Global Gaming Business, April 2020

GGB Global Gaming Business Magazine

TRIBAL SMOKING CAMBODIA’S FUTURE EKG SLOT AWARDS MODERN CASINO CREDIT

April 2020 • Vol. 19 • No. 4 • $10

Money Matters

Solutions for cashless payments on the casino floor

Gaming’s Angel Ernie Moody parlays his Triple Play fortune for innovation in the casino industry

Bonus

Bonanza

How sports betting operators attract and retain players

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p. 3 toc april:_table & mast.qx 3/12/20 2:17 PM Page 3

CONTENTS

Vol. 19 • No. 4

april

Global Gaming Business Magazine

COLUMNS

18 COVER STORY

Poker Visionary

10 AGA Let’s Get Real

Ernie Moody singlehandedly changed the course of video poker, his invention of Triple Play Poker and the multi-hand genre resulting in some of the industry’s most popular games, as well as millions in profits for his Action Gaming and its partner, IGT. Here’s how a former stockbroker’s great idea landed him in the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame.

RaShawn Mitchell

By Roger Gros

12 Fantini’s Finance Gaming Catches a Cold Frank Fantini

34 Making My Point A Day at the Races Roger Snow

DEPARTMENTS 4 The Agenda

FEATURES

14 Sports Betting Central New Jersey has become the epicenter of legal online and mobile sports betting outside of Nevada. Here’s how operators are vying with a hyper-competitive market.

36 Smoking in Indian Country While many of the top tribal casinos still permit smoking as a matter of giving customers what they want, some in Indian Country are going smoke-free.

8 5 Questions

By William Sokolic

54

40 Going Cashless As digital payment technology continues to advance, casinos contemplate removing cash from the casino equation.

By Dave Bontempo

By Frank Legato

50 Tops in Slots

24 Cambodia in Crisis

The second annual Eilers & Krejcic Gaming Slot Awards celebrate innovation in the slot sector in a gala affair in Las Vegas.

The spread of the coronavirus has plunged one of Asia’s most promising casino jurisdictions into crisis.

By Andrew Klebanow

30 Casino Credit Evolution From the most modest bettors to the highest of the high rollers, technology has taken all the guesswork out of the business of issuing casino credit.

6 By the Numbers

By Frank Legato

13 AGEM 46 New Game Review Frankly Speaking

56

Cutting Edge

58

Emerging Leaders With Analytical Environmental Services’ Ryan Sawyer and VizExplorer’s Lana Kotur

60 Goods & Services 65 People 66 Casino Communications With Per Jaldung, CEO, Casino Cosmopol AB, and Chairman, European Casino Association

By Marjorie Preston

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

3

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THE AGENDA

Slaying the Golden Goose

By Roger Gros, Publisher

Vol. 19 • No. 4 • APRIL 2020 Roger Gros, Publisher | rgros@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @GlobalGamingBiz Frank Legato, Editor | flegato@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @FranklySpeakn Marjorie Preston, Managing Editor mpreston@ggbmagazine.com Monica Cooley, Art Director | mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com

S

ports betting.

What a gold mine!

Or is it?

To anyone who’s listening, I’ve repeatedly pointed out that sports betting is one of the narrowest-margin operations in the gaming industry.

As far as the house edge is concerned, it’s on par with blackjack, craps, baccarat and some of those wonderful video poker games that can be played almost evenly by an expert player.

But there are ways casinos can manipulate those odds.

With blackjack, you can change the odds substantially in your favor by instituting 6/5 blackjack instead of 3/2 (and on the Las Vegas Strip, good luck finding the 3/2). You can hit soft 17. You can add some ridiculous bonus bets that give the house a 30 percent edge.

In baccarat, add the no-commission game, and include some of those equally house-favorable bonus bets.

Craps already advertises all the bad bets on the layout—hardways, horn bets, field bets, 6/8. But don’t dare mention double, triple or 10X odds.

And video poker is easy. Complicate the strategy, so you have to be a math genius to figure out the best way to play the hands. Or lower Jacks or better payouts to a 6/5 instead of a 9/6.

But sports betting—that’s the difficult one.

Casinos traditionally make money on the “dime” line. You have to bet $110 to win $100.

That’s basically the house rake. It’s the reason serious bettors have to win around 55 percent of the time to make up for that house edge and score a profit.

So, why not raise the basic bet to -120, meaning you have to bet $120 to win $100? Well, if you can get the -110 price (or even less) from offshore illegal sites, why would you pay an additional rake at the legal sites?

And then there are the “sharp” bettors, who play close attention to the games and understand the “data” way better than the leagues or even most of the nascent sportsbooks. You can get killed if you post a slightly wrong line, and the sharps come in with huge bets.

It’s very easy to lose money when conducting sports betting. I’ll be very interested to see the reaction of lotteries who jumped into the game quickly, expecting their usual profits. Hello, Oregon!?

4

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

And all this happens even before you split whatever profits you might have with your partners: the platform developers, the data providers, the marketers, the affiliates—not to mention your partners with the state. License fees, high tax rates, regulatory costs… and that’s just the start.

Then there’s the surprising emergence of daily fantasy sports companies as market giants. In New Jersey, DraftKings and FanDuel control almost 80 percent of the market. In states where they also operate, their dominance is also apparent.

So what’s left for the casino industry?

At last month’s GLI Regulators Roundtable, a majority of attendees polled said they were ready to approve any company that could pass regulatory scrutiny for a sports betting license—whether or not they owned a casino as well. Not great news for casinos.

Not only are the margins slim, but when you add technology partners, state taxes and fees, and competitors who have an edge with effective databases, why are we even in this business?

Last year, at a sports betting conference in Las Vegas, I asked an executive at one of the Pennsylvania sports betting companies how he could be making money with a $10 million license fee and a 34 percent tax rate. While he didn’t answer that question, he did point out that many of the new sports betting customers have migrated to the online casino module, which has a lower tax rate (for table games) and a higher house edge on slots, with the same tax rate.

So, will legal sports betting spur more legal online gaming with virtual tables, slots and poker?

Yes, no doubt. It’s already happening.

The bad news is that the DFS companies have launched online casinos, and are transitioning sports bettors to those casinos.

Sports betting clearly isn’t the golden goose.

But maybe online gaming is. The challenge is to figure out how to develop customers who will play online, and then visit your bricks-and-mortar casinos when they want a weekend getaway. This is something the DFS companies can’t offer, unless they partner with a land-based casino.

With the coronavirus keeping people at home for a while, now is the time to start to figure out how we can capitalize on iGaming in conjunction with sports betting.

Floyd Sembler, Business Development Manager fsembler@ggbmagazine.com Becky Kingman-Gros, Chief Operating Officer bkingros@ggbmagazine.com Jessica Walker, Operations Manager jwalker@ggbmagazine.com Lisa Johnson, Communications Advisor lisa@lisajohnsoncommunications.com twitter: @LisaJohnsonPR Columnists Frank Fantini | RaShawn Mitchell Roger Snow Contributing Editors Dave Bontempo | Andrew Klebanow Bill Sokolic | Tom Zitt __________________

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni, President, Armeni Enterprises

•

Mark A. Birtha, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Hard Rock International

• Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, President, Lifescapes International

• Nicholas Casiello Jr., Shareholder, Fox Rothschild

• Jeffrey Compton, Publisher, CDC E-Reports twitter: @CDCNewswire

• Dean Macomber, President, Macomber International, Inc.

• Stephen Martino, Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, MGM Resorts International, twitter: @stephenmartino

• Jim Rafferty, President, Rafferty & Associates

• Thomas Reilly, Vice President Systems Sales, Scientific Games

• Michael Soll, President, The Innovation Group

• Katherine Spilde, Executive Director, Sycuan Gaming Institute, San Diego State University, twitter: @kspilde

• Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman, National Indian Gaming Association twitter: @NIGA1985

• Roy Student, President, Applied Management Strategies

• David D. Waddell, Partner Regulatory Management Counselors PC Casino Connection International LLC. 901 American Pacific Drive, Suite 180 • Henderson, Nevada 89014 702-248-1565 • 702-248-1567 (fax) www.ggbmagazine.com The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS are not necessarily the views of the publisher or editor.

Copyright 2020 Global Gaming Business LLC. Henderson, Nevada 89014 GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS is published monthly by Casino Connection International, LLC. Printed in Nevada, USA. Postmaster: Send Change of Address forms to: 901 American Pacific Dr, Suite 180, Henderson, NV 89014

Official Publication

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BY THE

NUMBERS

GAmInG BLASTEd BY VIRUS T

he Macau casinos were the first to be impacted financially by the deadly coronavirus that arose in December in Wuhan, China. But it wasn’t long before the entire industry took a hit.

In this chart compiled by The Innovation Group and Innovation Capital, the share prices of all gaming companies suffered steep declines, even more than the major indices like the S&P 500.

Hit hardest were the operators, both large cap (many of the companies with exposure to Macau) and regional companies that have no connection to Macau. The chart does not show the gaming suppliers, but they did not escape the carnage either. To obtain a copy of the study on the impacts of coronavirus on the gaming industry, visit the website for The Innovation Group, theinnovationgroup.com.

Public Gaming Large-Cap, Regional & REIT Gaming Indices vs. S&P 500

YourPlay no Way

T

quired at Crown Casino in Melbourne, where it is used to access the unrehe spotty success of the responsible gambling program YourPlay, that was stricted slots. The chart below, which chronicles the interaction of the introduced in 2016 in the Australian state of Victoria, was outlined in a remystery shoppers, is from the report, available from the Victorian Justice port issued in 2019. Over the three years studied, the report said the very low Department website justice.vic.gov.au/safer-communities/gambling/evaluusage of the card was due to many different reasons, but there were some benation-of-yourplay-final-report. efits from using YourPlay. The pre-commitment program was designed to allow gamblers to make better-informed decisions about their gambling activity and Benefits Actually Received From Using YourPlay, (respondents could select more than one) therefore reduce harm to those suspectible to problem gambling, and it included setting limits on play, whether monetary or time limits. And while the technology worked, there were still some major hurdles to be overcome before YourPlay could be a major assist in the battle to reduce problem gambling. Like many casinos do, the program utilized “mystery shoppers” to test the technology, the customer service and the results. YourPlay was an option when signing up for loyalty cards at clubs and hotels, but was re6

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NUTSHELL

“They

5Questions Russell Mifsud Director, Gaming, KPMG Malta s a consultant on gaming with KPMG, Russell Mifsud focuses on new trends, licensing, strategic opporAgamification. tunities, compliance, M&As, competing jurisdictions, disruptive technologies, cryptocurrencies and His office in Malta organizes an annual conference that covers all things gaming around the world and online, and particularly in Europe. GGB Publisher Roger Gros caught up with Mifsud in London in February at the ICE trade show to discuss how gaming in Europe is evolving. To hear a full podcast of this interview, visit GGBMagazine.com.

GGB: Explain what your role is with KPMG. And who are your clients?

Mifsud: I’m an economist and I have the pleasure of looking after all the “fun” industries for KPMG.

1 2

Gambling is my bread and butter and my main focus. My role is to provide insight on gaming to our clients on a local and global scale. We try to keep our fingers on the pulse of the industry, which isn’t always easy as it’s growing and maturing. We try to give our clients a 360-degree view of the risks and opportunities for our clients.

Our clients are a combination of investors and companies in and out of gaming. When I first joined KPMG, I was scratching my head because I’m not an accountant, but I’ve been able to do everything from audits of the largest online gaming companies to the tax situation, for example, what will happen now that Brexit is a reality. My area of specialization is online gaming.

It’s been a challenging time for gaming in Europe from the regulatory perspective and responsible gaming angle. Why has this come to a head now?

Let’s take it back to 2003, when online gambling really started. The EU had just gotten up and running and Malta wanted to establish some gambling regulation that could be ported across Europe. Yes, we had a good tax regime, but a license in Malta would allow an online casino to target jurisdictions that did not have any form of gaming regulation. So Malta became a one-stop shop. The EU told countries with no gambling regulations that they either had to develop some or accept the licensed entities operating from Malta.

As time went on, whether it was for tax reasons or for player protection and responsible gaming policies, most countries have developed online gaming regulations. So what does this mean for the operator? Before all these countries developed online gaming regulations, it was easy to enter the sector, margins were wonderfully high, and they didn’t have to worry about aligning their regulations through the various territories.

The industry is now struggling and trying to change the image of gambling, but in order to do so has found itself in tricky situations, regulatory-wise.

Is part of the problem the sphere of gaming in Europe—bookmakers, small casinos, online gaming, sports betting, etc.?

3 4

Said It”

“The commission is simply not up to the job of regulating the gambling industry, particularly the online sector, parts of which seem to operate like the Wild West.”

—Carolyn Harris, U.K. Labor MP, on a scathing report critical of the U.K. Gambling Commission

CALENDAR NOTE: Several conferences and trade shows scheduled for April and May have been postponed due to the coronavirus. This is the tentative schedule as of March 18, 2020.

April 7-9: BET 2020 London iGaming Expo, Old Billingsgate, London. For more information, visit BetExpo.uk.

April 27-28: East Coast Gaming Congress, Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City. Produced by Spectrum Gaming, Cooper Levenson, the Friedmutter Group and Sysco.

For more information, visit EastCoastGamingCongress.com.

April 29: Greece Gambling Conference, NJV Athens Plaza, Athens, Greece. Produced by Smile Expo. For more information, visit greece.affiliate.events.

May 13-14: ICE North America 2020 & Southern Gaming Summit, New Orleans Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit ICENorthAmerica.com.

May 14-15: iGaming Germany 2020, Wyndham Garden Berlin Mitte, Berlin, Germany. Produced by Eventus International. For more information, visit eventus-international.com/igg.

May 21-22: Cyprus Gaming Show, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Produced by the Cyprus Gaming-Casino Supervision Commission and the National Betting Authority. For more information, visit CyprusGamingShow.com.

June 2-4: Betting on Sports Europe, Stamford Bridge, London. Produced by Sports Betting Community (SBC).

For more information, visit SBCEvents.com.

Yes, and the lack of harmonization across all those kinds of gambling. Regulation has always struggled to keep up from a technology standpoint, particularly with remote gambling. Malta’s goal was to always keep pace with technology and not lag behind innovation. Of course, that’s no easy task, especially when you inNow that Brexit is a reality, is there any more overclude esports, daily fantasy sports, skill games and the like. sight from the EU on British gambling, online or As the industry matures in Europe, the big players are getting bigger, making it tougher for startups.

So Europe is becoming more like the U.S., where every state has different regulations. It seems Malta isn’t the one-stop shop anymore.

5 land-based?

Frankly, I’m not exactly sure. From a Brexit standpoint, we’ve seen speculation and uncertainty for several years Correct. If you’re going to operate in the U.K., France, Spain, Italy… they’ve all got their own regulatory now leading up to the final break. Over the next 11 regime. Then you have the grayer markets, comprised of jurisdictions that haven’t got the regulatory land- months, we’ll find out what will happen as negotiations scape, and then at the other end you have your black markets, where it’s illegal for licensed companies to be progress. The EU, of course, holds the U.K. in very targeting players, but where also it’s illegal to be placing bets online. The value of a license in Malta, now high regard because it’s the most mature and robust that other jurisdictions have set up regulations, has been diluted, but can be of value in the gray markets. online gaming market. So I believe the U.K. will play a But here is where your legal counsel is going to have to be very aware of all the ramifications. defining role whether or not it is part of the EU.

