Profile - Ron Goudsmit

Coming from a background in photography and advertising, Ron Goudsmit has been involved in the casino industry for 40 years. He started his career as a dealer with Holland Casino Zandvoort back in 1976 when casinos were legalized in the Netherlands.
Over the years Ron has held various executive positions within Holland Casino, such as Director of Holland Casino Rotterdam (1985) and Vice President Gaming (1987).

Because of his previous involvement in international projects for Holland Casino, Ron was the leading force behind the start of Holland Casino International (HCI) in 1997.
As Vice President International Ron Goudsmit has been responsible for all international business of Holland Casino, setting up casino projects all over Europe and in Canada.
Examples of projects HCI assisted in were all the casinos in Sweden from Casino Cosmopol, owned by Svenska Spel, Casino Montreal in Canada and Casino Lugano in Switzerland.
Other projects were done in Denmark, Spain, Germany and potential clients ranged from Mexico to Sydney and from the United Kingdom to Israel. Clients ranged from private entrepreneurs to local and national authorities.

In search of international business Ron has traveled the world over and has had the opportunity to learn about numerous casino operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Macau and many other places around the globe.

In 2005 Ron Goudsmit, as one of the senior executives at Holland Casino, was appointed Vice President Business Development. In this position he was, amongst other things, responsible for all international business and overseeing the foreseen implementation of Holland Casino Digital. In 2008 he was appointed Secretary of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of Holland Casino. He was Senior Vice President International Development when he left Holland Casino end of 2013.

Ron Goudsmit was one of the five founding fathers of the European Casino Association back in 2005 and was its first Vice Chairman. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the European Casino Association from 2006 to 2015. In February 2015 he was appointed ECA’s first Honorary President.

Through his long experience in the international gaming industry he has built up a large network, which is of great importance for his work for the European Casino Association.
The European Casino Association represents the interests of about 900 casinos and more than 70,000 employees across Europe and is based in Brussels.
Today the European Casino Association includes 26 members with the majority from the EU’s member states.

In 2012 Ron Goudsmit received the ‘Totally Gaming Awards’ for his ‘Outstanding Services to the Landbased Industry’. In 2013 he received the ‘Golden Dice Award’ from the leading gaming magazine European Casinos (The Elite) in recognition for his work as Chairman of the European Casino Association.

In 2023 Ron was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Casino Awards in London for his long term contribution to the industry.

On a regular basis he acts as a speaker and moderator at various leading international gaming shows and conferences.

He was born in the Netherlands. Ron Goudsmit attained a Bachelors Degree in photography at Harrow Technical College in London, United Kingdom.
Apart from being fluent in Dutch, English and German he speaks French.

Today Ron Goudsmit works as an independent consultant in the gaming industry through his company easyplaytime.

Lifetime Achievement Award
European Casino Awards 2023

Honorary President of European Casino Assiocation 2015

Totally Gaming Awards 2012

Gold Dice Award 2012