IAGR conference in Lima addresses self-exclusion and illegal market

The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) is holding its annual conference in Lima, Peru, from 19 to 22 October 2026, in collaboration with Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR). The event is held under the title "Steady Hands, Shifting Ground: Advancing Regulation in a Connected World" and addresses challenges in a market where operator activity, technologies and consumer behaviour increasingly cross national borders.

The programme opened on 19 October with a seminar by Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) covering technical and regulatory topics including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and supervisory tools. A panel on 20 October, "Self-Exclusion Beyond Borders", discussed making self-exclusion systems more effective through common standards across countries. Participants were Margaret Carran, a law lecturer at City St George's, University of London; Pedro Romero, CEO of BetBlocker; and Jennifer Shatley, president and CEO of the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA). Corinne Valletta, General Counsel of Betsson, moderated.

According to the report, self-exclusion lets players block access to gambling temporarily or permanently, but its effectiveness can be limited by fragmented national rules. Separate registers, different procedures and non-uniform criteria complicate protection when a player can reach operators licensed in other jurisdictions or unlicensed platforms. Carran presented a project intended to promote convergence of rules on online gambling, with the aim of identifying shared principles that national authorities could adopt.

A further session on 21 October covers illegal gambling, with participants including Michel Groothuizen, chair of the Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), Ross Parker of Entain and Dave Phillips of Ontario's regulator. The discussion concerns the role of digital intermediaries in spreading illegal offers, with attention to search engines, social networks, affiliates, payment service providers, app distribution platforms and hosting companies. The report says the session follows work by some European authorities to involve large technology companies in action against unauthorised operators, and cites Ksa's work with Google on a shared list of gambling operators authorised in European countries.

On 22 October the World Gaming and Betting Association (WGBA), represented by its chair Maarten Haijer, takes part in the panel "From Evidence to Action: Building Common Ground for Better Gambling Policy". Other participants are Juliann Barreto of Spectrum Gaming Group, Misheck Pachipano Chingozha of the Zimbabwe Lotteries and Gaming Board, Brian Krolicki of IAGR and Mike Leara of the Missouri Gaming Commission. The session covers the use of data in regulatory decisions, action against the illegal market and consumer protection tools that take account of the effects of measures adopted.

The conference programme also includes sessions on prediction markets, artificial intelligence, money-laundering prevention and sports-betting integrity. The report identifies coordination between national regulatory systems as a common theme, with harmonisation of self-exclusion procedures, sharing of information on authorised operators and involvement of technology intermediaries among the areas under discussion.