8

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

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AMERICAN GAMING ASSOCIATION

Let’s Get Real It’s time to update the slot tax threshold to reflect modern-day realities

By RaShawn Mitchell

I

n 1977, Jimmy Carter became the 39th president of the United States, the median U.S. household income was less than $14,000, and Atlantic City was poised to become the country’s second major destination for legal casino gaming.

Fast-forward 43 years. We’re in the midst of the 45th presidential administration, the average U.S. household takes in nearly $64,000 annually and legal gaming exists in some form in 43 states.

While America and its casino industry have changed significantly over four decades, one aspect of gaming has not. Casinos are still required to take slot machines out of commission to process tax information whenever a customer hits a jackpot of $1,200 or more.

Today—just as in 1977—when a customer reaches that payout, the machine is put out of service while casino staff manually process the taxreporting paperwork.

The already-underfunded and understaffed Internal Revenue Service is then inundated with slot jackpot reports, receiving millions of W-2G Forms per year.

If adjusted for inflation, a $1,200 slot jackpot is equivalent to around $4,700 in today’s dollars. By not accounting for inflation, the number of reportable jackpots continues to multiply, disrupting casino operations and our customers’ experience.

That’s why the American Gaming Association, our member companies and the industry’s legislative champions in Congress have strongly advocated for the U.S. Department of the Treas-

“

ury to modernize the threshold by increasing it to $5,000.

Congress and the administration enacted tax reform legislation in 2017 with the goal of modernizing and simplifying our tax code. Raising the slot threshold is consistent with those objectives. It would also alleviate unnecessary burdens for the industry and our patrons, while allowing the IRS to focus more of its limited resources on net slot winnings.

As we mark Tax Day this month and work to modernize our industry’s tax reporting standards, it’s important to also recognize the key role gaming plays as a tax contributor in more than 40 states across the country. Each year, the gaming industry generates $40.79 billion in taxes to local, state and federal governments for infrastructure, education and other crucial investments.

We are also the rare exception in an era of jurisdictional bidding wars that feature expensive incentives and tax breaks to attract businesses.

When gaming enters a new market, whether with a new property or a new offering like legalized sports betting, the industry does so without subsidies, and pays significant taxes for the privilege. We’re simply adding to the bottom line.

The gaming industry should not remain beholden to outdated, inefficient regulations, particularly when it comes to taxes. Looking forward, we will continue our mission to modernize antiquated rules like the slot tax threshold, which hurt the customer experience and impose needless costs on casinos and regulators alike.

Each year, the gaming industry generates $40.79 billion in taxes to local, state and federal governments for infrastructure, education and other crucial investments.

10

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

”

RaShawn Mitchell is senior director of government relations for the American Gaming Association.

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FANTINI’S FINANCE

Gaming Catches a Cold Coronavirus clobbers gaming stocks. So what’s next?

E

vents are moving fast as the fear of the coronavirus and its economic consequences are causing major damage to U.S. stocks—most especially, those in the gaming, leisure and hospitality industries.

While the major indices were down 10 percent or 11 percent since around February 20 as of this writing, U.S. gaming stocks fared far worse, down 30 percent, 40 percent and even nearly 50 percent through the first week of March.

Dining, traveling and gambling face a double-whammy of trouble. The reasons are obvious: 1. Engaging in those activities is purely discretionary, unlike the need to buy groceries or manufacture cars or houses, and, 2. People gathering together is the way COVID-19 spreads.

The market reaction may change by the time you read this. Stocks might have found a bottom, or even rebounded somewhat. It’s possible the bottom might have fallen out.

One term that’s gaining popularity during this time is “rerating.” That’s investor jargon for being unwilling to give the same valuation to a stock as before. It presents its own doublewhammy.

The math is simple. Rather than paying 12 times earnings for a stock, investors might now be willing to pay only 10 times, or eight or seven. And as earnings fall, the impact, obviously, magnifies. Twelve times a dollar in earnings leads to a $12 stock price. Eight times 50 cents in earnings leads to a $4 stock price.

The scenarios for how COVID-19 will work out are varied.

A mild scenario is that the virus follows others like influenza, and runs out of steam as the weather warms. In this case, disruption is temporary, and most business recovers as postponed events are rescheduled, and consumers experience a pent-up demand for recreation and entertainment.

A middling scenario has COVID-19 con-

12

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

By Frank Fantini

tinuing to grow, but with society finding ways to cope until it runs its course and/or a vaccine is found.

The severe scenario could be likened to the flu pandemics of 1918 and 1919, though this time with crippling economic impact, given today’s interdependent global economies.

There can be endless scenarios in between.

Only two things are certain: 1. All scenarios are pure speculation.

2. This, too, shall pass.

The second point is the only one that investors can address—what to do to survive until the stock market and economy get through the crisis, and how, if possible, to actually take advantage of lower prices.

The first step is simple: become conservative. Get off margin. Avoid or get out of derivatives. Build cash.

The stories are legendary.

They come out of every economic depression. They come out of every stock market collapse. They are about the conservative investor who didn’t run up debt to buy stocks and derivatives and try to time the bottom, but accumulated cash and, when the bottom came, was positioned to take advantage.

Look at 2008 as the most recent example.

Many fortunes were lost by people who thought they were deep-value investors buying homebuilders, for example, at historic lows, only to get wiped out as stocks went from low to infinitesimal.

But when the bottom came, those who had been patient grasped a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In gaming, that meant the opportunity to buy Wynn under $20 a share, or Las Vegas Sands under $3, which is less than its current dividend.

Of course, there’s no way to know when the bottom has been reached until it’s fairly well in the past.

What can be known is which companies have strong balance sheets and defensive businesses that

will allow them to ride out any storm.

Those who have run up big debt are vulnerable if business drops off, and lower EBITDA puts them into at least technical default on that debt.

But, just as individuals who are conservative can both ride out the economic storm and even take advantage of it, so can companies with sound businesses and strong balance sheets. In those cases, lower stock prices can present opportunities.

For individuals, and perhaps even for institutional investors who have cash available, there’s always the opportunity to apply dollar cost averaging—continuing to buy stocks on a schedule, regardless of price.

Again, the math is simple. If a stock is $100 a share, buy one share for $100. When it drops to $50, buy two shares, giving you three. When the stock returns to $100, you will now have three shares worth $300. Thus, you will have made a 50 percent profit on your $200 investment, even though the stock price didn’t grow at all from your initial purchase. If the stock doesn’t decline but continues to grow, you grow with it.

Combining a steady approach with an eye for dividends and total return can be even more significant. It’s worth noting that gaming REITs, while also selling off, have fared much better than casino operators and suppliers, as investors take some comfort in their relatively safe rental streams.

Finally, remember as we head into an unknowable future that the great flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919 was followed by the Roaring Twenties, and one of the greatest bull markets of all time.

term gaining “One popularity during

this time is ‘rerating.’

That is jargon for investors being unwilling to give the same valuation to a stock than before.

It presents its own double-whammy.

”

Frank Fantini is the editor and publisher of Fantini’s Gaming Report. For a free 30-day trial subscription email subscriptions@fantiniresearch.com.

p. 13 AGEM:Layout 1 3/12/20 7:03 AM Page 13

AGEMupdate AGEM MEMBER PROFILE

Taft’s Gaming Group attorneys are experienced

counselors for casino owners, operators, suppliers, lenders and institutional investors, and address all aspects of gaming regulatory law. Given the industry’s rapid growth, governmental bodies and businesses see the value that casinos and gaming facilities bring to their constituencies. Firm attorneys have resolved gaming-related matters across a variety of jurisdictions, including the United States, Canada and Europe.

Taft attorneys provide clients with the legal aspects of their business functions and operating models to help them accomplish their objectives. Given the company’s success, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, as well as Leading Lawyers Network, Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, repeatedly honor Taft’s gaming attorneys in the category of gaming and licensing law.

Taft attorneys collaborate with clients regarding licensing, acquisitions and dispositions, financing transactions, administrative hearings, compliance plans, internal investigations and general corporate governance. Taft attorneys interact closely with state and local gaming regulatory agencies, and have significant experience drafting gaming law statutes, administrative rules and policies.

Chicago partners Paul Jenson and Kimberly Copp co-chair the Gaming Group and oversee more than 30 attorney members who have extensive gaming industry experience. Additionally, the Gaming Group can call upon the expertise of Taft’s network of more than 600 attorneys who practice across a wide range of industries, in virtually every area of law, to solve client matters. Taft clients range from state and local public bodies to highly specialized entrepreneurial firms, to Fortune 500 companies with multinational operations. Since its founding in 1885, Taft has grown to 11 U.S. offices in seven states, primarily located throughout the Midwest.

Taft is an associate member of the AGEM. Taft gaming lawyers are also members of the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA), the International Licensed Beverage Association (ILBA), and the Illinois Gaming Machine Operators Association (IGMOA).

For more information about Taft’s Gaming Group, visit taftlaw.com/services/industries/ gaming.

AGEM Board of Directors Actions – March 2020 • AGEM in conjunction with the American Gaming Association (AGA) recently released a fact sheet designed to help combat the spread of unregulated machines in multiple markets throughout the U.S. The informational tool sets out to clearly distinguish between regulated and unregulated gaming machines and their negative consequences. This is an ambitious project spearheaded by AGEM, but the impact of this initiative is already very positive, having touched more than 3,000 key individuals ranging from state legislators to law enforcement and media outlets. In addition, 23 industry organizations have signed on in support of the initiative and in turn have distributed the fact sheet to their membership and key stakeholders.

An intense six-month rollout process is under way with some key states such as Virginia, Missouri and Pennsylvania now considering legislative changes to directly address unregulated gaming. • The AGEM Board approved the position of opposing two new tax proposals in Nevada. The Clark County Education Association is proposing to add a fourth tier to the state’s gaming tax. The Nevada Resort Association, which represents more than 70 gaming resorts in the state, came out strongly against the initiative, stating the proposal would be very damaging to the state’s economy, job creation, capital investment and future economic development. The gaming industry currently generates nearly $68 billion annually for the state’s economy, pays almost 40 percent of the state’s general fund revenue and supports more than 450,000 jobs statewide. • AGEM members approved a slate of annual contributions to key problem gambling initiatives. The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) received an annual contribution of $50,000. The organization serves as the national advocate for programs and services to assist people and families affected by problem gambling. GamCare, the U.K.-leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by problem gambling, receives a contribution of £5,000. The 14th Annual Nevada State Conference on Problem Gambling, taking place June 4-5 at South Point, Las Vegas, receives sponsorship of $7,500, and the 17th Annual Midwest Conference on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse, being held June 17-19 in Kansas City, Missouri, receives sponsorship of $5,000. • As the spread of coronavirus continues globally, the impact has caused the organizers of G2E Asia to postpone the show until July 28-30. Will Wise, VP at Reed Exhibitions, addressed AGEM members at the re they are constantly reviewing the situation to ensure the safety of cent monthly meeting, telling them that attendees and exhibitors. At the same meeting, Brian Sullivan, event director of the NIGA show, gave an update on the show taking place March 24-27. The organizers are taking but advice from key stakeholders

concede the situation is very fluid and they are constantly reviewing the situation. There was much discussion on whether the show should go ahead or not, with the prime importance being the well-being of AGEM member-company employees.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS • Discovery Conference on Problem Gambling, will take place in Toronto, Canada, April 14-16. AGEM is a proud sponsor of this conference, which is the largest and longest-established problem gambling/responsible gaming event in Canada.

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The AGEM Index decreased by 71.59 points in February 2020 to 468.91 points, a 13.2 percent decline from January 2020. The drop was driven by stock price declines for all 13 AGEM Index companies as markets around the globe reacted outbreak. for

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and 8.4 percent,

also experienced

a drop

10.1 percent respectively.

The NASDAQ of 6.4 percent.

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

13

p. 14 sportsbetting:Layout 1 3/12/20 2:19 PM Page 14

HEATED COMPETITION With competition fierce, New Jersey’s sports betting sites turn to marketing and promotions to lure new players

By Frank Legato

W

Retention for the long term, he says, is another matter. “On the retention hen New Jersey’s legislature failed to allow state side, some operators in the market are bonusing over 50 percent, even 80 pervoters to opt out of the sports ban imposed by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in cent of of their revenues to keep those players engaged and active. I don’t think that’s a sustainable model. While some operators may be generating a large 1992, the legal sportsbooks that were envisioned volume of handle, they may be generating extremely low net gaming revenues, bore little resemblance to what has transpired in the past two years since since they are constantly providing aggressive bonuses to their players, with PASPA was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. promotional credits and odds boosts that over the long term won’t be sustainAtlantic City casinos had wanted physical sportsbooks as found at able.”

Nevada casinos, knowing that margins were super-thin but that books “Bonuses are important in competitive environments like New Jersey,” says would bring in other business, especially around events like the Super Scott Butera, president of interactive gaming for MGM Resorts International, Bowl and March Madness. But by the time legal sports betting became a reality in 2018, it was clear that the real benefits would come online, with which runs the betMGM sports-betting site. “Everybody’s offering them, so I’ve found that bonuses are increasingly important. But in terms of retaining mobile betting and in-play wagering generating profit margins of which customers, it’s really more about the customer experience once they’ve been acphysical books could only dream. quired.

New Jersey is now the model for modern sports betting, with more “Bonuses are very important in acquisition, but in terms of retention and than 80 percent of wagers being made online. That online wagering margetting that customer to grow, it’s about integrating them into our system, ket is every bit as competitive as Atlantic City’s land-based market ever using our properties and making all of our assets was, with more than 20 sites vying for New available to them.”

Jersey’s millions of potential bettors.

Kevin Hennessy, director of publicity for FanDuel As with the land-based market, hyper-comGroup, agrees that the day-to-day offerings are what petition online produces both benefits and dan“The sign-up offer is are most important. gers. Each site strives to distinguish itself from its one of the seamless “We definitely value offering bonuses to new cuscompetition by presenting a user-friendly experitenets of our overall tomers,” he says, “but there are also many offers availence with a top variety of wagering options. But strategy for acquiring able to all customers—daily promotions and odds marketing in the player acquisition phase can be and subsequently boosts that make every night more enjoyable. We are expensive, and some question the long-term susretaining users.” very happy with what we are seeing in terms of keeptainability of the super-high sign-up bonuses ing new customers excited and engaged beyond their being offered in New Jersey, with equally high —Dan Hannigan-Daley, Director of first week with us.” promotional costs to retain those new players.

Sportsbook Product, DraftKings “Sign-up offers are important for drawing users “Operators rely on sign-up bonuses in order into our product, a successful tactic we have leveraged to draw new customers,” comments Richard for years on our DFS platform and, more recently, Schwartz, president of playsugarhouse.com operour Sportsbook,” says Dan Hannigan-Daley, director ator Rush Street Interactive, “especially given of sportsbook product for DraftKings, the other daily how extremely competitive markets like New fantasy sports giant besides FanDuel now in New JerJersey have become, with many operators offersey’s sports betting market. “The sign-up offer is one ing very generous sign-up bonuses. Ultimately, of the seamless tenets of our overall strategy for acunless you already own a database, there are quiring and subsequently retaining users.” really no shortcuts to how you acquire players.”

