From Accidental Gaming Attorney to Compliance Entrepreneur
Jessica Maier Co-founder and Director, Executive Gaming and Risk Advisory Ltd.
For Jessica Maier, co-founder and director of Executive Gaming and Risk Advisory Ltd. (EGARA), a career at the center of the gaming industry was never a carefully plotted destination. It grew from curiosity and the nerve to leap before every detail was in place.
“I didn’t even think of gaming as a field of law to pursue,” she says.
Maier’s path began in competition and intellectual property law. “I always wanted to do something where I found the industry itself interesting,” she recalls, with film and music among them. While training in the IP department of German law firm Melchers, she was asked to help the partner who led the firm’s gaming practice. And the fit was immediate.
“I took a liking to it, and because everything was in English, I could use my English-speaking background to work in that international field,” she says. “It felt right for me.”
Maier advanced to partner before one of the most pivotal moves in her career: going in-house. Relocating to Malta, Europe’s original iGaming hub, she served as chief risk officer at Push Gaming and later head of government affairs at Play’n GO. “It widened my perspective from being a one-jurisdiction-focused lawyer to working with 20 to 30 jurisdictions at any one time,” she says. “I got a totally different perspective, and it completely changed my career trajectory.”
That perspective set up her biggest leap. In late 2022, Maier co-founded EGARA with business partner Sissel Weitzhandler, betting that the industry needed advice that treated compliance as a driver of growth, not a cost center.
“It felt risky,” at first, Maier says, acknowledging that there was no playbook. “I’d love to say clients were lined up and it was a safe bet; it wasn’t that, for sure.” But the partners’ conviction helped to drive early clients to sign on. “We were both so convinced we would be bringing something new that was needed.”
And they were right. In the years since its launch, EGARA has advised operators, suppliers and investors across multiple regulated jurisdictions on licensing, compliance, M&A, government affairs and strategic risk management. The firm’s work reflects a demand for advisers who understand these issues not only from the outside, but from the perspective of those responsible for navigating them.
Maier credits two mentors in particular: Weitzhandler, who helped her ease into the world of in-house law and compliance, and “continues to be a source of inspiration;” and Dr. Joerg Hofmann, the Melchers partner who first hired her and introduced her to gaming.
The hardest lesson behind launching her own firm has been learning to act before certainty arrives, Maier says. “I wouldn’t have launched my business if I had thought everything through. There was that moment of ‘Let’s just go, let’s do it,’ and that was really needed.”
For young professionals entering gaming, her advice is disarmingly simple: show up. “The main thing is that you’re in the room in the first place,” she says, urging newcomers to attend events and resist the urge to over-prepare. “Try not to be too shy about approaching people—without the sense that you need to sell something. Just build that human connection. Go out, be interested and connect with people.”
Looking ahead, Maier’s focus is on scaling what EGARA does, including AI-supported compliance tools she describes as “a product as opposed to a service.” She is also expanding the European footprint of the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA), where she sits on the board of trustees and chairs the EMEA Engagement Committee.
Her path from happenstance gaming lawyer to industry entrepreneur is a testament to following genuine curiosity, taking calculated risks and trusting that, often, the most important step is being in the room.
