Gaming Webcast Series - A Focus on Prediction Markets and Exchange Betting

Alex Costello serves as vice president for government relations for the American Gaming Association (AGA). In this role, Alex advocates for the gaming industry’s priorities on Capitol Hill and with the Administration. Alex also runs the member based Anti-Money Laundering working group, Payments Modernization working group and Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.

Immediately prior to joining the AGA, Alex was the first-ever director of legislative affairs at the Center for Law and Social Policy, an anti-poverty non-profit.

While at the U.S. Department of State, Alex was chief of staff of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL). Alex also served as the director of senate affairs in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs.

Prior to her roles in the executive branch, Alex served in the United States Senate for almost a decade for then Senator John Kerry (D-MA). She was the primary liaison with the Massachusetts business community, served as the Senator’s political director, and oversaw all of the Senator’s appropriations priorities. She also served as judiciary counsel, advising during two Supreme Court justice nominations. 

Originally from Boston, Alex earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and her master’s degree from Catholic University. 

Reade Jacob represents gaming companies, financial institutions, social media platforms, marketing companies and other commercial clients in a wide array of regulatory and enforcement matters, civil litigation and licensing, and compliance matters.

Mr. Jacob has nearly a decade of experience advising clients on gaming issues. His gaming experience runs the gamut—from counseling daily fantasy sports companies being investigated by state departments of gaming, to advising media companies on state gaming license requirements, and to defending social casinos in class action lawsuits alleging violations of state gambling laws.

Mr. Jacob has also represented financial institutions, tax preparation services, fintech and social media clients in public and non-public matters involving the CFPB, FTC, state attorneys general and state financial services regulators. He has a wealth of experience before federal and state regulators that includes responding to non-public civil investigative demands, negotiating settlements and Consent Orders, and litigating high-stakes cases against state and federal regulators in administrative courts and arbitration proceedings.

Mr. Jacob has also advised corporate clients, including senior-level executives, in-house counsel and board members of companies in technology, data analytics, fintech, money transmission, healthcare and the sharing economy, as well as financial services institutions, on matters related to privacy, investigations, data breach and incident response, regulatory and transactional privacy and data security, and litigation. Additionally, Mr. Jacob performs privacy and data security due diligence related to mergers and acquisitions and negotiates privacy and data security representations and warranties for clients engaging in mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to working as an associate at international law firms prior to joining WilmerHale, Mr. Jacob completed an in-house secondment with a nationally charted bank, where he advised business lines on TCPA, CAN-SPAM, GLBA, and state and federal data breach laws and negotiated data sharing and SaaS agreements with third-party service providers and fintech companies on behalf of the bank.

While pursuing his legal education, Mr. Jacob was a summer clerk for the Honorable David J. Novak of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Professional Activities

Mr. Jacob is a Certified Information Privacy Professional in the United States. He serves as the communications chair for the Administrative Law Section of the Virginia Bar Association.

Mr. Jacob has also published numerous articles on sports betting, daily fantasy sports and other gambling issues in publications such as Lexology’s Getting the Deal Through and The Gambling Law Review.