14

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

p. 14 sportsbetting:Layout 1 3/12/20 7:04 AM Page 15

The User Experience

their points online to redeem those points Acquisition and marketing costs aside, the intense wherever they wish for other types of online competition for the online sportsbook dollar in New free play, through scratch cards, wheel spins Jersey is good news for the end user. and different gamification tools.”

“For us, it’s really two things,” says MGM’s “We believe in taking a data-driven apButera. “It is having great technology, and having a proach to everything we do, so we’re quite tremendous user experience through that technolmeasured in our promotions and/or retention ogy—combined with integration into our resort propmarketing efforts,” says DraftKings’ Hannierties. We’re really trying to capture that customer, get “Everybody’s offering them, gan-Daley.

“We offer users rewards for particthem engaged in our app, and then funnel them into so I’ve found that bonuses are ipation not unlike what land-based casinos our property system. We then use those properties to increasingly important.

But in do, but those rewards are largely focused on retain those customers and reward them. Most impordriving specific behaviors we’ve identified the terms of retaining customers, tant is the relationship between our sports betting user is likely to participate in, as opposed to it’s really more about the technology and our properties.” providing a generic cash-back offer. While we “The user experience is something that we focus customer experience once do offer those too, we tailor our offers greatly on quite a bit,” says Rush Street’s Schwartz. “Using they’ve been acquired.” to individual users.” our own platform allows us to innovate and create dif—Scott Butera, President of Interactive MGM’s Butera adds that such rewards ferentiation that leads to the user experience being Gaming, MGM Resorts International can be much more dynamic online than in a unique compared to other sites. land-based casino.

“We believe if you do a great job of offering the “You can make adjustments more players a solution that works well, with a site that is quickly, and track better,” he says. “We are reliable and offers unique features, we can create a betusing similar activities as land-based casinos, ter user experience for our players.” but we’re able to adjust them more fre“The DraftKings Sportsbook is an Americanquently, so they can be a little more impactmade product, built in-house and to scale,” says Hanful, a little more targeted.

We can be much nigan-Daley. “The platform is extremely dynamic, more flexible than what you see in a landeasy to use, and reliable. DraftKings machine learning based casino.” capabilities truly enhance the user experience in capHennessy says most of FanDuel’s proturing preferences, helping us to engage them in the motions are linked to actual events and right way, at the right time.” matchups, rather than to the amount a customer wagers. “We believe “Ease of use and lowering the barriers to entry for new customers,” says that’s more exciting and promotes a more responsible way to bet than ofFanDuel’s Hennessy of the most important distinguishing factor in a competifering rebates,” he says. tive market. “Sports betting is very new to a large group of our customers, and we want them to feel comfortable and safe betting with us. For the more experienced customers, it’s about getting out of their way and making things as easy As the legal sports betting industry matures, operators in New Jersey—as as possible.” well as the host casinos and their licensed online casino sites—are finding It is also about rewarding those more experienced players, often tapping the it to be a mutually beneficial business. same arsenal of perks used in traditional casinos.

“We do see a lot of crossover between online sports betting and online “We have cashback promotions that we utilize at various times for different casino play in the markets where we have it, New Jersey being the best exevents,” says Schwartz, “and we have a loyalty points program that’s similar to ample,” says Butera. “And we’ll see what happens in Michigan, but also land-based in the sense that players can earn loyalty points as they wager online with our properties. We see that sports bettors do come to the property; and redeem those for comps and other bonus items of value to them. we’ve seen lift in table play. I think some of our competitors have seen “We’ve developed a unique bonus store that allows our players who earn that as well, citing lift in their gaming business from sports betting.”

Maturing Business

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

15

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“Using our own platform allows us to create innovation and differentiation that leads to the user experience being unique, compared to other sites.”

—Richard Schwartz, President, Rush Street Interactive

“We see very strong crossover from sports to casino,” says Schwartz.

“Certainly, some from the casino categories such as blackjack are played pretty heavily by the sportsbook players. That’s why the industry has seen many of the larger online sportsbooks deliver very strong results on their casino product.”

He adds that Rush Street’s land-based casinos, Rivers Philadelphia and Rivers Pittsburgh, “have seen significant crossover from online. When you have a larger market share online, you have a lot of players. We have a lot of players who have never experienced a land-based property, and when they have a positive experience with us, they earn things online that may be valuable for them to redeem in the land-based property. Also, they have the ability to cash out their winnings online or withdraw the cash at a physical property.

“We’ve seen that we’re driving traffic to land-based properties of a new demographic that in the past for one reason or another haven’t been to a property before. It might be that some of these online players aren’t familiar with how to play some of the table games, and prefer to play a 5 cent blackjack game online until they learn how to play it, rather than putting a minimum bet on the land-based table and learning in a more expensive way.”

“DraftKings is in a great position having started as a DFS company,” says Hannigan-Daley. “We see considerable crossover between the two products.”

Moving forward, operators will continue to put in hard work—and make hard decisions—to compete in an increasingly crowded online sportsbook market.

“It’s really about getting the customer recognition and customer awareness,” says Butera. “Once we find a customer and introduce them to all the benefits of MGM—and in the New Jersey market, the Borgata—they really like what they get. It’s about trying to reach that customer, distinguish yourself, and get them to engage with you, and to understand the full range of products.”

“We’ve really enjoyed the competition in New Jersey,” says FanDuel’s Hennessy. “It’s driving innovation in products, promotions and customer service.”

Looking Ahead That competition in New Jersey’s online sports betting market continues to heat up. But is all the bonusing creating a new version of the ’90s Atlantic City marketing wars?

“One drawback,” says Schwartz, “has been the aggressiveness of many of the operators in terms of spending on user acquisition and on bonusing 16

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

existing players in an effort to create a narrative of strong performance in the New Jersey market—which may either help them as a public company or help them convince land-based operators in other states to select them as a good market access partner .

“As shared earlier, I believe the drawback has been that a lot of aggressive, unsustainable marketing and bonusing practices will create profitability challenges for operators. We are quite profitable in New Jersey, but it’s certainly been a significant challenge because of the intense competition and motivations of many of the operators that extend well beyond trying to generate profits at this time as a primary goal.”

“Atlantic City is super competitive,” says Butera. “It’s a proving ground for a lot of folks. Whether the (bonusing) is overboard or not, I just think it’s the nature of the market. Will that be the same in other markets? Probably when they first open, but my expectation is that’s not sustainable, and it will right itself over time.

“The revenues will continue to grow more stable... And I think the spend will become more rational.”

“Depending on the size of the competition in New Jersey, and how many operators will shift some of their New Jersey marketing resources to other legal markets in the future, I’m not sure about the ulimate size of the market,” says Schwartz. “But in terms of the competition, I think there will continue to be more and more operators entering the New Jersey market, all hoping they can find a way to capture significant market share. And it will take some time for a few of those operators to recognize that the ROI won’t be there for many of them, especially if the market conditions don’t change.

“At some point the number of competitors will start to decline and I expect consolidation will occur.”

“Each market comes with its own set of challenges,” says Hannigan-Daley.

“With 18 sportsbooks in market, we see that players like to shop around for deals, whether that is odds, markets or promotions. We embrace that, however, as competition is what drives innovation in order to remain at the top of the leaderboard.”

“Competition will definitely continue to heat up,” says Hennessy, “and we welcome that. Customers will benefit from competition, and new states mean that more Americans can enjoy the excitement of online betting in the same way that New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana have so far.”

“The market will continue to expand and innovate,” says HanniganDaley. “DraftKings encourages competition among the array of providers already live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We are still in the opening minutes of the first quarter of legalized online/mobile sports betting in America, so it is important for consumers to have a variety of choices when it comes to where they place their bets.”

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10/02/2020 15:57

p. 18 moody:Layout 1 3/12/20 9:41 AM Page 18

Living the

Dream The story of Ernie Moody’s “instant” success and his prominence as a gaming investor

By Roger Gros

T

he path to glory for many gaming startups goes through “The Hangar,” the headquarters for Action Gaming and its founder, Ernie Moody. People with ideas to advance the gaming industry knew that Moody was the go-to guy when it came to financing their dreams. Unlike other “angel” investors, Moody understands the gaming industry like no other backer could. And it is all traced back to a simple idea that launched Moody’s empire, multi-hand video poker.

“The Hangar” is an actual hangar where Moody keeps his private jet—his Four Aces Embraer Legacy Jet—at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport, along with his collection of antique cars, courtesy of his groundbreaking invention and then his dynamic business model and knowledge of the gaming industry. Moody was recently named to the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame, after being inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame in 2019.

But it all began in Rocky Mountain high.

When gaming was legalized in Colorado for three small towns, Moody was a stockbroker in Denver. His interest piqued, he and several others quit their jobs and invested in a small hotel, the Gilpin, in Black Hawk and began to delve into the gaming industry.

Part of Moody’s learning process was to attend the big gaming trade shows in Las Vegas. He was fascinated by new innovations, particularly table games.

“I became very interested in how the slot machines and the table games were functioning, and what made a game attractive, what made players want to play it, that kind of thing. I met at one of the shows the founder of Shuffle Master, John Breeding. John was sitting at a little table, Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

p. 18 moody:Layout 1 3/12/20 9:41 AM Page 19

about the size of a coffee table, in a small booth. He had his shuffler on it, and I asked him how he was going to sell them. He told me he wasn’t going to sell them; he was planning on leasing them to gambling companies and casinos all over the world. And I thought, ‘Well, good luck with that.’”

Two years later, Breeding was much more successful.

“John had this huge booth at the show that year,” he says. “He had all these dealers dealing blackjack and all kinds of games. The shufflers were going out all over the world.

And he had a little game called Let It Ride.”

But in another two years, Let It Ride was doing $25 million a year for Breeding.

Moody had a revelation. He didn’t set his sights too high. Moody only wanted a small piece of the market that it had achieved.

He’d be happy with 10 percent.

But table games were tougher than they looked. When Moody realized the table game market did not offer enough of a reward for all the work put into it, he turned his attention to the slot games.

“If I could just come up with a new kind of video poker game, I’d have something,” he says. “I knew there were about 150,000 video poker machines out there at the time.”

Again, he thought 10 percent would be a home run.

When he got back to Colorado that winter, he spent time with several decks of cards and became fixated with dealing three rows of cards, trying to combine them, switch them, until one day he figured it out.

“It was like a lightbulb went on in my head,” he says. “If I just put two rows face down and one row face up, and whatever the player liked in the face-up cards, if he held the three kings, now he’s got three kings in all three hands.”

It was so simple, it was astounding. If you had a good hand, you could make it better in the other two rows. If you had nothing, you could get something in the other two rows.

Anthony Curtis, the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and owner of

Triple Play Poker became one of the monster games in the history of the industry with as many as 20,000 machines on casino floors at any time. When the Triple Play patent expired in 2015, Moody had already formulated other plans to replace the royalty fees he was collecting on Triple Play.

Huntington Press, says it was a “game changer.” A book published by Huntington Press on table-game design credits Moody with impacting that sector, as well as video poker. In his book The Essentials of Casino Game Design, Dan Lubin writes: “I have to assume that at least some readers have aspirations of creating the next great machine game, which is likely due in no small part to the exploits of one Ernie Moody.

“Of the many catalysts that have launched hopefuls down the road of game design, the most prominent is surely the story of the former stockbroker who quit his job and developed Triple Play video poker. While the numbers vary according to who is quoting them, it’s safe to say that, at their zenith, Moody was raking in multiple millions per month in royalties for his multi-line video poker products (a 2003 article in Cigar Aficionado speculated it was “as much as $15 million”). Ernie has a 500-plus-acre ranch with a horse racing/training track outside of San Diego and an office with a Gulfstream jet parked inside that borders a runway at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

“Yep, a whole lot of prospective game designers are in it for a shot at Moodyesque success and, accordingly, many assume that slots or video poker is where the opportunities lie,” Lubin writes.

IGT Connection

Moody, who had a relationship with IGT in the mid ’90s, immediately thought they would like his idea for a new game. At a Colorado golf tournament that spring, he arranged to be paired with Bob Bittman, the man responsible for game development. IGT had just finished a huge factory in Reno to build machines and Moody figured Bittman would be interested. But he decided to pitch Triple Play Poker only, none of his other games.

But Moody added a twist that had never been done before.

“I wanted to charge a $5 fee per day per machine,” he says. “Bittman APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

19

p. 18 moody:Layout 1 3/12/20 9:41 AM Page 20

thought I was crazy but told me to give it a shot.”

Moody went to Sunset Station casino in Las Vegas, one of the hotbeds of video poker, and pitched the idea. They were interested and took a few as a test.

“They had regular games on one side of a slot bank, and my games, Triple Play Poker, were on the other side,” he says. “On my side, every game was being played, and there were people standing in line waiting to play the games. The other side was almost empty.”

Station quickly bought 36 games, which gave Moody the sales pitch he needed.

“I’d go to other casinos and tell them Station took 36 games; how many do you want?”

Back home in Colorado, Moody and his girlfriend Mercedes—still with him today—set up a whiteboard to track each machine, where they were and how they were performing.

“I knew we were going to do really well when we had to buy a second whiteboard to keep track of where the games were going,” he says. “And then about three months later, the games’ trajectory went parabolic, to the point where we couldn’t keep track of where all the games were.”

That was enough proof for Bittman. He changed the deal so that IGT would handle all the sales, billing and service, and agreed to boost the royalty fee to $15 per game per day.

Outside of Bittman, Moody said he was very close to IGT Chairman Chuck Mathewson.

20

“The Hangar” is an actual hangar where Moody keeps his private jet— his Four Aces Embraer Legacy Jet— at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport, along with his collection of antique cars, courtesy of his groundbreaking invention and then his dynamic business model and knowledge of the gaming industry.

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

“Chuck became a real great friend of mine,” he says, “kind of like my mentor.”

But changes in IGT management later on made Moody a mystery man at the company.

“Every time a new management team would come in, one of the first questions they would ask is, ‘Why are we writing this enormous check each month to this Ernie Moody guy?’”

One of the reasons why is that Moody solidified IGT as the market leader by far in the video poker field. Competitors over the years had nipped at the heels of offering the video poker game invented by IGT founder Si Redd, with varying degrees of success. But with the addition of Triple Play Poker, school was out— IGT was the bona fide king of the hill, selling thousands of machines to hundreds of casinos.

Ironically, Moody says Redd might never have relinquished control of video poker.

“If Si Redd had applied for a patent on video poker, where you’re playing against a pay table instead of other players, he very well could have gotten that patent,” says Moody.

“And he would have been in control of that whole market from day one.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Triple Play Poker became one of the monster games in the history of the industry with as many as 20,000 machines on casino floors at any time. When the Triple Play patent expired in 2015, Moody had already formulated other plans to replace the royalty fees he was collecting on Triple Play.

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p. 18 moody:Layout 1 3/12/20 2:28 PM Page 22

While Triple Play and other “His brain is fantastic, IGT multiple-hand video poker games are available online, there and he has the driest isn’t much excitement about and most wicked sense iGaming at VideoPoker.com, acof humor.” cording to Mike Fields, executive vice president of Moody’s Action —Anna Sainsbury, chairwoman Gaming with the same position for of GeoComply, one of the Action’s VideoPoker.com, a popucompanies Ernie Moody has lar instructional site for video backed poker. He says he’s turned down seven-figure offers for the URL. “Our plan was to truly make it an educational site,” says Fields, “a community for players to play for free, as well as operators, because it’s a much better selling tool to be able to play a game rather than read a brochure. We didn’t want to get licensed to get involved in online gaming, and we certainly didn’t want to be any competition for IGT online. The natural thing for us to do was to use it as a marketing tool. We haven’t monetized it as much as we could, but that was never the plan.”

