Law Times

LAW TIMES 12 COVERING ONTARIO'S LEGAL SCENE | APRIL 15, 2019 www.lawtimesnews.com ularity and result in a decentral- ization of the sector that will re- duce the inf luence of individual game developers and publishers. "It would certainly be interest- ing to see the creation of a league that is based on more open- source games," he says, noting that he was involved in a deal that saw a developer end support for its game and turn over the rights to its community of fans. "It indicates the possibility that a game can be taken over and made open source," Oziel says. MacKenzie identifies another apparent distinguishing feature of eSports that he says could boost its longevity: "The secondary and tertiary levels are almost as popular as the highest level," he says, noting that while support drops off sig- nificantly outside the big leagues of traditional sports, gamers of varying skill levels have been known to gain significant on- line followings by livestreaming themselves and communicating with fans via platforms such as Twitch or YouTube. "There will be an onus to get butts on seats and, to some ex- tent, broadcast partners, for the big tournaments. But that's just one small part of the more dif- fuse, multi-faceted delivery mod- el for eSports," MacKenzie says. Oziel got involved in the sec- tor several years ago as organized leagues and professional teams began sprouting up. However, more recently, he's noticed an in- f lux of calls from parents of young gamers looking for advice about their newfound online fame. "We're starting to see a lot of people, particularly young- er players, who become over- night successes livestreaming or recording walk-throughs of games, which are very popular on YouTube," he says. "Some of them are making a lot of money, and the parents want to know how they should be protecting their rights and setting them- selves up as a business." LT Urgency to act match his breadth of ex- perience, which covers most bases in the gambling indus- try. After an introduction to the field as general counsel to the British Columbia Lottery Commission, Hincer took up a similar job in the private sec- tor at Ontario's Casino Rama, which was then owned by a large U.S. lottery operator. "It ended up being a very operational role, where I learned what it takes to run a casino," he says of a job that gave him responsibility for 300 staff, aspects of security and surveillance, First Nations relations "and a whole bunch of other things that were crit- ically important to the run- ning of the property." Hincer's next move took him to a private equity firm looking to invest in Ontario's gaming industry, before he returned to private practice in 2015, ahead of the move to McCarthys last summer. "I've made a lot of connec- tions over the years, wearing multiple hats in both the pub- lic and private sector," he says. "I'll be able to tap into that experience and hopefully do some interesting and trans- formative work." "We want to be holistic problem solvers and true part- ners with the industry to ele- vate its status," Hincer adds. According to Peter Czegle- dy, a member of the gaming practice group at Aird and Berlis LLP, the complexity of the industry and the stake- holders involved gives larger firms an advantage. "Client needs do vary," he says, noting that he serves a wide range of businesses, run- ning the gamut from young entrepreneurial enterprises to established multinationals. "As part of a full-service firm, there isn't much I can't offer, directly or indirectly," Czegledy adds. "I have a large group of specialists that can be drawn on for any given mat- ter," including employment issues, tax matters, financings and more. He got involved himself in the mid-1990s after helping a large global gaming firm ex- pand into the North Amer- ican market via local acquisi- tions, and he says the new line of work nicely complemented his existing involvement with technology-based businesses. The sector has grown sig- nificantly since then and con- tinues to do so in many areas, including the customer base, product offerings and distri- bution channels, Czegledy says. Competition has inten- sified, too, both within the industry and among the law firms that service them: "There's more clients in- volved and more dollars, and people see that opportunity," he says. "Increasingly, gam- ing lawyers — or at least those who can provide the most val- ue to their clients — will need a much broader skillset than ever before." LT FOCUS Idea made sense Continued from page 10 Josh Marcus says starting a firm dedi- cated to eSports 'made a lot of sense to me, and everyone I talked to about it kept validating the idea.' Continued from page 11 Ilkim Hincer says a major development in the intervening years south of the border has increased the urgency for Canadian authorities to act. A FUNDRAISER FOR LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL FOOD ENTERPRISE (LIFE) FEATURING LAWYERS WHO PLAY MUSIC 72.<2*,$17621(6+27%$1' 6+$5.6$1':,&+28,%-$021 7KXUVGD\0D\30 '225623(1$730 R I V O L I )5(($'0,66,21 6,/(17$8&7,21 DONATIONS TO EITHER WORLD VISION OR THE STEPHEN LEWIS FOUNDATION WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED Untitled-3 1 2019-04-09 4:39 PM

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