Monaco Igaming Awards: Best Online Casino Operator

…goes to 888 .  Congratulations 888!

Now.  WTF are the Monaco Igaming Awards and do they actually mean anything?

If you’ve never heard of the Monaco Igaming Awards, or Monaco Igaming Exchanges (the online gaming and betting convention at which the awards were held), then don’t for one minute think you’re drastically out of the loop.

It’s a new award that looks to be a very French-centric look at a very international industry.

What’s the Monaco Igaming Exchange?

According to their ‘About page’ MIE is an international exhibition for the Online Gaming and Betting industry run by Monaco Mediax, one of Monaco’s principal events organizers (also responsible for SPORTELMonaco, SPORTELAsia, SPORTELAmerica).  Monaco was deemed a suitable convention location due in part to its proximity to Europe’s recently opened online gambling markets of France, Spain and Italy.

Who decides the award winners?

Votes from:

• a jury of industry professionals…
  – Emmanuel Benichou, Sports Consulting
  – Valéry Bollier, IGA Magazine
  – Quirino Mancini, Sinisi Ceschini Mancini & Partners
  – Rachael Church Sanders, Major Events International
  – Gregg Bywalski, Groupe AB
  – Christophe Belleudi, Agence France Presse
  – Gael Trevien, Metro
• votes from visitors to French gambling sites IGAMagazine and Rue Des Joueurs.

Nominees were limited to operators who had managed to acquire recently issued French online gambling licenses.

Who sponsored the awards?

There are a bunch of sponsors, many of them French based and including wagering organization Pari Mutuel Urbain (“PMU”).  Funnily enough, PMU were the big winners on the night taking out 3 of 8 awards handed out.

Indeed it was a very French look at the world of online gambling which was always going to be blinkered given they only started partially opening their doors to the industry just on 6 months ago.

Still, take nothing away from 888. Any operator not born and bred in France to take an award at this shindig deserves a pat on the back!