Moody understands the appeal of online gaming, but he’s more concerned about the bricks-and-mortar casinos and how they’ll survive if the millennials aren’t interested in gambling.

“How do you pull these younger people into the casinos?” he asks. “It doesn’t seem like the slot machines of today are going to do it. But that’s sort of the multimillion-dollar question at this point.”

Ironically, the “skill games” being tried in today’s casinos are far less successful than the original skill game, video poker.

“They were doing skill games before skill games were cool, and it’s still the best of all,” says Curtis. “All the different video poker games with all the different ways that you can play is the absolute best way to play. You can learn through software or just intuitively, which is what 98 percent of the people who play it do. They try to intuitively outsmart it, and it checks a lot of boxes to what makes a fun game, which is what they’re trying to accomplish.”

Be Like Ernie With his first million-dollar royalty check, Moody went out and bought his first new car—a red Volkswagen Beetle.

“It was what he always wanted,” says Fields, “so that’s what he got!”

Moody has gotten a lot of toys with his earnings from Triple Play Poker and its successors, but it’s his largesse with his money to support new ideas and innovations in gaming that has brought him the most respect.

Fields explains how and why Moody decided to invest rather that save.

“We file for patents on everything we create,” he says. “Patents typically run for 20 years. And so the relationship with IGT has an evergreen nature to it. When Ultimate X comes along, it has an impact and rests on top of the old patents. So even though the underlying Triple Play patents have expired, all the Ultimate X patents are good until 2027 or 2031. And 22

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

as long as we keep coming up with games we get patents for, we keep creating revenue streams for IGT and Action Gaming.”

But those patents still wouldn’t replace completely the revenue stream of Triple Play.

“Somewhere around 2010,” Fields says, “we recognized that when the patents expired the arrangements with IGT would have to change and we would experience a revenue decline of some sort. Ernie thought it would be great if we could sort of give back and help out folks in the industry. So we started looking at different gaming industry deals and investing in various companies and people, so if our patent fees would drop, we would make up the revenue difference by having investments in successful gaming companies. It was something of a replacement strategy.”

Curtis says it was Moody’s success that often inspired others to take that step.

“Ernie Moody was the guy who put the dream in everybody’s head because of what he was able to do,” says Curtis.

So to be able to be a catalyst for others to succeed was part of the impetus for Moody’s investments.

Not every investment worked out. Moody says his investments have two characteristics, generally.

“Some of them have been spectacular failures,” he says. “The sad thing is, the bad ones blow up first, and for the good ones, it’s like feeding little birds. You just have to keep feeding them, or they’re going to die.”

One of the failures was a creative idea from Jeff Jordan, a former MGM and IGT slot executive. Jordan’s idea for a website that would consolidate a player's membership in various slot clubs was innovative but didn’t achieve commercial success. The economics of consumer acquisition and the controversial nature of the offering ultimately limited the opportunity.

“Ernie and his team were supportive and easy to work with,” says Jordan.

“Ernie was willing to take risks and support your vision. However, he did hold the line if the idea was not getting traction, which is helpful when you are so close to an idea.

“Ernie allowed me to be an entrepreneur during a difficult economic time. I will always be grateful for his support.

“While they wanted a good business plan, they gave you the freedom to conduct business the way you believed it would work. That’s different than other investors who may get more aggressive if things aren’t working out immediately.”

While Jordan says he gave it all and Moody went the extra mile to help, the failure hurts more because he let Moody down rather than because it didn’t work.

“I still feel a little guilty that I lost his money,” says Jordan.

Former IGT executive Ali Saffari came to Moody with several ideas, which they patented. Moody admits it was a wild ride, and Leap Forward Gaming was eventually sold to IGT. An investment in Walker Digital Table Games, a groundbreaking innovation to track chips, cards and players at table games, has been frustrating because of regulatory issues and expenses. But this is one of the birds that Moody keeps feeding because the business fundamentals are solid.

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so sure that if we’re good at one thing, then we’re going to be great at another. It’s naturally progressive and that’s not necessarily so, and I think Ernie has always said this is what I’m good at, and he sticks to it.”

But it takes a team, and Moody, with his typical modesty, credits Fields for helping to make VideoPoker.com what it is today. He also gives a great deal of credit to his “math guy,” Yoohwan Hwang.

“We took over a year to develop Ultimate X (Action Gaming’s newest hit game),” says Moody.

“Yoohwan designed an elegant math for the game that created a very elegant game. It took a while, but when it was finalized, we had a winner.”

In addition to funding some of the industry’s most innovative initiatives, Moody is generous with charities. Again, with characteristic humility, he simply says, “When people come to us asking for money, we give what we can.”

Moody is a major contributor to Larry Ruvo’s Keeping the Memory Alive organization that funds research into Alzheimer’s and dementia. The foundation funded Action Gaming's Mike Fields and Hall of Fame inductee the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Giving Back Ernie Moody Center for Brain Health in DownFields says Moody’s talents extend town Las Vegas, a remarkable beyond just recognizing great ideas building designed by the famous and putting the money up. architect Frank Gehry. And “Ernie has a collection of pretty Moody again credits someone else. remarkable gifts,” he says. “One of the things that he does really well is he “We were looking for a special architect for the center, and Larry doesn’t get locked in by our limitations because the industry says there’s found Frank Gehry. Frank Gehry said, ‘There’s no way I’m gonna do limitations with the creation of a Triple Play, the creation of a new financial anything in Vegas.’ But guess what? We got a beautiful Frank Geary model. He’s also inspired creativity. Everybody wants to have the next libuilding in Vegas because of Larry Ruvo.” censed game and become the next Ernie Moody.

Some of Moody’s other major contributions go to Opportunity “He created a different economic model and took a very staid product, Village in Las Vegas, the Make-a-Wish Foundation and even Navy video poker, and breathed new life into it. He was able to put a bunch of Seals. these new things on, have it make three to four times the house average and “We try to support many local charities,” he says. drive play into the casinos. Remember, video poker players visit casinos But it’s his humanity that draws people to him. Curtis recalls meetmore frequently than slot players. So he created compelling games with a ing with Moody at a legendary “dive” casino in Las Vegas. new financial philosophy that didn’t exist before. He created financial mod“I remember setting up a meeting with him and Mike (Fields) at els that didn’t exist before. Mostly, what he did is he just made a ton of the Thunderbird bar, which we chose because I told them they had a money for IGT and for the casino business.” great hamburger,” he laughs. “So there we are sitting at the old TCurtis says Moody has one particular characteristic that makes him great.

Bird—which really did have great hamburgers—and we’re looking at “Ernie’s got a real interesting quality that I see, which is, he stays in his the video poker machine and we’re discussing promotions that they’re lane. Ernie is very comfortable with his core competencies, and when he is doing on the machine. It’s just like three dudes hanging out in a bar. within that realm of core competency, he’s operating at a high level. We’re It’s pretty cool.” all guilty of trying to venture out into things that we’re not good at. We’re One of Moody’s very successful investments was GeoComply, the geolocation service that has become the dominant player in the iGaming market in the U.S. and around the world. Anna Sainsbury, GeoComply’s chairwoman, says Moody’s participation was crucial to the success of the company.

“Ernie really took a bet on us when nobody else could see the value,” she says. “He liked the idea of what we could do not just for gaming but also for the emerging streaming and digital payments industries.

“I would say that working with Ernie has been a pleasure, but the truth is that we almost never talk about work. It is always about something much more interesting instead, such as the exact constituents of the best gin and tonic or who does the best breakfast in Vegas. His brain is fantastic, and he has the driest and most wicked sense of humor. He is a lovely man and we consider ourselves lucky to have had the chance to repay the confidence he showed in us at an early stage of our evolution.”

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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KINGDOM IN CRISIS What is next for casinos in Cambodia?

By Andrew Klebanow

L

ess than one year ago, the Cambodian gaming industry was brimming with optimism—56 new gaming licenses had been issued from 2017 to 2019. By September 2019, the country had 133 casinos in operation.

Sihanoukville, home of many of those casinos, was experiencing an unprecedented construction boom. NagaCorp’s integrated resort complex continued to post dramatic growth in revenues after the opening of Naga 2, and the company had begun planning for Naga 3, a new $4 billion integrated resort.

The border casinos in Bavet and Poipet were undertaking expansion programs. Most importantly, the Ministry of Finance was nearing completion of the draft Law on the Management of Integrated Resorts and Commercial Gaming (LMIRCG).

Six months later, that optimism has been replaced by a sense of gloom. The COVID-19 virus has had a deleterious effect on gaming markets throughout Asia, and every casino in Cambodia has been impacted. The LMIRCG has yet to be codified into law, and a oncebooming online gaming industry ceased to operate on December 31, when those licenses expired.

How quickly can the industry rebound, and what will it look like in 2021 and beyond, as the threat of the virus subsides? These are critical questions as the industry faces an uncertain future.

How quickly can the industry rebound, and what will it look like in 2021 and beyond, as the threat of the virus subsides?

These are critical questions as the industry faces an uncertain future.

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The LMIRCG The Law on the Management of Integrated Resorts and Commercial Gaming has long been a work in progress. It’s considered crucial if the Cambodian casino industry is to emerge as a well-regulated industry that adheres to international standards and attracts the interest of international operators.

Until now, the burden of adhering to internationally recognized regulatory standards has fallen on individual operators.

Publicly traded gaming companies such as NagaCorp and Donaco International built their own regulatory structures that adhere to those of other highly regulated jurisdictions. In fact, NagaCorp is considered a model of sound self-regulation. Notwithstanding, the intent of the LMIRCG is to bring gaming regulation to a higher standard for all casino operators, develop stricter licensing procedures, establish a fair and reasonable tax rate, and limit where casinos can operate.

Once a sleepy beach community, Sihanoukville now is home to hundreds of factories and a large shipping industry. But the loss of online gaming has chased thousands of Chinese back to their home country.

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Publicly traded NagaCorp holds a monopoly on gaming in Phnom Penh and has developed two NagaWorld properties (Naga 2 at left), with plans for a third

At the request of the Chinese government, Cambodia agreed to stop issuing new online gaming licenses and let existing licenses expire without renewal. That decision had an immediate and deleterious effect on the gaming industry.

As of September 2019, the LMIRCG stood at 12 chapters and 97 articles. The Commercial Gaming Committee of Cambodia (CGCC) would be established as the new regulatory authority. The LMIRCG would establish zones where casinos could and could not be located, defined as Prohibited zones, Promoted zones, and Permitted zones. Casinos would be prohibited from being built in Siem Reep or near cultural and world heritage sites. Promoted zones are those regions where the government would like to see the development of a healthy, tourismdriven gaming industry.

Most notable is the region in and around Sihanoukville. Established markets, such as the border markets of Poipet and Bavet, would become Permitted zones. They would have to go through more frequent licensing reviews than those in Promoted zones.

The LMIRCG would also establish reasonable tax rates predicated on a percent of gaming revenue, with a different rate for gaming revenues generated from junkets and mass-market gaming. While rates have not been publicly disclosed, it’s generally believed that there would be a blended rate in the mid-single-digit range.

This would give Cambodia a distinct advantage over other jurisdictions that have far higher tax rates. The law must now be approved by the Council of Ministers, the National Assembly, and the Senate. It remains to be seen when the new law will take effect, but indications are that it will pass sometime in 2020.

Online Gambling Ends On August 18, 2019, the Cambodian government announced that it would not renew any online gaming licenses when they expired on December 31.

Prior to that date, casinos were permitted to offer online gaming broadcast from live table games in their casinos. Table game pits in casinos that were outfitted with cameras and special software had become ubiquitous in Sihanoukville, as well as in many border casinos. Gamers residing in other countries could log onto a casino’s online platform, select a table with a live dealer, and place wagers on their digital devices, while viewing a live game in real time. The dealer would initiate a game with the outcome displayed on each bettor’s device.

This form of wagering had been growing in popularity, particularly in the People’s Republic of China, and had become a concern to the Chinese government, since gambling is illegal in China. China has emerged as an important trading partner with Cambodia, and has been investing in the country’s infrastructure through its Belt and Road Initiative. At the request of the Chinese government, Cambodia agreed to stop issuing new online gaming licenses and let existing licenses expire without renewal. That decision had an immediate and deleterious effect on the gaming industry.

Online gaming had grown into a major industry, employing tens of thousands of people. Many of these employees were Chinese nationals who served as customer service agents, provided IT support, and performed other functions. Their presence in various gaming jurisdictions fueled demand for housing and office space, as well as basic support services such as restaurants and other commercial activity. This, in turn, stimulated hotel, residential and commercial development.

When online gaming ceased, a mass exodus of people occurred, leaving in its wake a weakened economy that was about to lose its tourism base to the COVID-19 virus. No other market was as severely impacted as Sihanoukville.

Sihanoukville Sihanoukville sits on the Gulf of Thailand. It has long served as a tourist destination, and appealed to Westerners and budget travelers seeking a southeast Asian resort experience.

Recently, those Westerners began to be replaced by Chinese tourists, who found the city’s casinos and beaches particularly appealing, and who were willing to spend more money for those experiences.

Sihanoukville’s economy benefits from a number of drivers, the most important of which is the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port. As the kingdom’s only deep-water seaport, it’s a major transit point for goods produced in Cambodia. The port, in turn, has stimulated development of the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ). Located 12 kilometers from the port and 212 kilometers from Phnom Penh, the SSEZ is a APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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Sihanoukville should rebound from the prohibition of online gaming with an expanded airport and a highway linking the town with Phnom Penh

center of manufacturing, and an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. It currently contains approximately 90 factories and is master-planned to have up to 300.

The port and the SSEZ have generated a significant amount of business travel from China. This, in turn, has stimulated growth in the residential real estate sector, as well as fueling demand for additional lodging.

Another economic driver is the construction of a new fourlane highway from Phnom Penh.

Once completed in 2021, the road will significantly reduce travel time, increase commercial traffic and give residents and expatriates living in Phnom Penh an opportunity to enjoy a weekend beach experience.

One final economic initiative is the recent expansion of the Sihanoukville International Airport. This expansion opened up a number of new markets, including Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and multiple cities in China. This stimulated growth in the hotel sector, including a number of four- and five-star resorts. The largest, the Golden Sun Sky Resort, will feature over 2,000 lodging keys and a massive casino.

As recently as 2015, Sihanoukville had approximately nine casino properties, a few midscale hotels and dozens of smaller value-lodging experiences. In response to the aforementioned economic drivers, the city’s hotel and condominium sector underwent significant expansion.

By 2018, the city’s skyline was filled with more than a dozen high-rise hotel, condominium and office projects. This new construction, funded in large part by Chinese enterprises, brought in thousands of Chinese construction workers. Then came the explosive growth in the online gaming sector.

Online gaming rapidly grew into an industry that required thousands of

employees, and many of those employees came from China. Demand for lodging increased dramatically. Hotels designed to serve tourists became housing for Chinese employees. The city’s road, sewer and water infrastructure struggled to keep up with the increase in construction traffic, as well as the dramatic increase in population. Sihanoukville became an example of a market where commercial growth exceeded a city’s ability to regulate that growth. Then came the decision in August 2019 to end online gaming. It was a seminal event.

