INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE
ON GAMBLING

11th November 2026

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CONFERENCE
PRAGUE AS THE HEART
OF RESPONSIBLE
GAMBLING

12th November 2026

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The conference will begin in:

Day 1 - 11 November 2026 Day 2 - 12 November 2026

About the conference

Date: 12 November 2026
Time: 09:00 - 17:00
Address: ARA Palác, Perlová 5, 110 00 Prague

Register now

The second day will continue with the Prague as the Heart of Responsible Gambling conference, following the International Conference on Gambling. This day will focus primarily on social responsibility, prevention, and practical tools that help create a safer gambling environment.

The main theme of this year’s edition will be consumer protection, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups of players. The programme will provide space for expert discussion on current challenges in responsible gambling, the prevention of risky behaviour, and the impact of new digital trends.

The conference will address topics such as digital addictions, education, illegal gambling and its impact on player safety, as well as the broader social context of gambling and opportunities for effective prevention.

This year’s edition is also symbolic for us, as the Responsible Gambling project celebrates its 5th anniversary.

Program:

09:00-09:30

Registration

09:30-09:40

Opening Remarks

09:40-10:20

From Detection to Intervention: How to Build an Effective Player Protection System

Jan Řehola, Institut for Gambling regulation

Svend Aage Kirk, Mindway AI

Simo Dragicevic, Air Hub

10:20-10:35

Responsible Gambling Project, Iris

Jan Řehola, Institut for Gambling regulation

10:35-11:00

Coffee Break

11:05-11:20

Presentation - To Be Confirmed

11:20-11:35

Presentation - To Be Confirmed

11:35-12:15

From the First Warning Sign to Support: Effective Communication with AT-Risk Players

Kristina Theopilos, Super Technologies

Tracy Parker, The Responsible Gambling Council

Vladimír Stanislav, Predná hora

Šimon Vincze, Casino Guru

12:15-13:15

Lunch

13:20-13:50

The Impact of Digital Technologies on the Human Brain

Martin Stránský, Poliklinika Národní

13:50-14:05

The Convergence of Gaming and Gambling among Children and Young People

Harshdeep S. Mangat, University of Gibraltar

14:05-14:45

When Gaming Meets Gambling: Protecting Children in the Digital World

Kateřina Lukavská, Faculty of Education, Deparment of Psychology, Charles University

Martin Stránský, Poliklinika Národní

Harshdeep S. Mangat, University of Gibraltar

14:45-15:10

Coffe Break

15:10-15:50

When Self-Exclusion Is Not Enough: How to Effectively Prevent a Return to Gambling

David Lenčéš, Institut for Gambling Regulation

Duncan Garvie, BetBlocker

15:50-16:05

The Register of Excluded Persons and the Panic Button in Numbers

Martin Šabo, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic

16:05-16:25

The Register of Excluded Persons Through the Eyes of Players: Experiences, Impacts and Barriers to Seeking Help – Research Findings

Ladislav Czémy, National Institute of Mental Health

Speakers

Jan Řehola

Director, Institute for Gambling Regulation

Jan Řehola is the Director of the Institute for Gambling Regulation (IPRH), the largest professional association in the field of gambling in the Czech Republic. He has over fifteen years of experience in gambling regulation, spanning both the public and private sectors. He holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague. Jan previously worked at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic – first as Head of the Legal Department and later as Director of the Gambling Regulation Department. After leaving the Ministry in 2014, he focused on legal practice and consultancy in the area of gambling regulation. He regularly speaks at international conferences and publishes in professional journals and industry periodicals.

Christina Theophilos

Head of Responsible Gaming Strategy at Super Technologies

Christina Theophilos is the Head of Responsible Gaming Strategy at Super Technologies, leading player protection frameworks across several international markets. She brings extensive multi-market experience, advancing safer gambling through ethical, data-led approaches, cross-functional collaboration, and regulatory alignment. She holds a Master’s in Educational and Counselling Psychology, was a university lecturer on mental health and crisis intervention strategies, and is the author of three books on behavioral psychology. Christina has also contributed to industry education, including developing a free online self-harm prevention course on Casino Guru Academy, driven by a strong commitment to player wellbeing, advanced operational training, and ethical gambling practices.

Simo Dragicevic

Co-founder of AiR Hub

Simo Dragicevic has been a technology entrepreneur in the gambling industry since 2010, as founder of BetBuddy, a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence and gambling, which was acquired by Playtech Plc in 2017. He is also the Co-founder of AiR Hub, the industry's first, dedicated AI research lab established at UNLV's International Gaming Institute. The mission of AiR Hub is to advance the emerging discipline of AI within the gambling sector and create the industry’s ecosystem for collaborative AI research. Its flagship State of AI in Gaming annual report is the first comprehensive, data-informed overview of AI in the global gambling sector. Previously, Simo was Managing Director and Head of AI at Playtech and has also served on the boards of the Great Britain regulator, the Gambling Commission, and the Responsible Gambling Council. Prior to founding BetBuddy Simo was Director of Major Programmes at Barclays Plc and began his career at Accenture.

Martin Šabo

Director of the Department of Procedural Agenda and Gambling Regulation at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic

Martin Šabo is the Director of the Department of Procedural Agenda and Gambling Regulation at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. He has more than 20 years of experience in regulation, not only in the field of gambling but also in taxation, accounting, and related areas. He graduated from the University of Economics in Prague. He regularly speaks at international conferences and is the author of professional articles and expert opinions.

