London, 14 October 2008 – Tex Rees, the Fair Gaming Advocate at the London-based player protection and standards body eCOGRA, will be one of a panel of experts discussing Responsible Gambling at the Asian Gambling Briefing starting in Singapore on the 21st October.
Organiser Beacon Events has invited Ms. Rees, who routinely mediates hundreds of player disputes every year, to join the high-powered panel, which will be moderated by Panos Makridis, Responsible Gaming & Compliance Manager for Galaxy Entertainment Group.
Other members of the panel will be Macau-based Francisco Gaivao, Senior Legal Counsel, Melco Crown Gaming and Prof Hao Zhidong, Associate Professor & Head of Department of Sociology, University of Macau.
The discussion will embrace the importance of CSR and Responsible Gambling programs and their relevance to social responsibility; how Asia compares with other regions in the implementation of responsible gambling policies; the relationship between CSR and public policy and the appropriate level of government involvement; best practice for exclusion problems and how to increase operator accountability.
Rees established eCOGRA’s Responsible Gambling Requirements, and continues to ensure they are correctly implemented across well over 100 leading online gambling websites and mobile operations. She has organised and hosted various underage and responsible gambling training programs for eCOGRA certified operators, and has also been responsible for coordinating and motivating industry efforts which ultimately resulted in the International Responsible Gambling Code, adopted by industry trade organisations RGA, EGBA, IGC and leading online gambling jurisdictions.
She joined eCOGRA in 2003 with over 15 years of management and customer relations experience in both land-based and online gaming businesses.
Her experience includes managing customer relations for software developer LiveBet Online, where she was the primary point of contact for clients regarding development and operational issues. Responsibilities included interpreting client needs to develop a software solution and overseeing the installation, testing and training of the platform.
Prior to that, Rees managed a staff of 40 administrative and call centre employees for SuperBet, which ultimately became South Africa’s first online gambling operation. While there, she managed customer dispute resolution, established a customer care protocol and oversaw its implementation. Rees also assisted in wagering software development and testing for SuperBet and served as a liaison to the S.A. Gambling Board regarding compliance issues.