Once it became clear that the central government would not renew online gaming licenses, Chinese nationals began to return home. Construction workers left as projects were suspended. Customer service agents and IT support personnel soon followed.

Hotels, which recently served as dormitories for these workers, saw occupancy rates plummet. Restaurants, shops and other enterprises also felt the sting of this exodus. By February 2020, 30 casinos had closed, traffic jams had disappeared and many construction projects were halted.

It remains to be seen how long it will take for Sihanoukville’s tourism economy to recover. Online gaming skewed traditional supply/demand models for lodging, dining and residential development. Once the threat of the virus subsides, it’s expected that tourists will return, and, coupled with increased business activity, the city’s lodging sector will recover.

Another economic driver is the construction of a new four-lane highway from Phnom Penh. Once completed in 2021, the road will significantly reduce travel time, increase commercial traffic and give residents and expatriates living in Phnom Penh an opportunity to enjoy a weekend beach experience.

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Poipet Poipet is a casino district located on the border of Thailand, and is an approximate three-hour drive from Bangkok. The city saw a modest increase in the number of casinos, growing from 12 in 2017 to 17 in 2019. Poipet’s casinos benefit from a liberal immigration policy that allows Thai nationals to enter the kingdom without having to first pass through Cambodia immigration. It also allows them to return to Thailand by just presenting their identification cards. Poipet is also easily accessible from Siem Reep by car or bus. Tourists

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Poipet is along the border with neighboring Thailand, and hosts 17 casinos, including the luxurious Holiday Palace

visiting that city’s world heritage sites can easily include a day-trip gaming excursion as part of their vacation experiences.

The city’s casinos have long served as a convenience-based gaming destination for residents of Bangkok. While a number of properties feature lodging, most do not offer the quality lodging experiences found in Macau or at NagaWorld. Only Donaco International’s Star Vegas provides what can be considered a premium gaming and lodging experience. Nonetheless, other operators continue to improve their gaming, dining and lodging offerings.

Several of Poipet’s casinos have also witnessed a diminution of gaming revenue and an exodus of Chinese employees, as some were involved in online gaming activities. Compounding the problem was a slowdown in cross-border traffic due to fears of the COVID-19 virus.

Bavet Bavet sits on the border of Vietnam, and is about a two-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. It serves as a convenience-based gaming destination for Vietnamese nationals. The supply of casinos in Bavet has remained fairly stable, growing from 12 in 2017 to 13 in 2019. Its border crossing is less convenient, as it closes at night. This has prompted several casino operators to expand their lodging offerings.

As in other markets, several of Bavet’s casinos offered online gaming, and as such, felt the loss as those operations ceased in December.

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Located in Phnom Penh, NagaWorld evolved from a casino barge on the Tonle Sap River into a multi-property integrated casino resort complex

NagaWorld No evaluation of the Cambodian casino industry is complete without an examination of NagaWorld. Located in Phnom Penh, NagaWorld evolved from a casino barge on the Tonle Sap River into a multi-property integrated casino resort complex.

In November 2017, the company opened Naga 2, essentially doubling the number of lodging keys from 797 to 1,658 rooms and suites. Gaming capacity also doubled to 600 table games and 4,000 electronic gaming devices. In addition, Naga 2 added a 2,000-seat theater and brought restaurant capacity

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

to 20 outlets.

Naga 2 demonstrated that if an operator provides a truly outstanding lodging, dining and gaming experience, the market will respond positively. In 2018, the first year of the expansion, the two properties, collectively referred to as NagaWorld, increased gaming revenue by 55 percent to $1.5 billion from the prior year. In 2019, gaming revenue increased by an additional 20 percent to $1.7 billion. NagaWorld is one of a few Cambodian casino operations that chose not to develop an online gaming platform, and was thus unaffected by the termination

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The $4 billion project will be comprised of three towers—one with 75 stories and two with 61 stories—as well as multiple hotel brands, additional gaming, conference and meeting space, and dining and family entertainment attractions.

What’s Next

Long-term, Sihanoukville without online gaming remains a good story. It offers an attractive seaside resort and a good regional airport. The fundamental economic drivers remain in place. The current slowdown is allowing the central government an opportunity to improve infrastructure, expand the city’s road network and develop regulations to manage future growth.

The border casinos, though stung by the loss of online gaming and a decline in visitation, will recover. If they continue to improve their product offerings, they should enjoy steady growth.

NagaWorld continues to be the star performer in the kingdom. NagaCorp has long taken a measured approach to growth; its leaders understand what customers want, and continue to provide the products and services that people desire.

With the eventual passage of the LMIRCG, it’s expected that public companies will join NagaCorp and Donaco International and invest in the kingdom’s casino operations. With regulation comes stability, and stable growth is what Cambodia’s casino industry needs.

It’s been an interesting year for casino operators in the Kingdom of Cambodia. The termination of online gaming caused disruptions to business operations in multiple markets. The boomtown that was Sihanoukville illustrates the importance of master planning, regulation and measured growth.

Andrew Klebanow is a principal at Klebanow Consulting. He has worked in the casino industry since 1977, and as a gaming consultant since 2000.

He can be reached at andrew@klebanowconsulting.com.

of those activities.

Buoyed by the success of Naga 2 and the continued increase in visitation from key feeder markets, the parent company announced earlier in 2019 that it was embarking on the development of Naga 3. The $4 billion project will be comprised of three towers—one with 75 stories and two with 61 stories—as well as multiple hotel brands, additional gaming, conference and meeting space, and dining and family entertainment attractions.

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APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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Casino Credit: Calculating the Risk

By Marjorie Preston

“If you have tables, you’d better be ready to issue quick credit, or no one with a thick wallet is going to come to your casino.”

—Dennis Gomes

I

n that 2010 interview, Gomes recalled his time as president of a Las Vegas casino, when a high roller racked up a staggering $9 million in losses, then settled the debt for $7 million.

Called on the carpet by his chairman, Gomes defended the decision to offer a discount of more than 20 percent (the casino’s threshold was half that). “All we did,” he argued, “was give this guy the privilege of dragging cardboard across our felt. For that, we made $7 million. This cost us nothing.”

Casino credit is primarily for high rollers—those who bet big, lose big, and, like the abovementioned whale, pay off big for the host casino, even when they get a markdown. But it’s also for those who’d rather play against a line of credit than carry cash, or who exceed the daily ATM limits imposed by their banks.

Mostly, it’s designed to get qualified players—at all levels—into the game with a minimum of muss and fuss.

Data Banking Hundreds of casinos make these sensitive decisions with the help of CentralCredit, established in Reno in 1956 by Mapes Hotel casino cashier Tod Early and serving as the earliest and, eventually, primary credit and checkcashing approval source in the casino industry. It was later acquired by Global Cash Access, now Everi. As the industry’s leading repository for credit data, CentralCredit gives operators secure access to players’ credit re-

Casino credit is mostly for high rollers—those who bet big, lose big, and pay off big for the host casino. ports across properties, and regularly updates their marker status.

So, why would operators willingly pool what could be considered proprietary player information with their rivals? For one thing, it helps make sure they get paid.

“A player may be good for $50,000 to me, but let’s say everybody else comes to the same conclusion,” says Everi Chief Product Strategy Officer Tim Richards. “Now five casinos have given him $50,000 each, and he has $250,000 in potential credit outstanding—which he’s not good for. Nobody wants to be out that money, so in this process, everybody’s interests

In the U.S., credit is administered differently from state to state, and can differ within states, from one county to the next. Some casinos don’t issue credit at all, and whole jurisdictions don’t allow it—like the state of Washington, home of 21 tribal casinos.

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are aligned.”

Along the same lines, but from a responsible-gaming perspective, the database lets casinos keep an eye on player activity over time, reducing the chance that a patron will become overextended.

Creating a Paper Trail

CentralCredit gives operators secure access to players’ credit reports across properties, and regularly updates their marker status.

Before any amount of casino credit is issued, the player must authorize a credit department to pull a consumer report, which is checked along with bank account information, including recent balance histories. But it doesn’t work the other way; the player’s casino credit is never reported to Experian, TransUnion or Equifax, and his gambling losses, however great, will have no impact on his ability to qualify for an outside loan, provided those losses don’t affect his general creditworthiness.

Casino credit is provided via a marker, or counter-check against the credit line that will be repaid with funds from a checking account, generally in 15 to 45 days; in effect, the patron is writing a post-dated check in order to use the casino’s money. No fees or penalties are associated with the debt.

/ŶĐƌĞĚŝďůĞ dĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐŝĞƐ͛ ŚŽƩ ĞƐƚ /ŶĮ ŶŝƚLJΠ sϱϱΡ ƚŚĞŵĞƐ͕ ,ĂƉƉLJ ϴ͛ƐΡ ĂŶĚ :ŽůůLJ ϴ͛ƐΡ͕ ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞ ^ĐĂƩ Ğƌ ůĂƐƚΡ Ͳ ĂŶ ϴͲƐƉŝŶ ƉĞƌƐŝƐƚĞŶƚ ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞ ƚŚĂƚ ĐƌĞĂƚĞƐ ŶŽŶͲƐƚŽƉ ĞdžĐŝƚĞŵĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ ĂŶƟ ĐŝƉĂƟ ŽŶ͘ WůĂLJĞƌƐ ŵƵƐƚ ĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞ ƚŚĞ ĐLJĐůĞ ŽĨ ϴ ƐƉŝŶƐ ƚŽ ƌĞĂƉ ƚŚĞ ďĞŶĞĮ ƚƐ ŽĨ ĐŽůůĞĐƚĞĚ ǁŝůĚƐ ĨŽƌ ŚƵŐĞ ƉĂLJŽƵƚƐ͘ tŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ĐŚĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ǁŝŶ Ă ƉƌŽŐƌĞƐƐŝǀĞ ĂǁĂƌĚ Žƌ ďŽŶƵƐ ĞǀĞŶƚ ǁŝƚŚŝŶ ĞĂĐŚ ϴͲƐƉŝŶ ĐLJĐůĞ͕ ƉůĂLJĞƌƐ ĂƌĞ ƐĞĞŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ƉŽƚĞŶƟ Ăů ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ͞ϴ͛Ɛ͟ ĂŶĚ ŚĂǀĞ ƉƵƐŚĞĚ ŶĂƟ ŽŶǁŝĚĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĚĂƚĂ ŽǀĞƌ Ϯy ŚŽƵƐĞ ĂǀĞƌĂŐĞ͘ CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER TO PLACE THESE GAMES TODAy SEE MORE HOT NEW TITLES AT NIGA - BOOTH 941

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In the U.S., credit is administered differently from state to state, and can differ within states, from one county to the next.

Some casinos don’t issue credit at all, and whole jurisdictions don’t allow it—like the state of Washington, home of 21 tribal casinos.

Casinos also have differing levels of risk tolerance. Some just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of issuing, monitoring and collecting credit debt, particularly if they have no VIP clientele. They also may not want to incur the labor costs involved with running a credit department.

First-time credit is not instantaneous, says Richards. “The systems are a little bit archaic still—there are not a lot of automated ways to get bank balances—but once you solve for that, not only is credit issued in a more timely fashion, but now you don’t use as much labor to manage credit.”

Once a patron is in the system and has built up a history, issuing credit—and the right amount of it—is a fairly simple and speedy process.

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Credit lines at Pechanga can run as low as a couple of thousand dollars, but the amount matters less than the timely squaring of accounts, generally in 30 days.

Then and Now Alvin Zayas, director of cage and credit at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, was a banker in Las Vegas before moving into the gaming sector. “Back in the old days when I started, it was the Wild Wild West,” he says. He recalls seeing high rollers walk up to a casino cage, lugging $2 million in $100 bills. “People would offer the titles for their cars as collateral to gamble. Forty years ago, that was an acceptable mode of doing business.”

The process of clearing a patron for credit was time-consuming and labor-intensive. “We applied, created a file, and had to issue all the instruments manually—30 years ago, we’d be making phone calls to banks on a Saturday night, and could be put on hold for a three-day weekend.”

Today, he says, “It’s all computerized. If you apply for credit—if you have a history at other casinos and there is nothing derogatory—we can put you on the game in 15 to 20 minutes.”

A new player with no history requires more investigation. “That’s when experience plays a role,” says Zayas. “Casino credit is not black or white; there’s a little gray area. If you want $20,000, and I’m sure you’re good for it but don’t have any information about your gaming habits, I could come back and say, ‘Would you be comfortable with $7,500?’ You have the opportunity to say yes or no, and we can build a relationship from there. But we’re not going to give you money because you said so.”

Credit lines at Pechanga can run as low as a couple of thousand dollars, but the amount matters less than the timely squaring of accounts, generally in 30 days. According to Zayas, the best risks of all are professional gamblers. “This is what they do for a living, and they’ll never stiff you, because if they do, they’ll never get casino credit anywhere.” Even if their consumer credit reports are riddled with “delinquencies from JC Penney and Sears,” he says, their casino credit report will be “immaculate.”

Credit histories also create a record of inconsistencies and suspicious money movement. “We analyze it constantly, to see if you’re taking casino

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

credit, but not using the line properly. Say you took a marker for $10,000, but our records indicate you only gambled $2,500. Of course we ask, where is the rest? So we monitor it very closely, technology has given us the opportunity to look at it much more quickly, and we have computer programs that can identify those trends.”

Because casinos are held to the same federal reporting standards as banks, to guard against money laundering, they must report any currency transactions over $10,000, as well as multiple transactions that amount to more than $10,000 in a single day.

Cost of Doing Business According to an analysis of casino credit in Nevada compiled by the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in general, “Nevada casinos have been successful in lowering their bad debt expenses in recent years. Since 2010, bad debt ratios for casinos have, for the most part, fallen.”

In 2019, according to the UNLV analysis, Nevada casinos wrote off more than $47 million in debt as unpayable—but that amounted to just 0.5 percent of total revenues. In other words, it’s a business expense.

According to one gaming industry analyst, the larger destination resorts in markets like Las Vegas are more than happy to provide milliondollar credit lines to players—usually, table-game enthusiasts—provided they’re good for it.

“They want them to have that bankroll, because if they can keep them in the seat long enough, they generally know they’ll make out.” But no such transaction is risk-free. “They don’t want to lose money on these people, feeding them, taking care of their entourage and coming out of pocket with money discounts.

“It requires some education and sophisticated management to do the credit research, but even then, some of it goes bad.”

Win, lose or draw, Zayas calls casino credit an essential way “to retain a player and promote future business with that player.”

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MAKING MY POINT

A Day at the Races Why horses, like businesses, need all of their parts to work

O

nce upon a time . . .

The horse that the son’s father bet on, the horse that led all the way down the backstretch, the horse that—when it won—was going to pay the mortgage for the month and leave a little left over for cotton candy and carnival rides, was fading back to the field.

Three lengths ahead.

Two lengths ahead.

One length ahead.

For the jockey and the owner and the bettors, like the son’s father, the finish line couldn’t come soon enough.

And as the race got tighter and tighter, the sound around the track got louder and louder.

Not just from the hoofs pounding rhythmically into and out of the dirt, but from the fans screaming for this horse (and those juicy 12to-1 odds) to hang on for... just... a ... few... more... seconds.

