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New Chief Executive announced at London International Casino Exposition (ICE), IGC Board applauds work of outgoing CEO FitzGerald
Vancouver, British Columbia – February 4, 2014 – The Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) announced the selection of Keith Furlong as the trade association’s new Chief Executive Officer. Furlong will replace outgoing CEO John Kennedy FitzGerald.
“John FitzGerald led our organization through the challenges immediately following passage of UIGEA in the U.S. His sound counsel has been particularly instrumental in advancing lobbying efforts throughout Canada,” said IGC Chairman John Anderson.
Furlong, who served as IGC Deputy Executive Director since 2000, has been involved with casino regulation and online gaming for over fifteen years. He previously served as the Public Information Officer and Legislative Liaison for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement in the Attorney General’s Office. He will remain as a member of the IGC Board of Directors. His prior service on the Board was due to his position as Vice President and Principal of Catania Gaming Consultants, an international gaming consultancy.
“Keith’s combined experience as a former New Jersey gaming regulator with a strong knowledge of the IGC’s long history advocating for fair and sensible online gaming regulations worldwide,” said Chairman Anderson.
“I am thrilled to be given an opportunity to work alongside a Board of Directors with their extensive business experience to lead the IGC forward,” said Furlong.
The IGC continues to be a voice for the responsible interactive gaming industry, making the case for regulation and player protection to governments, gaming regulators and policy makers throughout the world. The IGC continues to emphasize that perceived problems of underage and problem gambling can best be resolved through a combination of up-to-date technology, proper internal controls and regulatory oversight.
“This is a challenging time period in the online gaming industry, with many jurisdictions either implementing or considering the adoption of online gaming regulation and taxation,” added Chairman Anderson. “I am confident that Keith will be an asset as the IGC pursues opportunities on behalf of our membership.”
The year saw the enactment of online gaming in New Jersey and online poker in Nevada and Delaware, but also saw a district court judge and then a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit block New Jersey from proceeding with sports betting. During 2013, a number of the individual defendants charged in the Black Friday case in the Southern District of New York settled their cases, and the former customers of Full Tilt Poker saw the beginnings of the remission process that is promised to return to them some or all of the money they had on deposit with Full Tilt at the time of the April 2011 seizures.
After a year filled with so many changes, we naturally are looking forward to see what will happen in the internet gaming industry in 2014. Here are a few of our predictions:

December 2013 – WOGLR
The expansion of the US market for regulated online gambling continues, although in the case of the US Virgin Islands, the US territory already has legislation to allow internet gaming in the form of its Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act, enacted back in 2002. Frank Catania, President at Catania Gaming Consultants, recounts the path that has led the US Virgin Islands to its current re-entry into online gambling regulation, and explores the implications of this for i-gaming elsewhere in the US as well as the unanswered questions facing the territory.
The United States Virgin Islands (‘USVI’) was the first state or territory to pass legislation authorising internet gaming. In 2002 the USVI enacted the Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act, 32 V.I.C §601, et seq. The legislation was clear that ‘internet gaming shall not commence until the Commission adopted rules and regulations...and has determined that internet gaming systems are secure and reliable, and provide reasonable assurance that players will be of lawful age and communicating from jurisdictions where it is lawful to make such communications.’ On 25 November 2002 the USVI Casino Control Commission (‘CCC’) promulgated and adopted internet gaming rules and regulations. It is important to note that in 2002 the St. Croix, USVI was home to the largest oil refinery in the Western Hemisphere.