Exhibitors pleased with the Northern Light
On Wednesday afternoon, we asked three representatives of the EL Partners Gtech, Intralot, and Scientific Games about their impressions of this year’s EL Congress and Trade Show. They all were very positive about both the congress organization and Helsinki.

”The congress was very well organized, the programme was both relevant and interesting and here at the stand we had a lot of good sessions”, said Michael Roygaard, Gtech’s Director of Retail Solutions Intl.

James Trask, President of the Printed Products Group from Scientific Games was pleased with the exhibition area.

“Our initial reaction when we arrived was that the exhibition area was smaller than what we are used to. But as the meeting went on, I was impressed by the space and the intimacy opposed to a larger exhibition area.”

The representative of Intralot, General Director of Games and Marketing, Vali Bouligaraki thought that the congress was a success because almost all of the European lotteries joined together.
“Everybody has had the opportunity to get in touch with others and also to share experiences about the industry, regulations and retail environment.”

According to Bouligaraki, the Young Lions programme was an interesting chance for young people to come together. She thought that the idea should be kept for the future congresses as well.

Experiencing Helsinki
Michael Roygaard is very familiar with Helsinki, because part of his family lives there. But for James Trask and Vali Bouligaraki, visiting Helsinki was something new.
Bouligaraki was impressed by the locals’ friendliness and by the fact that people experience the city by biking and walking around.

Trask did not have a lot of time to explore Helsinki during the congress, but he was heading for a harbour tour on Wednesday afternoon.

“I love the people and the city itself. Helsinki seems to be a mixture of the old world and modern Scandinavian presentations”, Trask analyzed.

Good ideas for the future
The representatives of Mifal Hapais - Israel National Lottery and Winner - Toto, the Israel Sports Betting Board came to Helsinki to promote the next European Lotteries Congress, which will be held in Israel in the summer of 2013.

Shaul Sotnik, President and CEO of Mifal Hapais, said that they met a lot of people who showed interest in their congress. Both Shaul Sotnik and Zach Fishbein, Chairman of Winner - Toto were happy with this year’s EL Congress.

Fishbein said that it is good to have the congress every two years, the idea being to make the event even better in the future.

“Meeting people from different organizations and companies, seeing new technology and doing good co-operation between the countries can create a better industry”, he said.