The son was mesmerized. He gripped the rail of the grandstand and pushed himself up, like a gymnast mounting a pommel horse, to secure a better look. And then, as he strained to improve his vantage, he heard a sound he had never heard before in his life. Which was followed by another sound he had never before heard in his life.

And finally, a third.

Wait... Maybe we’d better start from the beginning.

On a summer afternoon so hot and humid it would make a chili pepper sweat, a father took his son to the county fair. And on this afternoon, this summer afternoon so cloudless and bright that it would make Stevie Wonder put on a second pair of sunglasses, the county fair the father and son were going to was hosting a day at the races.

Horse races.

Harness races, actually, where the jockey sits in kind of a wheelchair-looking contraption and gets tugged around the track. When the father saw it, it reminded him of the film BenHur. When the boy, who was 11, saw it, it

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

By Roger Snow

reminded him of the Chuck Wagon dog-food commercial that ran constantly during Saturday morning cartoons.

Their horse that day was No. 4. No, not because of Brett Favre (he’s old, but not that old), and no, not because of Bobby Orr (the family hated hockey); rather, the son’s father placed his Franklin on this particular equine because, when it stood on the infield before the race started—which it had, just 10 seconds ago—the dad had seen it, uh, take a... well, make a... uh, go to the... er, drop the kids off at... hey, you get the idea.

The rationale, if you must know, is that engaging in such an activity before the race started would theoretically make a horse lighter, and therefore faster.

The father wasn’t exactly what the books call a sharp handicapper.

But with 100 yards to go, he was looking like a regular Jimmy the Greek. No. 4 horse and its recently evacuated bowels were still in the lead. It seemed, unless something horrifying happened, it would cross the line first.

The first sound the son heard, as it turns out, was the sound of the third metacarpal, the longest bone in a horse’s body, shattering. The second sound was a 2,000-pound animal falling and shrieking in pain. And the third sound, the eeriest and most haunting one of all, was the sound of a thousand people making no sound at all.

It all happened so quickly. Two buggies bumped each other, gently enough, so it seemed, but it triggered a chain reaction that led to the jockey being ejected, catapult-style, onto the track, and No. 4 sent into an out-ofcontrol cartwheel through the wooden guardrail at 25 miles an hour.

No. 4 tried to stand, and immediately collapsed back to the ground. It would never try again.

But the son could see the horse moving. Its nostrils knackered, and its ears flitted back and forth. Its belly expanded and contracted with each breath taken. The son, who was terrified at

the thought of watching an animal die—he always left the room at the end of Old Yeller—was relieved, overjoyed that, albeit injured and probably unable to race again, would in fact live.

And then the father told the son the truth.

“They’re going to have to put that horse down, you know,” the father said.

The son, at first, didn’t get it. Put it down? It’s already down. They have to get it up.

Then the father, not as gently as you might expect, explained the trainers would “destroy” No. 4, shooting it to spare it the misery that was sure to follow. The father talked about blood circulation, and how the leg would never heal properly, and that in the end, killing it was the most humane action you could take.

But the son didn’t understand and he didn’t want to understand. Hold on, he protested. No. 4’s eyes worked, its ears worked, its mouth worked, its colon worked—damn, what do they feed these animals?—its three other legs worked. In fact, at the veterinarian’s office in town, there was a cat missing a leg. They called him Tripod.

If Tripod can live, why can’t No. 4?

The father held the son, until he finally accepted the reality he wanted so much to change.

Horses, it turns out, are like businesses.

Every aspect must function, and function well, to survive. Sales, management, research and development, operations are all critical.

If one breaks, it doesn’t matter how healthy the others are. The business has no choice but to die.

Roger Snow is a senior vice president with Scientific Games. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Scientific Games Corporation or its affiliates.

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Tribal Casinos Are

Smoking With most of society looking for non-smoking environments, how do tribal casinos respond?

By William Sokolic

C

alifornia law bars smoking in public places. But the Sherwood Valley Casino in Willits lies on tribal land, which belongs to a sovereign nation and is not subject to the laws that govern California.

So patrons smoke away.

“We often get complaints about the smell or smoke,” says Michael Broderick, general manager of Sherwood Valley, which opened in 1996.

But business is business. And deciding not to go smokefree is a business decision, Broderick says. “The majority of our gamblers smoke. It’s part of the experience.”

And employees accept the smoke as a fact of life on the casino floor.

Ho-Chunk Madison went smoke-free in 2015 and has seen business recover “It’s a condition of employment. Team members underand then set records. stand that when they come to work here,” Broderick says.

Smoking may be frowned upon throughout much of the The casino surveyed players’ club cardholders over a three-month peU.S.— 90 percent of young adults and 92 percent of older adults are riod.

The results were the opposite of what casino executives had come to non-smokers, according to one source—but not in Sherwood Valley. And believe, that 70 percent of customers liked to puff away when they play. unlike a lot of commercial casinos, which often block off sections for “That was a common industry line of thinking,” Brown says. “Our resmokers, Sherwood Valley permits smoking everywhere. sults turned that upside down where 30 percent preferred smoking. We can It’s a simple philosophy: casinos work to give patrons what they want, go smoke-free and we were fine.” both on the gaming floor and in all of the amenities they provide.

They did, and never looked back. To be sure, it wasn’t a bed of roses “Smoking is one of those things,” says Sheila Morago, executive difrom the outset.

At first, revenues dropped. With other casinos not that far rector of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA). away, Ho-Chunk went through sometimes drastic revenue losses.

“It was the initial shock. Then we saw an incremental climb in revenues.

By the ninth month, we were back to where we were before. And we’ve set Still, other tribal casinos take the opposite tack. records since 2016,” Brown says.

Take Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison in Wisconsin. Ho-Chunk, which Positive comments have reinforced that decision. opened in the late 1990s as a bingo hall, went smoke-free in 2015. The Ho-Chunk attracted different market segments—baby boomers with genesis began with comment cards coming in: Love the place, hate the elderly parents, for example, Brown says. “Folks were more comfortable smoke. bringing their parents.

Before we went smoke-free, they would never set foot “We received so many complaints, we explored the possibility of in this place.” going smoke-free,” says Daniel Brown, executive manager of the property.

Smoke-Out

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At the Live! casino in Maryland, an elegant smoking patio has been installed to satisfy smokers driven off the main casino floor

“Casinos should be careful not to make health claims or imply that ventilation systems reduce or eliminate the health hazards of secondhand smoke, because that data simply doesn’t exist.”

—Bronson Frick, Director of Advocacy, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

Tough Sell Even with data to support the switch, it was still a big decision, says Bronson Frick, director of advocacy at Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. “But they stayed the course, and business came back even stronger than before,” he says.

Then there’s the hybrid: a casino with both smoking and non-smoking areas, popular with commercial gambling halls all over the U.S. Most every casino has non-smoking areas, larger than ones in the past, Morago says.

But for smoke-free supporters like Frick, the split is insufficient to keep secondhand smoke from filtering to people.

“Secondhand smoke is a top customer complaint in many casinos,” Frick says. “It can be a significant barrier for attracting and retaining talented staff and for attracting non-smoking customers.”

The science is clear from agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: casino ventilation systems, smoking sections and smoking rooms do not address the health hazards of secondhand smoke.

“There is a non-linear dose response and no safe threshold of exposure,” Frick says. “Even at low levels, breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the heart and blood vessels. Secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke up to 30 percent.”

Yet going smoke-free is a sensitive policy issue for tribes, he acknowledges.

Casino revenue is vital for protecting cultural sovereignty. “But keeping indoor

smoking also has a cost, and there are many benefits to consider for shifting smoking outdoors instead of designated indoor areas.”

Some 20 states require smoke-free air in all commercial gambling venues, including Maryland, New York, Massachusetts and Ohio, Frick says. Overall, there are around 800 smoke-free indoor gambling halls in the U.S., including a growing number of sovereign tribal venues such as Yellow Brick Road in New York, along with Ho-Chunk.

OK, you say. But what about the former Revel, a property that opened to much fanfare as the only smoke-free casino in Atlantic City?

That property lasted but two years.

Being smoke-free didn’t doom the place, Frick says. “They didn’t have an outdoor smoking patio, for one.” To smoke, patrons had to walk across the giant gaming floor, up escalators and out onto the Boardwalk, and try to light up in the often blustery coastal wind.

“Adding indoor smoking didn’t solve Revel’s problems. And smoking in Atlantic City’s other casinos did not stop the downward spiral of revenue driven in part by gaming expansion into traditional feeder markets.”

Many tribal properties—Sherwood Valley, for example—cater to what could be considered “locals markets,” neighbors in the region, and casino management does regular monitoring of guest and employee preferences.

Also, tribal governments balance “return on investment” with “return on community” in ways that corporations do not, says Dr. Katherine A. Spilde, professor at the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University and endowed chair at the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming.

As casinos go, Sherwood Valley is a small local establishment, with less than 300 slots, no table games, a small café—and, oh yeah, a smoke shop too.

“It would be contradictory to sell cigarettes but not allow smoking on the gaming floor,” Broderick says.

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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“It’s a condition of employment.

Team members understand that when they come to work here.”

—Michael Broderick, General Manager, Sherwood Valley Casino

Indoor Fireworks Sherwood Valley prides itself on its ventilation and air circulation system, which keeps the air as fresh as possible.

“Other places do not have as good a system as we do. And we have a very robust maintenance program. Maintaining air quality level is really important to us,” says Broderick.

Indeed, casinos spend millions of dollars on air exchange systems in their operations, OIGA’s Morago says. “The goal is to make sure that old air is changed with new outside air often. Our No. 1 goal is the health of our patrons and employees.”

Yet, despite a top-flight filtration system, groups like the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) contend that smoking should be limited to certain areas outside the building itself, Frick says.

ASHRAE, which sets standards for ventilation, says acceptable indoor air quality for human occupancy means a smoke-free environment.

Frick blames the ventilation answer on commercial tobacco giant Philip Morris. The company, concerned about declining smoking rates, heavily targeted a wide range of hospitality trade groups, including the casino trade associations, with economic scare stories and a pitch for ventilation alternatives to smoke-free. But even Philip Morris had a disclaimer that ventilation systems were only intended to address the nuisance factor, not health, he says.

Indoor air assessments affirm that even sophisticated casino ventilation systems do not eliminate secondhand smoke. This is further validated by assessing pre- and post-shift biomarkers of exposure in workers, Frick says.

The bottom line is that ventilation sys-

tems are not a substitute for smoke-free air.

“Casinos should be careful not to make health claims or imply that ventilation systems reduce or eliminate the health hazards of secondhand smoke, because that data simply doesn’t exist,” Frick says. If someone is smoking indoors, everyone else is too, he points out.

“I’ve heard casino operators in both tribal and commercial casino industries discuss their smoking policies and their desire to create smoking and smoke-free environments for both patrons and employees,” Spilde says. “I think operators in both industries are also interested in more guidance with regard to the impacts on the bottom line when transitioning from smoking to non-smoking in an existing property.”

To that end, Spilde and her colleagues are currently doing surveys and interviews and collecting slot data at three properties in California. She declined to disclose which ones, because of confidentiality agreements. The funding from the California Department of Public Health will allow the group to examine the impacts of a shift from smoking to nonsmoking in tribal casinos.

“This will help tribal governments determine the net impact of this shift, including health cost savings, employee and patron choice models, thirdhand smoke clean-up and other factors that might be overlooked in the equation when making this decision,” Spilde says.

Policy impact is often difficult to measure in isolation from other factors, she says. “We hope to add to the academic and industry knowledge about what impact smoking policies have on the bottom line in order to provide tribal governments and tribal casino operators with better methods to make these decisions themselves.”

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers says smoking should be limited to certain areas outside the building itself.

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Going Cashle$$ When will casinos get in step with the times and allow patrons to transfer cash electronically? It may be sooner than you think.

By Dave Bontempo

C

ashless is fast becoming painless.

Casino operators boldly try to match the instant-funds access consumers gain from other industries.

Gaming companies have figuratively succeeded at placing an ATM inside smartphones via the digital wallet, and drastically shortened table-side transactions via touchscreen technology.

Transformation went one step further in late March, at the 2020 trade show and convention of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), when IGT unfurled its land-based IGTPay. This was a high-profile endorsement of the cashless sector at a major industry summit.

The decision speaks volumes about gaming’s projection for cashless. Regardless of roadblocks, its path is forward.

Some of the obstacles are necessary. Operators have rightly been concerned about security, hacking and fraud when introducing rapid funds accessibility to players. They have also dealt with cautious regulators, as expected.

All parties understood the need to merge speed and safety.

Speed and safety wage a perpetual regulatory tug-of-war, but the end results benefit both interests. Security continually improves, and companies continue propelling the cashless sector.

Cashless Payday IGT celebrated NIGA by introducing IGTPay for land-based casino operations, designed to fund casino players’ cashless wagering accounts from external sources.

There are two aspects to IGT’s land-based casino cashless payments solution: 1. The IGTPay payment gateway product 2. Payments services required for ongoing operation This is the company’s proprietary payment gateway product, which has been operational in U.S. digital gaming and iLottery markets since 2013.

Company officials say that while other funding suppliers have no choice but to integrate their gateway solution into another vendor’s casino

40

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

management system, IGTPay is unique because its solution is tightly coupled with the IGT Advantage casino management system.

Unlike other options on the market, this product can provide direct access to all available major external funding sources, including credit and debit cards, e-wallets and bank accounts, officials assert.

Ryan Reddy, IGT vice president and chief systems officer, touts IGTPay’s addition to Resort Wallet and Card Connect in the company’s Advantage system.

“We’re excited that IGTPay represents the final step in providing a completely cash-free experience on the casino floor,” he says. “When equipped with Resort Wallet, a player can enter the property without any currency, stride past the casino cage, walk up to a slot machine and use a mobile device to immediately engage in play.”

IGTPay is available for sale as a turnkey, add-on module for IGT Advantage customers who are considering reducing cash handling, and who also want to provide players a cashless experience by accessing an external funding source.

IGTPay works in harmony with Cardless Connect and Resort Wallet, he asserts.

“Looking at each solution separately, Cardless

IGTPay can provide direct access to all available major external funding sources, including credit and debit cards, e-wallets and bank accounts, officials assert.

“A player can enter the property without any currency, stride past the casino cage, walk up to a slot machine and use a mobile device to immediately engage in play.”

—Ryan Reddy, Vice President and Chief Systems Officer, IGT

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Connect allows a player’s smartphone to become a loyalty card,” Reddy says.

“Players tap their phone on an enabled machine to card in and immediately collect points.

“Resort Wallet creates a secure digital player wallet, enabling a patron to easily transfer funds to and from gaming machines and transfer funds to tables, sports betting and retail, all by using their mobile device. Players can conveniently maintain slot, sports and online balances within the same digital casino wallet.

“With Resort Wallet, players simply tap their phones on any Cardless Connect-enabled gaming machine to card in, then easily and quickly transfer funds between slot machines on site, as well as between a casino’s sister properties,” he adds. “Funds in the digital wallet can be redeemed for cash at a kiosk or the casino cash desk, or securely maintained in the wallet for the next play session or property visit.”

Cashless Arsenal Darren Simmons, executive vice president and fintech business leader for Everi, says cash may no longer be king, but it’s still preferred by many customers.

