Mark Balestra’s hands-on approach toward practicing law recognizes that every client has a unique set of needs and circumstances that call for tailored, nuanced legal solutions. Based in St. Louis, Mr. Balestra has guided clients in a variety of capacities in the gaming and gambling industry for nearly 20 years. His expertise spans a number of gaming-related industry sectors, including online gambling, poker, skill gaming, fantasy sports, e-sports and tribal gaming.
Mr. Balestra was the founding member of i-gaming consultancy BolaVerde Media Group (BVMG) and served as that company’s director from 2009 to 2016. With BVMG, he advised gaming and gambling clients on compliance strategies for the highly regulated, highly competitive US gambling industry and specialized in preparing foreign gambling businesses for US market entry.
Mr. Balestra co-founded iGaming North America, an annual conference focusing on the convergence of traditional and digital gambling in the North American markets. He also ran the BV Direction e-learning program providing educational webinars covering US i-gaming policy.
Over the years Mr. Balestra has been a regular contributor to several gaming trade publications and has been featured as an I-gaming expert by numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Reuters, USA Today, ESPN, CNET, Wired magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.
In 2006, Mr. Balestra was named one of Global Gaming Business magazine’s “25 People to Watch” in the worldwide gambling industry.
He is a member of the Missouri Bar, the American Bar Association, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and International Masters of Gaming Law.