Graham Wood - Journalist
GamblingCompliance Ltd.
7th Floor - Capital Tower
91 Waterloo Road
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U.K
Graham Wood has been involved in the international betting and gaming market for 15 years. He has worked with some of the key players in the business both in the UK and overseas, was responsible for creating the new sports betting product in Italy in his time as consultant to the Italian operator SNAI in 1998, and previously had established the first CTD - the name given to the agencies transmitting bets overseas - in Bologna, Italy in 1994 when he was International Marketing Manager for pioneering cross-border bookmaker SSP.
Graham Wood is presently a consultant specialising in market entry and market development particularly in Italy and other Southern European markets. He was also a director with pioneering bookmaker Victor Chandler for a number of years and ran his own specialist betting software business Advanced Betting Technology Ltd, supplier of a betting system for the one licensed betting shop in San Marino.
Graham Wood is also the representative of Italian trade association SICON responsible for liaison with the Head of Betting of the government gaming authority AAMS, and a weekly contributor to the Italian sports betting publication Totoguida Scommesse and in the UK to Betting Business magazine and to specialist website www.gamblingcompliance.com
The implementation of Italy’s latest gaming laws could be delayed for at least a month after the country’s leading online operator Microgame chose to issue comments on the proposed legislation that is presently in the final phase of “standstill” with the European Commission.
All parties found reason to celebrate the long-awaited decision of the Italian High Court yesterday regarding last year’s controversial tender process for the sale of scratchcards.
The anticipated debut of cash poker, betting exchanges and online casino games on March 19, a World Cup Summer, and the recent introduction of systems betting are all leading observers to forecast healthy increases in Italian gaming turnover later in the year.
A new anti money-laundering law came into force for Italy’s bricks and mortar gaming outlets on March 1, despite concerns from owners of the country’s tens of thousands of licensed – and unlicensed – outlets.
The Turkish government’s struggle to combat illegal betting resulted in the arrest of as many as 77 people in countrywide raids in the second week of February.
Italy’s gaming authority AAMS confirmed that the sector continued its recent trend of double-digit growth in January, although some products appeared to fare far better than others.
Rome’s administrative court dealt the nascent online bingo industry a major blow last week, annulling the enabling legislation introduced by AAMS and forcing the authorities to take the product offline, only days after its debut.
The launch of new VLTs in the Italian market has been delayed until the Summer as concerns grow over the competing presence of unlicensed computer terminals that already offer access to online gaming sites in bars and cafes.
Overseas operators are successfully stealing market share in Italy’s gaming sector, once dominated by home grown companies, with online poker leading the charge.
Greece’s monopoly may not be privatised after all, despite speculation suggesting a sale of the 34 percent shareholding still in state hands.