“A large percentage of casino patrons use cash, as it remains the predominant form of currency used in gaming,” he says. “Similar to the introduction of ticket-in/ticket-out (TITO) technology in the 1990s, we anticipate slow adoption of the digital wallet over the next three to five years, as it will take time for patrons to become comfortable enough with the technology to use it. Operators’ ability to effectively educate and market the tool in partnership with suppliers will be key here.”

So will cooperation with regulators, whom he considers appropriately conservative in protecting patrons.

They want to ensure that no manipulation of a device is possible, that customers are not confused, and that reporting mechanisms are seamless.

Amid that backdrop, Simmons endorses company products geared for cashless.

“Our award-winning QuikTicket solution has drawn a lot of attention since its introduction,” he says.

“The product is aimed at maximizing funds to the floor and dispensing a gaming ticket in lieu of cash from an Everi kiosk, which both traditional and new cash-access patrons appreciate.”

The QuikTicket transaction is authorized as a pointof-sale (POS) debit purchase, which may allow patrons to withdraw more funds, compared to traditional ATM withdrawals, which are limited by banks. Simmons says Everi has consistently seen double-digit organic adoption of QuikTicket by patrons and new conversions to this method, which drives more cash to the floor.

CashClub Concierge is another solution providing patrons more freedom and convenience regarding cash access and management, Simmons says.

The product delivers personalized cash access cage service right at the guest’s table position via mobile

“We anticipate slow adoption of the digital wallet over the next three to five years, as it will take time for patrons to become comfortable enough with the technology to use it.”

—Darren Simmons, Executive Vice President and FinTech Business Leader, Everi

tablets and mobile point-of-sale devices, through Everi’s CashClub payments software platform. The solution can reduce disruption of play, as guests don’t have to step away from gaming to access additional funds. It can also shorten lines and wait times at the cage.

Cruise Lessons “Perhaps the method currently proven successful by the cruise lines may be the best method for destination resorts,” says Tom Soukup, senior vice president and chief systems product officer for Konami. “That is, allowing players staying at the casino to make charges to their hotel folio (i.e. debit/credit card on file) with Property Management System (PMS). In the cruise line industry, cashless solutions have been available to guests for many years.”

Soukup says Konami’s Synkros cashless wagering accounts are used by many cruise lines, and approved in multiple landbased jurisdictions, including Nevada.

During a voyage on a cruise ship with Synkros, carded players can perform a “Folio Charge,” entering the amount they want to download directly through the player tracking interface at the slot machine.

Synkros then requests the charge to the folio (which has the player credit card on file). If the request is successful, the amount is charged to the credit card on file and downloaded to the slot machine. If players don’t use all the funds on the slot machine or have winnings, upon card removal the remaining funds on the gaming machine are automatically uploaded to their cashless wagering account.

Patrons can then choose to play other games by using the funds in the account, or go to the cage to withdraw physical cash for the funds on their account.

Gamblers can also use an interfaced kiosk that supports debiting or crediting the player’s cashless wagering account to withdraw physical cash for the funds balance on their account. At the end of the voyage, any remaining balance in

The QuikTicket transaction is authorized as a point-of-sale (POS) debit purchase, which may allow patrons to withdraw more funds, compared to a traditional ATM withdrawals, which are limited by banks.

41

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“Wide-scale adoption of cashless depends on making a cashless wagering account or digital wallet easier to use than going to the ATM/TITO kiosk.”

—Tom Soukup, Senior Vice President and Chief Systems Product Officer, Konami

the account is automatically credited back to the folio.

For players who aren’t on a cruise, or simply want to embrace innovation, Soukup touts the Synk Connect mobile application, planned for several key Konami Synkros customers, in addition to those that have already begun using it.

Across the industry spectrum, Soukup believes cashless is all about convenience.

“Wide-scale adoption of cashless depends on making a cashless wagering account or digital wallet easier to use for the player than going to the ATM/TITO kiosk to get more cash or to redeem their winnings,” he says.

“As players become more accustomed to using mobile payment or digital wallets in other areas of their daily life, they will increasingly expect digital wallets for gaming activities. Assuming the PMS and POS systems also

Konami’s Synk Connect mobile

enable the player to pay their folio or meal with a digital wallet, the entire casino ecosystem will become frictionless for players to enjoy their total experience at the casino using cashless (i.e., a single digital wallet).”

The benefits will increase upon each regulatory hurdle cleared.

“It appears regulatory agencies are slow to embrace either allowing players to interface with their hotel folio to make gaming charges against the debit/credit card on file with the property management system or allowing them to link to their bank accounts or other funding sources via a third-party payment processing company to their digital wallet,” Soukup says.

Cashless Unification Scientific Games may link the word “seamless” with cashless.

Its new Unified Wallet solution, slated for American casino rollouts in the second and third quarters, has omni-channel efficiency, according to Kathir Palanisamy, senior director of software engineering for Scientific Games. Unified Wallet was about a year and a half in the making.

“We’re excited because the customer is getting access across the wallet, the slots, the tables, hotels, online, point-of-sale, the lottery, etc.,” he says.

“We want it to be truly omni-channel across the whole ecosystem, not just one channel.

“This is similar to Starbucks, where you tap your phone and pay your bill. You see it with online shopping too. Click a button and buy. We need to bring that experience to the gaming world.”

The Unified Wallet solution enables cashless options not only for slots, but also for online gaming (website or mobile). SG Unified Wallet can be funded either through a mobile payment gateway or at a cage with patron deposits. The type of payment method (credit, debit, or ACH) depends on the payment provider chosen by the property.

When it comes to the mobile app, the properties can choose SG’s mobile solution or integrate their existing app with the Unified Wallet module, along with third-party payment gateway integration.

Palanisamy notes Unified Wallet’s ability to provide instant access to cash, credit and points, the sharing of wallet across online and brick-andmortar, along with the transferring of funds from mobile to a slot machine, for example, and back into mobile.

“Earlier versions of the cashless solution were closely integrated with core accounting products and were designed primarily for funding within B&M operations,” he says. “Unified Wallet, on the other hand, is a standalone, cloud-compatible service, built using the latest technology stack that

IGTPay Have you considered how your players will fund their cashless Resort Wallet accounts?

IGTPay streamlines how players fund their Resort Wallet accounts into one simple step. Now fully integrated into IGT ADVANTAGEÂŽ, IGTPay can provide a completely cashless casino environment for your players.

Bank

Player Account

Contact your IGT Sales Rep today for more information.

Š 2020 IGT. The trademarks and/or service marks used herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of IGT, its affiliates or its licensors. Artwork, descriptions, game play, photographs, videos, and other product details depicted herein are subject to change. IGT is committed to socially responsible gaming. Our business solutions empower customers to choose parameters and practices that become the foundation of their Responsible Gaming programs.

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Ticketless TITO

A new system will allow players to avoid paper tickets and go virtual

enables enhanced security standards, leverages solutions like Docker for easier deployment, and scales efficiently to meet a wide range of customer needs.

“The solution is built with an API-first approach, to make it easier to integrate with a wide range of payment providers and support a wide spectrum of platforms, including social gaming, electronic games, sports betting, lottery, table games and retail purchases.”

Move That Money From an operator perspective, the cashless solution improves player engagement, personalizes marketing, and reduces the friction in onboarding younger demographics.

For customers, it provides the ability to track spend, gain control of gaming habits and lose something important—lines.

How is it activated?

The customer downloads the casino’s player app from the app store, signs up using the email address and sets up the password for the mobile app access.

Next step is registering for the casino’s loyalty program, or linking his/her existing loyalty account to the mobile app.

The customer then adds a funding source by selecting a payment provider and registering one or more payment methods: credit, debit, ACH. Next comes adding funds from the payment provider: for example, $100 from a debit card to the Unified Wallet.

A customer then initiates a play session at the slot machine using card or cardless (a phone number, mobile device BLE) and transfers the funds from the Unified Wallet to the slot machine, using mobile or in-game display screens. The funds then can move from the wallet to the slot device using mobile or in-game display screens: for example, $75 from the wallet to the slot machine.

At the end of the session, the player transfers the funds from the slot back to the wallet using a mobile device or in-game display screen: for example, $30 from slot machine to wallet, with an end balance of $55.

Throughout the industry, companies have a varied overview of cashless. Yet their aim is similar.

Make its access easier, safer and faster.

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

G

lobal Payments Gaming Solutions is set to unfurl VIP Mobility at the Downstream Casino in Oklahoma in the coming weeks.

It will be the first rollout of a product that offers casino operators the opportunity to reduce their costs while improving the player experience, according to Global Payments President Christopher Justice.

VIP Mobility enables guests to create digital TITO tickets on their mobile device by scanning an existing voucher or using their VIP Preferred e-check account. They may then pair their mobile device to any slot or table game by scanning a QR code, reload from their phone, and retrieve funds once they finish playing. The entire experience is seamless, from funding through cash-out.

Benefits include reduced cash handling ex—Christopher Justice, penses, more cash in play, limited implementaPresident, Global Payments tion costs, improved performance metrics and Gaming Solutions players never getting interrupted to get cash, Justice says.

This mobility is in line with the dominance of mobile devices. “Last year, Americans spent $80 billion between Black Friday and Christmas, and over $40 billion of that was done on a mobile phone,” according to Justice.

“In 2018, the phone replaced the television as the most widely watched screen.”

Patrons will be able to access the solution by downloading an app, while operators can participate with a Bluetooth-enabled bill validator. Everything else is in the software.

VIP Mobility enables a gambler to load funds into the phone, press a button next to a slot machine or table game, and instantly have funds transferred to those places.

“You can hit a button, and be in the middle of that craps game on the next roll,” Justice asserts. “VIP Mobility takes center stage in three major areas—fit, ease of use and results.”

Justice says the “fit” aspect concerns compatibility with infrastructure and won’t require changes to back-office systems and hardware. The product fits within the regulatory scope of the industry.

As for ease of operation and results, he adds, “It’s great to organize my money electronically and know where it all it is. When I use cash, the next thing you know, I’m taking out money for my wife and kids. Five dollars here, $20 there, the next thing you know, it’s gone and I don’t know where it went.”

Justice uses the example of his 78-year-old mother as an example of how an older generation would benefit from cashless.

“My mom is superstitious,” he says. “If she’s on a slot machine and decides to get another $20, she has to walk across the casino, get in line, come back and perhaps be upset that somebody ‘took’ her machine, when in actuality, the other person merely wanted to play. But now the casino has a problem, in that it can’t give a positive gaming experience to both players.”

If his mother had instant-funds access, there would be no need to leave the machine prematurely.

—Dave Bontempo

“You can hit a button, and be in the middle of that craps game on the next roll.”

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NEW GAME REVIEW

by Frank Legato

Dancing Drums Reels Scientific Games

A

s the debut title on the new TwinStar 5RM five-reel stepper cabinet, Scientific Games brings one of its most popular video slots to the reel-spinning genre. The new cabinet boasts five reels with full RGB LED backlights, LED reel dividers, and bezel lighting.

Similar to the hit video version, Dancing Drums Reels is a Reel Ways scatter-pay game with 243 ways to win. The game showcases beautiful Asian imagery, a unique Free Games Bonus, and four levels of progressive jackpots that are won in the familiar Fu Bat Jackpot Feature starring the famous “Fu Babies.”

Three or more scattered Drum symbols trigger the Free Games Bonus, awarding three, five or 10 free games with a random multiplier. During the free games, two or ore scattered Drum symbols on adjacent reels award three additional free games.

One or more Fu Bat symbols on the reels triggers the main Fu Babies Bonus. The video screen above the reels displays a pick field with 12 icons. Players pick to reveal Fu Baby symbols that correspond to each of

the Fu Babies Jackpots—Mini, Minor, Major or Grand. The player picks until three matching Fu Babies are found, triggering the corresponding jackpot.

The top Grand Jackpot resets at 1 million credits times the denomination—$10,000 on the penny version of the game.

Manufacturer: Scientific Games Platform: TwinStar 5RM Format: Five-reel, ways-to-win stepper slot Denomination: .01 to 100.00 Max Bet: 880 Top Award: Progressive; resets at 1 million credits times denomination Hit Frequency: 28.64% Theoretical Hold: 7.81%-14.75%

Zodiac Lion IGT

T

his new game on IGT’s CrystalCurve cabinet makes full use of the 42-inch curved monitor with an expanded 4-5-4-5-4 reel array (four symbols on reels 1, 3 and 5; five symbols on reels 2 and 4).

The base game is a ways-to-win video slot with mystery and bonus features. During the base game, when a lion symbol appears inside of a frame on the reel, it unlocks the frame and transforms that symbol position into a wild.

Three or more Lion Spin symbols in locked frames award the Lion Spin Bonus. One free spin is awarded for every triggering symbol. Once the bonus is triggered, a giant wheel spins behind the reels awarding players up to 22 lion symbols per spin, for an anticipation-building gaming ex-

perience. The goal is to fill the entire game field with wild symbols, which pays a top 250,000 credits at max bet.

The game includes a 100-credit cost-to-cover.

Manufacturer: IGT Platform: Ascent, CrystalCurve Format: Five-reel, ways-to-win video slot Denomination: .01 Max Bet: 225, 375, 750, 1,500 Top Award: 250,000 credits Hit Frequency: 24% Theoretical Hold: 4%-15%

Š2020 Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM). Membership list current as of March 2020.

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Money Party

Novomatic Americas

N

ovomatic designed the Money Party progressive link around the classic fruit-style games, with fruit symbols abounding in base games Fruity Fruity and Juicy Juicy, both five-reel, 25-line or 50line games with a four-level progressive jackpot. It is featured on Novomatic’s Panthera 1.43 Curve cabinet.

The top two progressive jackpots are line wins that can be landed anytime, but the two lower prizes are available only through the Money Party feature, a hold-and-win bonus triggered by six or more scattered coin symbols.

When the coin symbols land, all coins are held in position for three initial respins. Respins are reset to three as long as additional coins appear. The feature ends when either no respins remain or all positions are full, awarding the top progressive, which resets at $15,000. A full screen also awards a 2X multiplier for all coin values, except for the Major and Grand jackpot.

Bonus symbols on the first, third and fifth reels trigger a Mystery Bonus Pick & Win Feature, which awards 25, 50 or 75 times the total bet.

Manufacturer: Novomatic Americas Platform: Panthera 1.43 Curve Format: Five-reel, 25-line or 50-line video slot Denomination: .01 Max Bet: 500 Top Award: Progressive; $15,000 reset Hit Frequency: Approximately 28% Theoretical Hold: 5%-12%

Hamster Libre Gaming Arts

T

his is one of two games just released on Gaming Arts’ Phocus S104 cabinet, with the patentpending Phocus Wheel topper. (The other game is Kai Yun Jin Bi.) The fun game theme centers around male and female hamster characters (“Ernesto” and “Emily”), and their clever use in the bonus wheel, which, of course, spins on hamstertreadmill power.

The base game is a five-reel, 243ways-to-win video slot with a screen above the reels that displays one of the hamster characters in a wrestling ring. The main Hamster feature bonus activates that video screen and the top wheel, which the hamster spins to award a multiplier and a reel symbol that will become wild on the main game screen.

The hamster runs around the wheel and awards a multiplier to a specific symbol or drops up the three wilds onto the reels. The hamster in the wrestling ring performs one of three wrestling moves to place the wild sym-

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bols on the main game screen.

Three wrestling bell symbols award the progressive feature. Players select bells to match one of three progressive jackpots, the top Mega jackpot resetting at $10,000.

