Siisi Quainoo elected chairman of Gaming Regulators African forum
The Chief Executive Officer of the Gaming Commission of Ghana, Mr Siisi Quainoo, has been elected the chairman of the Gaming Regulators African forum (GRAF) for 2016/2017 at the just-ended 12th GRAF conference in Accra.
Advertisement
His elevation was in recognition of the role Ghana had played since joining GRAF.
The GRAF is a non-profit organisation that’s seeks to protect communities and citizens through the adherence of gaming regulatory laws applicable to each member country or state.
It also aligns matters that affect the gaming industry by ensuring that Africa does not become a dumping ground for old and degenerating gaming technologies.
In order to mitigate the challenges faced by African gaming regulators, GRAF has formed sub-committees that handle issues of education and training and technology and illegal gambling.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Quainoo said the position cames with a lot of work, especially at a time that gaming was rapidly expanding in Africa with Sports Betting becoming the focal point due to the influx of the youth in that area.
Underage gambling
He said even before the conference, “the buzz was on underage gambling and money laundering: with governments in many parts of Africa, especially Ghana and South Africa raising serious concerns about these issues which they feared might negatively affect the youth”.
Mr Quainoo promised that together with his team, they would fight underage gambling and money laundering, especially among the youth, adding that they would embark on education to let the youth know that their future did not rely in gambling but in education.
Other Trending Stories
He further assured that he would tirelessly work on information sharing “as a start, if the Gaming Commission of Ghana encounters any regulation problem with any operator which leads to closure, we will share information with other GRAF members before that operators pops his/her head in another country”, he said.
Need to expand
Expressing the need to expand the group, he said Uganda and Angola had come on board while the Gambia and Liberia had expressed interest in joining.
He solicited the support of all and sundry to help raise the standard of GRAF in order to take the forum to the higher level
“ But it must not stop there. We need to bring others to come and experience the sweetness and the great networking of GRAF. I cannot do it alone. I need the help of all of you here,” Mr Quainoo said.