Entain ANZ chief Andrew Vouris will speak at Regulating the Game 2026, running March 9–11 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. The forum brings regulators, operators, advisers, and researchers together for three days of practical, hands-on sessions that favour real-world solutions over set-piece speeches.
Vouris arrives with fresh momentum. He took the interim reins in June 2025 and was confirmed as permanent CEO for Australia and New Zealand in August, following Dean Shannon’s departure and a global search. The appointment capped a stretch in which he steadied the ship, kept key partnerships on track, and pushed for a workplace culture that treats compliance and customer care as the everyday job, not an occasional project. People inside the group say the appeal was simple: he listens, he digs into the details, and he doesn’t dodge the hard calls.
On stage in Sydney, expect him to sketch how Entain plans to grow without losing sight of safeguards. Public expectations have climbed; so have regulatory demands. That combination leaves little room for vague promises. He’s likely to talk through the nuts and bolts: stronger account-level controls, clearer options for customers who want to set limits or take breaks, better data hygiene, and product oversight that keeps pace with rapid release cycles. The message is likely to be cooperative rather than combative, working with authorities, showing evidence, and adjusting where the data says a change is needed.
For ordinary players, resources like the official Esports Insider website are currently being used to stay abreast of the latest platforms and features. For Australians, this market is growing through small, practical wins that matter to day-to-day players: faster, more reliable withdrawals, bonus terms you can actually understand, and simple tools to set limits or take a breather. For a forum built on evidence and workable fixes, that kind of outside lens adds useful context instead of just hype.
Via new bigwigs like Vouris, the industry is expected to look at markets like it as a good barometer of where further growth and gains are still possible despite strict local regulations. The conference’s founder, Paul Newson of Vanguard Overwatch, has pointed to Vouris’s background across wagering and esports as a useful lens for the week. That fits the event’s tone. Panels often pair a regulator with an operator and an independent expert, then walk through what actually happened in a case. Amid the increasing realignment of geopolitics and world markets, sessions this year are tipped to spend more time on prevention and advertising rules, plus the technology that helps supervisors spot trouble earlier.
A new addition for 2026 is the RTG Global Awards, created to highlight work that moves standards forward. Categories cover safer-gambling leadership and tools that make compliance easier to execute at scale, among others. Nominations remain open into early 2026, giving teams time to compile evidence rather than marketing lines. Beyond the hotel ballroom, the program stretches out into the city with a showcase at the Sydney Opera House.
Vouris’s brief spans the Tasman, and the New Zealand piece matters. Entain is the long-term operating partner for TAB NZ, the statutory betting monopoly. A policy shift in 2023 tightened the net around offshore operators and formed the backdrop for an upfront NZ$100 million payment from Entain to TAB NZ as part of the partnership. The arrangement has become a talking point in debates about channelisation and community returns: how to keep betting onshore, fund local racing and sport, and still give customers the protections they expect.
In Australia, the picture keeps moving. Governments at the state and federal levels are refining rules on advertising, affordability checks, data use, and operator-led interventions. The direction of travel is clear: prove you can prevent harm earlier, and show your working. That means investment in detection models that flag risky patterns, staff training that produces consistent decisions, and product changes that make the safer choice the easy choice. The higher bar isn’t just legal; it’s reputational. Trust takes time to build and seconds to lose.
Regulating the Game is built for now: a mix of plenary debates and hands-on sessions, licensing scenarios, enforcement lessons, and analytics from both sides. This is also where people swap what actually persuades regulators, what a compliant customer journey feels like, and which fixes survive a live platform. In Sydney, Entain gets a clear stage to set regional priorities in front of those who’ll test them, while regulators push for sharper standards, researchers and providers see the real constraints. With Andrew Vouris on the bill, the March conversations will help set the tone for 2026.
