MARCH 31, 2015 -
WASHINGTON, DC
Powerhouse attorney Jeff Ifrah has made a name for himself as one of the country’s most noted experts on gaming law. He gained national media awareness in 2011 through his legal and public representation of Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker as the U.S. government worked to shut the companies down. Now, Ifrah will be presenting and moderating a panel session with Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of the National Basketball Association, Dan Spillane, on April 21, 2015 at the GiGse trade convention (Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo) in San Francisco to discuss the NBA’s significant shift in its opinion on sports-betting, and the future possibility of its regulation in the U.S.
Since 2011, GiGse has been the largest gathering of iGaming professionals from around the world who come to network, learn about new industry trends, and stay current on evolving gaming law. Ifrah’s highly anticipated panel with Spillane, which marks the first time a professional sports representative has participated in a gaming conference, will be enhanced by previously recorded interviews of leaders within the English Premier League, and leading US legislators pushing for sports betting regulation, all of which have been produced exclusively for the GiGse plenary session.
The NBA created a media stir with a notable November 2014 editorial by Commissioner Adam Silver, which called for the U.S. federal government to legalize sports betting as a way to make the inevitable pastime more transparent, safer for bettors, and subject to strict regulatory oversight. Illegal betting already accounts for $400 billion in wagers, by some estimates, primarily through unregulated offshore Internet services or the old fashioned backroom bookie. The article sent a seismic shock through the professional sports world, as the official NBA position for over twenty years had consistently opposed any expansion of sports betting.
“Times are changing fast,” said Jeff Ifrah. “Ideas that were once unthinkable ten or even five years ago are now becoming more accepted as logic begins to supersede antiquated and sometimes arbitrary morality laws. The advantages of legal, regulated gambling clearly outweigh the negatives. Gambling happens, and no laws can stop it. But it can be taken out of the shadows to make it safer for everyone involved, especially the consumer who is currently at the mercy of unknown foreign website operators with no recourse for fraud. It’s great to see a prominent organization like the NBA take a bold position on the issue, and I look forward to my discussion with Dan Spillane at GiGse in April.”
Jeff Ifrah is the founding partner of Ifrah Law, based in Washington, DC, practicing law for more than twenty years, licensed to practice in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. For four years in a row, Chambers USA has recognized him as one of the leading U.S. attorneys for litigation in the areas of Gaming and Licensing, as well as White Collar Crime and Government Investigations. Most recently he was named “Local Litigation Star” in the District of Columbia by publication Benchmark Litigation. He has won numerous legal victories in criminal and civil antitrust suits, representing some of the biggest corporations in the country within the industries of healthcare, pharmaceuticals and technology.