini, will be joining virtually on 11 September 2024 to speak on the panel, International showcase – what are the trends and developments in international wagering, racing and sports betting?.

The panel will be moderated by Julian Hoskins, Principal at Senet, and the other panellists will include:

Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics at the British Gambling Commission
Scott Scherer, Shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Joseph Borg, Partner, WH Partners

For full details and tickets, see Senet’s website.

02Sep

Global Gaming Women – Championing Inclusivity Webinar

2nd September 2024 Harris Hagan 238

On Tuesday 3 September 2024, at 12.45pm-2.15pm BST. Global Gaming Women (“GGW”) will host a webinar titled “Championing Inclusivity”.

The webinar will be co-moderated by Harris Hagan Partner, Bahar Alaeddini, and Christina Thor-Rankin (Principal Consultant 1710 Gaming). Together with the panellists, they will discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by women of colour in the industry.

The other panellists will include:

Monia Shafaq, Chief Executive Officer at Gordon Moody
Natasha Whittaker, Director of People Strategy, Operations and Governance at Games Global
Natasha Harris, Executive Director for People Services at the British Gambling Commission
Pallavi Deshmukh, Chief Executive Officer at NetGaming
Stephanie Wong, Head of Policy at the Betting and Gaming Council

To attend, please register here.

07May

International Association of Gaming Advisors’ 41st Annual Gaming Summit hosted in Washington D.C.

7th May 2024 Harris Hagan 252

The International Association of Gaming Advisors (“IAGA”) is delighted to host the 41st annual International Gaming Summit at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. from 28 to 30 May 2024.

As a Bronze sponsor, Harris Hagan proudly continues its long association with IAGA, which includes Julian Harris and John Hagan serving as President in 2013 and 2019/2020, respectively, and Bahar Alaeddini serving as General Counsel and member of the Conference Programme Committee. It is without hesitation, therefore, that this Summit is commended to readers not least for the excellent quality of the content and networking events.

Partners, John Hagan and David Whyte will be on the following panels:

Sports Betting 101: Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Around the World

Tuesday, 28 May 2024, 8:45 – 9:45 a.m.

Moderator: John Hagan

Panellists: Khalid Ali, Chief Executive Officer, International Betting Integrity Association; Santiago Asensi, Managing Partner, Asensi Abogados; Atle Hamar, Director General, The Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority; Carlos Schneider, Director of Judicial Bodies, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association)

Addressing and Responding to Gambling Prohibitionists

Thursday 30 May 2024, 10:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Moderator: Dan Waugh, Partner, Regulus Partners

Panellists: David Whyte; Paul Burns, President & CEO, Canadian Gaming Association; Michael Dugher, Chief Executive, United Kingdom Betting & Gaming Council; Alfredo Lazcano, Partner, Lazcano Samano; Steve Ketteley, Partner, Wiggin

This year’s President’s reception and dinner is being hosted at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms on the 28 May 2024. The closing reception will be held at the Spy Museum on 30 May 2024, where delegates can enjoy impressive views of the Washington, D.C. skyline.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to know more about IAGA’s work, membership and/or the Summit. We very much hope that you can join us there!

27Mar

Harris Hagan promotes David Whyte to Partner

27th March 2024 John Hagan 254

Harris Hagan is delighted to announce that David Whyte will be promoted to Partner with effect from 1 April 2024.

David has been an enormous asset to the firm since joining in 2019, having previously worked in-house within the online and land-based sectors and for nine years at the Gambling Commission in both the enforcement and legal departments. His practical operational experience and unique insight into the gambling regulatory framework, aligned with his legal expertise and highly personable approach, has been invaluable to the firm and our clients, particularly on high-profile compliance and enforcement mandates, including some of the most significant cases in the recent history of the UK gambling industry.

David is recognised in the legal directories as “not only technical excellence to the firm but, importantly, an excellent understanding of the regulatory environment. His wider experience provides an invaluable contribution to strategic discussions.”

Bahar and I look forward to working in partnership with David as the firm continues to go from strength to strength in its 20^th year and enters a post-White Paper era for our clients.

Event