Ladislav Csémy

Head of the Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health

A psychologist whose professional interests include the psychological and sociomedical aspects of addictive behavior, psychiatric epidemiology, and health psychology. He has published articles in international and domestic academic journals, contributed to more than ten monographs, and participated in numerous collaborative research studies.

Kateřina Lukavská

Psychologist and researcher. Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Education, Charles University

Psychologist and researcher. Associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Education, Charles University. She also works at the Clinic of Addictology at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. Her research focuses on problematic use of digital media and parental mediation. She participates in the International Sex Survey and the Global Videogame Study.

Svend Aage Kirk

Independent Strategic Advisor; Co-Founder & Former CEO, Mindway AI

Svend Kirk is co-founder and former CEO of Mindway AI. Svend has a back-ground in health care using AI human expert assessment for neurological disease management. In 2018 when Mindway AI was founded as a spin-out from the health care business Svend moved into the RG igaming space and today Svend works globally as an independent strategic advisor within business development focusing mainly on Black Market & RG/Technical compliance challenges. On the side Svend today also is CEO and partner in a Danish company, Well at Work, focusing on stress & burn-out management.

Duncan Garvie

Founder & Trustee, BetBlocker

Duncan Garvie is the Founder and one of the Trustees of the charity BetBlocker. He has been a teacher of mathematics, and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) official, and an entrepreneur in the gambling sector prior to starting BetBlocker. BetBlocker is an award winning service that is on track to support over half a million users worldwide in 2026.

Martin Stránský

Neurologist and educator, former Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, Founder and Director of Poliklinika na Národní

Neurologist and educator, Head of Neurology at Yale University, founder of Poliklinika na Národní and several educational programmes, including Prague Selective, the world’s largest summer programme for medical students. He has founded and leads a number of foundations supporting journalism and human rights. As a member of the Prague 1 municipal council, he initiated and helped realise the memorial to Milada Horáková in Sněmovní Street in Prague. He is the author of the book Deník doktora z Mrnic (Diary of a Doctor from Mrnice), which received an award from the Czech Writers’ Association for the best black comedy of the year and portrays the life of a doctor in a small community. He serves as a healthcare adviser to politicians and organisations around the world and has made numerous appearances across all types of media. As a neurologist, he focuses extensively on the negative effects of technology on the human brain.

Vladimír Stanislav

Director of OLÚP, n.o. Predná Hora

Mgr. PhDr. Vladimír Stanislav, PhD., MPH serves as Director of the Specialised Psychiatric Treatment Institute, n.o. Predná Hora, where he is responsible for its professional, values-based, and strategic direction. He brings many years of experience in psychotherapy and addiction treatment to the leadership of the institute, together with an in-depth personal understanding of the organisation gained through his work in several professional roles over the course of his career. In his work, he places strong emphasis on effective leadership, teamwork, and preserving the institute as a stable pillar of treatment and hope.

Tracy Parker

Vice President of Accreditation, Advisory and Insights at the Responsible Gambling Council

Tracy Parker is Senior Vice President of Accreditation, Advisory and Insights at the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC), where she is responsible for the RG Check accreditation programme, advisory services, research strategy, and knowledge dissemination. For nearly 30 years, she has worked at the intersection of organisational performance and social impact, helping organisations translate research findings, standards, and stakeholder expectations into concrete and measurable outcomes. Over the past decade, her work has focused primarily on the prevention of gambling-related harm through accreditation, benchmarking, and continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen both player protection and organisational performance. Her work brings together research, standards, and practical implementation to help organisations create safer gambling environments, increase accountability, and achieve meaningful outcomes for players, employees, regulators, and wider society.

Šimon Vincze

Head of Sustainable & Safer Gambling at Casino Guru

Šimon Vincze is Casino Guru’s Head of Sustainable & Safer Gambling, and an advocate for Responsible Gambling. He provides guidance on player protection, steers the company towards current best practices, and seeks opportunities for Casino Guru to have a positive influence. He leads the Global Self-Exclusion Initiative and the Casino Guru Academy.

Registration

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Secure your place at the coference in advance.

By clicking the button, you will be redirected to the registration page, where you can easily complete your registration and obtain further details about participation. 

Organizer

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The Institute for Gambling Regulation (IPRH) is a neutral expert platform that connects stakeholders of the legal gambling market, public administration, academic institutions, addiction specialists, psychologists, counselling centres, and other helping professions into one functional ecosystem. It brings together 95% of the licensed market in the Czech Republic and has been operating since 2018 as a communication bridge between the state, the professional community, and the legal market. It does not replace professional associations nor represent the individual commercial interests of specific companies. Its aim is to promote rules that protect players, limit the illegal market, and are effective in practice.

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The Responsible Gambling Project is a self-regulatory initiative of gambling operators that effectively complements the existing strict regulation. Instead of blanket bans that restrict players without problems, we believe in early identification and offering help to those who truly need it. Self-regulation within Responsible Gambling includes a commitment by operators to comply obligations that go beyond legal requirements, focusing on strengthening player protection, prevention, employee training, and responsible marketing and advertising. Together, we are working on the development of a unified software solution that identifies at-risk players and can be applied across the entire market.