Two years had gone by since the last Global iGaming Summit and Expo so the event was welcomed back warmly when it returned to Montreal last week with one of the most informative and enjoyable gatherings of iGaming experts from around the globe. The conference featured some of the brightest speakers in the industry and brought an optimistic attitude towards the looming deadline of the UIGEA. Most of the speakers focused on the future of the industry in the US.

Several of the speakers agree that the regulation of online gambling is imminent for North America as the government tries to find ways to fill the gaps in the tight budget. Many believe this effort will come from both a state and federal level.  Brick and mortar casinos also attended the Expo bringing to their attention the likely possibility of the two industries working together in harmony as the regulation begins a domino effect across the country.

CasinoCityTimes.com sent a team to compile a list of the best quotes from speakers during the event. Some are funny and some are of a more serious nature, but they are all important in some way. For the most part, the quotes give online gamblers hope for the future of online gaming and further indicate the industry will not simply stop come June 1. Players will still be able to enjoy the wonders of online gambling without a doubt.

Here is the list compiled by Casino City:

 10. "June 1st, 2010 is the Y2K of Internet gambling. And just like you were able to turn on your computer on January 1st, 2000, people will be able to gamble online on June 2, 2010."

- I. Nelson Rose, Distinguished Senior Professor, Whittier Law School, on the impending date that the regulations required by the UIGEA are to go into effect.

9. "June 1st is a date that is looming in everybody's mind with the final enforcement of the UIGEA. I actually think it may, finally, once and for all prove that it's an ineffective law. Congress created that law and now Congress has to do something to correct it."

– John Pappas, Executive Director, Poker Players Alliance

8. "I would prefer to see John Pappas doing a victory lap around Capitol Hill with a successful federal bill and a signed law. It's just that in the near term, the path of least resistance where we can focus our energies best and be perhaps more in tune with the existing brick and mortar industries is on a state-by-state basis."

– Joe Brennan, Chairman, iMEGA

7. "I don't think (regulating the online gambling industry) should be up to the federal government; I think the federal government could screw up anything. I think that the states should have the right to decide on their own… Intrastate is in my opinion the way to go."

– Frank Catania, President, Catania Consulting Group

6. "Let's face it. Do we really believe that absent a Senator Reid bill that anything will be passed by this Congress?"

– Joe Kelly, Professor of Business Law, State College at Buffalo

5. "The ban on Internet poker has been about as effective as the War on Drugs."

– Lloyd Levine, former Assembly Member, California State Legislature

4. "I've heard that we could make $4 billion (regulating and licensing Internet poker) in California. I've also heard that we may not make squat. What's the real number? Hell, I don't know. But there's a whole lot space between squat and $4 billion."

– Roderick Wright, California State Senator

3. "The Holy Grail in the U.S. is if you can establish a relationship between an offline offering and an online offering and you can pull it off — if you can pull those two things together — where you have a strong offline brand that people recognize and a strong online brand, that's definitely going to be big. Is that possible? Maybe yes, maybe no, but if you can achieve it, you're going to be the winner."

– Kevin Flood, CEO, Gameinlane.com

2. "This year, California is so desperate that it will do anything to raise money. On our ballot in November is legalizing marijuana, purely for tax reasons. And if you're going to legalize marijuana, (what's) Internet poker? Who cares about that?"

– I. Nelson Rose, Distinguished Senior Professor, Whittier Law School

"I think it's the snack food industry that's really pushing the marijuana legalization issue in California."

– John Pappas, Executive Director, Poker Players Alliance, joked in reply

1. "PokerStars, if nothing changes, will become the Google of poker in the United States, and it will be more and more difficult for land-based and other licensees across the country to get involved and get those customers back if we wait too long."

– Dann Grevlos, President, Nextenterprise

Club World Casino gladly accepts players from the United States.