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CEnTRAL Game on! M itchell Garber has become a safe bet when it comes to look- ing for someone to handle the fast-growing online gaming industry. Las Vegas-based casino giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc., whose properties include the Caesars and Horseshoe brand names, hand-picked Garber in May to be the chief executive officer of its new Harrah's Interactive Entertainment subsidiary based in Montreal. The appointment puts him in charge of managing the expansion of Harrah's existing brands worldwide, in partic- ular its wildly popular World Series of Poker already operating in Nevada and the United Kingdom. "I wanted to come back [to Montreal] because this is where home is," Garber tells Canadian Lawyer, pointing out the city is conve- niently located between Las Vegas and London. "It's also a very exciting oppor- tunity with a Fortune 500 company." The 44-year-old and his family — wife Anne-Marie Boucher, a tax lawyer, and their two sons — lived in Europe until May 2008. In April 2006, he was made CEO of PartyGaming PLC of Gibraltar, the world's largest online gaming company. That position paid him almost US$17 million in the first year. But two years later, PartyGaming announced Garber was leaving after a law passed in the U.S. banning foreign betting web sites resulted in the com- pany's profit plummeting 67 per cent. After fielding other offers, Garber decided to join Harrah's. He is now a substantial investor in the privately held firm. His job now is "to try and bring the World Series of Poker to major international cities" — includ- ing Montreal, naturally, and also hope- fully Toronto and Vancouver. Garber's other main task will be to devel- op partnerships with governments that will offer online poker in their lotteries or that will invite the World Series of Poker to their existing poker operations. He has the background to carry out the job. After completing his law degree at the University of Ottawa in 1989 (he also has a degree in industrial rela- tions from McGill University), Garber joined the Montreal firm of Lazarus Charbonneau the following year. There he worked for long-time family friend Morden (Cookie) Lazarus, with whom he developed a successful corporate gambling law practice. In addition to advising suppliers of gambling equip- ment to Loto-Québec and large U.S. casino operators, Garber also advised U.S. government agencies about online gambling issues. He left Lazarus in 1999 (but still pays dues to the Barreau du Québec and is also a member of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys) to join Montreal's SureFire Commerce Inc., a NASDAQ-listed payment-pro- cessing company whose clients includ- ed all major licensed online gambling sites around the globe. Garber became president of SureFire in 2002 and two years later merged the renamed Terra Payments Inc. with the Optimal Group Inc. to form Optimal Payments Inc. Then in June 2005, he took the spin off FireOne Group public on the London Stock Exchange. FireOne pro- cessed payments for about 300 online gambling operations worldwide, includ- ing PartyGaming. Lazarus has said Garber has the knowledge of the industry, the con- tacts, and the success stories in terms of past experience within the industry. "You need a guy who's a builder and Mitch is a builder," Lazarus told The Montreal Gazette following Garber's headline-making move to PartyGaming. — MIKE KING mking@videotron.ca LAVERY DIVES RIGHT IN Despatie for the three-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist to participate in various firm activities and act as an ambassador for the values he shares with its legal team. "Alexandre is a dynamic and determined young athlete who is open to the Q world," says managing partner Richard Dolan. "He is a champion capable of overcoming obstacles, respectful of his competitors, and always delivering a remarkable performance." Despatie, 24, was the first diver ever to hold the title of world champion in three diving events and has set his sights on gold at the London Olympic Games in 2012. "We are pleased to be able to help him in achieving his goals through this sponsorship," adds Dolan. — MK www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com A UGUST 2009 7 uebec's largest independent law firm has found a celebrated partner in the pool. Lavery de Billy LLP announced June 1 it has a long-term sponsorship arrangement with provincial diving sensation Alexandre