There also is a free-game feature. Three or more bonus symbols trigger 10 free games, during which the Hamster Feature occurs every other game on average. Three bonus symbols on a free spin award 10 more free games.

Manufacturer: Gaming Arts Platform: Phocus S104 Format: Five-reel, 30-line video slot Denomination: .01 to 100.00 Max Bet: 600 Top Award: Progressive; $10,000 reset Hit Frequency: Approximately 30% Theoretical Hold: 4%-15%

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Best of the Best Aristocrat again dominates the field in the second Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Slot Awards

By Frank Legato

G

aming consultancy Eilers & Krejcic Gaming held its second annual EKG Slot Awards last month in a gala affair at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and for the second year in a row, the awards, which rate the best in a variety of slot-game genres, were dominated by slot manufacturer Aristocrat Technologies.

In addition to presentations of awards in all the slot categories, EKG honored Triple Play Poker inventor Ernie Moody as the second inductee into the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame, joining inaugural inductee Joe Kaminkow, the longtime IGT game design guru now in charge of a premium game studio at Aristocrat. Kaminkow presented the award to Moody.

The EKG Slot Awards, conducted by the top consultancy and performance analysts in the slot sector, were created to recognize excellence in slot game development. The 24 different categories of slot machines nominated for awards were determined by EKG’s principals and the firm’s Slot Awards Board of Advisors.

Winners are determined using a data-driven approach, involving a combination of analyzing proprietary game performance data and a survey of qualified slot managers for the land-based categories. Where no data is available, the winners are determined solely by the survey responses. For the Social Casino and iGaming categories, winners are determined by a distinguished panel of industry experts combined with EKG proprietary data.

“There are a lot of award shows out there, but this show is all about the games,” said EKG principal Todd Eilers before the award presentations.

“It is a celebration of game development.”

For the second year in a row, Aristocrat won the top award of the program, Best Overall Supplier of Slot Content. It was one of eight awards logged by the supplier—the next closest total was three, won by each Everi and Scientific Games.

IGT won two.

Aristocrat’s wins included three in the megahit Buffalo franchise—Buffalo Gold Revolution, for Top Performing New Video Reel Core Game; Buffalo Diamond, for Top Performing New Premium Game; and Buffalo Gold, for Top Performing Core Video Reel Game.

Other Aristocrat wins for games included two

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

▲ Aristocrat nabs second nod as Best Overall Supplier of Slot Content

▲ Ernie Moody was inducted into the EKG Slot Hall of Fame by the first inductee, game design wizard Joe Kaminkow

nods for Dragon Link-Happy And Prosperous, which won for Top Performing Proprietary Branded Game and Top Performing Premium Game.

Aristocrat also won two awards for the company’s cabinets. The dual-screen Mars X was named Top Performing New Cabinet-Core, and the radical curve cabinet flame55 won for Top Performing New Cabinet-Premium.

Everi logged three awards, after winning none in the inaugural EKG awards last year. The supplier won for Top Performing New Mechanical Reel Core Game with the unique Cash Machine and Top Performing Third Party IP Branded Game with Shark Week-Jaws of Steel. Everi also was named Most Improved Supplier-Premium.

Scientific Games also won three awards, for Quick Hit Ultra Pays Sun Dragon, as Best New

Online Slot; 88 Fortunes, as Top Performing Core Mechanical Reel Game; and SciPlay, as Top Social Casino Company.

IGT’s Ultimate X was named Top Performing Video Poker Game, and IGT was named the Most Improved Supplier-Core. While Konami was not named as award recipient, PlayStudios won Best Use of Land-Based Content in a Social Slot Game for myKonami, which is a social offering of Konami land-based titles.

Other notable awards included Gamblit’s GemFlux!, which won as Top Performing Interactive Electronic Gaming Machine; Interblock’s Roulette, as Top Performing Electronic Table Game; Zynga’s Game of Thrones Slots, as Best New Social Casino Game; and Evolution, as Best Overall Supplier of Online Table Games.

Multi-Hand Milestone Moody was inducted into the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame in recognition of his multi-hand poker invention, which began with Triple Play Poker and proceeded to revolutionize the video poker genre with a series of games produced in partnership with IGT, including Five Play Poker, Spin Poker, Super Times Pay Poker, Ultimate X Poker and several others.

Moody’s induction by Kaminkow, last year’s recipient, was highlighted by videos featuring

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many of IGT’s former luminaries, including former CEO Chuck Mathewson, longtime IGT product development EVP Bob Bittman, and Mike Fields, the executive vice president of Moody’s company, Action Gaming, a former IGT director and an executive that has been on the multi-hand poker ride with Moody for the past 14 years.

Moody, a North Jersey native, started several commercial businesses before landing in the gaming industry as part of the investor group that opened Colorado’s Gilpin Casino in 1991. He built the first prototype for Triple Play Gaming— which presents three versions of each hand with draw cards taken from three separate decks—independently in the early 1990s.

After bringing the first prototype of the game to the World Gaming Congress trade show in 1995, Moody struck the first distribution deal with IGT in 1997. The partnership is still going strong, the latest hit game being Ultimate X Poker, this year’s top video poker game.

“Ernie Moody is definitely one of the truly outstanding innovators in the video poker world,” said Mathewson in his video tribute. “His creation of Triple Play Poker, followed by Five Play, 10 Play, 20 Play, 50 Play and even 100 Play, is definitely a major contribution to the immense popularity of video poker today.”

Moody was named to the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame last October.

Winners Eilers & Krejcik Slot Awards 2020 CATEGORY: Top Performing NEW Video Reel Core Game WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Buffalo Gold Revolution CATEGORY: Top Performing NEW Mechanical Reel Core Game WINNER: Everi • GAME: Cash Machine CATEGORY: Top Performing NEW Premium Game WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Buffalo Diamond CATEGORY: Best Use of Land-Based Content in a Social Slot Game WINNER: PlayStudios • GAME: myKonami CATEGORY: Best New Online Slot WINNER: Scientific Games • GAME: Quick Hit Ultra Pays Sun Dragon CATEGORY: Top Performing NEW Cabinet – Core WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Mars X

▼ Interblock wins for Top ETG

▲ Aristocrat wins Best Video Reel Core award

CATEGORY: Top Performing NEW Cabinet – Premium WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Flame55 CATEGORY: Top Performing Interactive Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) WINNER: Gamblit • GAME: GemFlux!

CATEGORY: Top Performing Core Mechanical Reel Game WINNER: Scientific Games • GAME: 88 Fortunes CATEGORY: Top Performing Core Video Reel Game WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Buffalo Gold CATEGORY: Top Performing Online Slot WINNER: Scientific Games • GAME: 88 Fortunes CATEGORY: Most Innovative Social Casino Company WINNER: Murka • GAME: Scatter Slots CATEGORY: Top Performing Video Poker Game WINNER: IGT • GAME: Ultimate X

▲ SG wins for Best New Online Slot

CATEGORY: Top Performing 3rd Party IP Branded Game WINNER: Everi • GAME: Shark Week – Jaws of Steel CATEGORY: Top Performing Proprietary Branded Game WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Dragon Link – Happy And Prosperous CATEGORY: Top Performing Electronic Table Game (ETG) WINNER: Interblock • GAME: Roulette

▲ Gamblit wins Interactive EGM award 52

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

▲ Everi wins for Top New Mechanical Reel Core game

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▲ Murka named Most Innovative Social Casino Company

▲ Zynga nabs Social Casino Game award

CATEGORY: Best New Social Casino Game WINNER: Zynga • GAME: Game of Thrones Slots CATEGORY: Top Performing Premium Game WINNER: Aristocrat • GAME: Dragon Link – Happy And Prosperous

CATEGORY: Top Social Casino Company WINNER: Scientific Games • GAME: SciPlay CATEGORY: Best Overall Supplier of Online Table Games WINNER: Evolution

CATEGORY: Most Improved Supplier – Premium WINNER: Everi CATEGORY: Best Overall Supplier of Slot Content WINNER: Aristocrat

CATEGORY: Most Improved Supplier – Core WINNER: IGT

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FRANKLY SPEAKING

by Frank Legato

Betting the Books

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VICT OR RIN ALDO

A

s you may have noticed, I wrote an article on sports betting for this issue. It involves online sports betting via internet casinos. It is an area in which, as hard as it may be to believe, I am not an expert.

Normally, when I write about casino activity, much of it is from personal experience.

When I write about slot-machine features, it is with the familiarity of someone who has spent hours at a time spinning the reels. I even did that before you could simply cash out a ticket and stop playing for a restroom break.

Yes, there was a time, kids, when hundreds of dollars in credits had to be cashed out in the form of buckets of coins, and there never were enough coins in the hopper to cash out quickly. You had to wait for a slot attendant, normally some doddering guy about a hundred years old, to lug a sack of quarters or dollar tokens across a vast casino floor to refill the hopper, after which he would fill out more paperwork than normally required for a mortgage, before you could finish your cash-out task.

Needless to say, if it was a restroom emergency, the situation could turn ugly.

But to get back to my original point, I believe the effect on the casino industry of Britain’s departure from the European Union will be... No, wait.

That wasn’t my original point. It was the sports betting thing. Yes, as I was saying, I know about things like slot machines and restroom breaks from personal experience. When I write about blackjack, it’s because I’ve seen dealer cards totaling 21 more times than I can count. Craps? Hey, I’ve heard the term “seven out” more than I’ve heard the term “hello.”

Not really. I’ve only been a craps player less than 10 years, which for me, sadly, is the blink of an eye. More on that later.

The point I’m making via this excruciatingly circuitous route is that, when it comes to sports betting and internet casinos, I must admit to being a novice. Even though Las Vegas has been something of a second home to me, I have made precisely two wagers on sporting events in the 35-plus years I’ve been writing about casinos.

Both wagers were on my Steelers to win.

My Steelers lost both times. So naturally, I deduced that it was my wager that caused the losses, and never wagered on sports again.

I’ve been similarly slow to dive into the internet gaming craze. I always loved going to casinos. Somehow, playing blackjack online, in my pajamas over corn flakes at my kitchen table, has thus far not caught my fancy. (I do enjoy walking into the high-end gaming parlor at Borgata in my pajamas, though. Oh, the looks I get!) Besides, I like to wave bye-bye to my cash as the guy plunges it into the netherworld under the gaming table.

Also, I love having lots of chips in front of me (as rare an occasion as that is). I don’t even want to “color up.” I’d rather have enough chips to dive into, like Scrooge McDuck did in his vault in the old comic books. You can’t do that with virtual chips.

Still, as I learn more about internet casinos, and online sports betting in particular, I can see how people are having tons of fun betting on games. I can see how much of a blast in-play wagering is—watching a game while throwing a few bucks down on who will score the next touchdown or the next goal, or hit the next home run.

Also, you’ve got to love the lingo.

This is something I experienced when I was still learning how to play craps. I remember not having a clue what “Horn-high yo!” was, but betting it anyway just because it sounded cool. Researching the world of sports betting is yielding similar cool-sounding lingo. Before I even place a wager, I’m looking for the lowest juice—minus-110, baby!— watching for the lines to move, beating the spread, betting the dog, avoiding the squares, and looking for what the sharps and wiseguys are laying down.

It’s enough to transform a regular trade-magazine editor into a cigar-chomping, fedora-wearing, crusty old handicapper.

(Is that the right term?)

By the way, I have one piece of extremely good news to send your way this month: I will not be writing a single word about the coronavirus.

I’m too busy washing my hands like there’s no tomorrow.

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CUTTING EDGE

by Frank Legato

Managing Compliance PRODUCT: ComplianceCore MANUFACTURER: CasinoSoft

asinoSoft’s scalable ComplianceCore platform is revolutionizing the way casino compliance manages the AML, KYC, and Title 31 compliance process through deployment of a modern and intuitive user interface, automating the tracking of currency-based transactions and anomalous player behavior.

In addition to being modern in appearance and intuitive to use, the ComplianceCore platform was architected with an open API to integrate with all casino system providers, eliminating integration constraints and interoperability issues. ComplianceCore is installed on premise and deployed through the browser.

Data resides securely within the walls of the casino. Software updates are easy to manage from the server level. Upon the completion of updates, each work station updates simultaneously, promoting continuity while eliminating workflow disruption. The ease of updates and lack of burden on the IT department allows ComplianceCore to be updated multiple times a year as CasinoSoft provides the latest functionality avail-

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able based on both FinCEN guidance and feedback we receive from partner casinos.

As an industry first-in-class, ComplianceCore’s TaxForm module is architected to support a mobile app on the iOS platform, automating tax document processing in real time. For example, if a player wins a jackpot or prize in a promotion, all corresponding tax documentation can be presented on a tablet to be completed and submitted on the spot, complete with electronic signatures.

Currently, ComplianceCore is available across North America, and is scalable to support individual locations as well as enterprise-size customers with multiple locations across multiple states with disparate reporting requirements.

For more information on the ComplianceCore platform, stop by Booth 1103 at NIGA, or to schedule a demonstration, call 303-709-9769, or visit casinosoftusa.com.

Flexible Kiosk PRODUCT: Lusk Kiosk MANUFACTURER: Phi Gaming

he Lush loyalty kiosk and software platform by Phi Gaming is built on open HTML5 architecture allowing unrivaled flexibility to integrate into casino management systems of any property’s choosing. Moreover, the Lush platform allows casino marketing the capability to offer virtual or physical drawings, swipe-and-win promotions, earn-and-get promotions, sports pick’ems, event pick’ems, and customizable games.

The breadth of built-in options allows the operator to tailor its loyalty program in accordance with a targeted marketing strategy by allowing rewards and promotions to be segmented by player category, while driving loyalty and adding to the overall guest experience.

In addition to providing players access to their rewards account and promotion eligibility in real time, the Lush Kiosks are open 24/7 and provide guests the opportunity to make decisions on how they want to be rewarded for their patronage.

Proprietary to the Lush Kiosk platform is a fully inte-

T

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grated module called Earn & Shop. Earn & Shop allows casino patrons to redeem points or comps for merchandise of their choosing. For example, patrons can choose from 500,000 SKUs of inventory that is available in real time and for redemption on the Lush Kiosk. Once a reward is chosen, the merchandise can either ship to the casino or to the player’s front door. Also, the casino has the flexibility to load its own brand-centric content or amenities for player redemption.

The Lush AdPlus module is a tool that allows casino operators the ability to monetize their kiosks with pre-packaged and selectable advertising impressions. Also, operators can create their own ad impressions with an emphasis on branding as well as resort-specific outlets and amenities. The AdPlus module creates a joint revenue stream to offset or eliminate the cost of the kiosk.

For more information, stop by NIGA 2020 Booth 231, contact Phi Gaming at 702-560-2680 to speak with an account executive, or visit tryphi.com.

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EMERGING LEADERS Putting the Trust in Trust Lands Ryan Sawyer Vice President/Project Manager, Analytical Environmental Services f anything in the gaming industry can be credibly compared to squaring a circle, it’s the tribal land-into-trust process, which can be a byzantine endeavor. Just consider the stakeholders involved: the applicant tribe and associated officials and agencies, the host city and host county agencies, state and federal agencies, opposing tribes, and concerned local landowners, businesses and members of the general public.

If anyone can square the circle and bring light to a project, it’s Ryan Sawyer at Analytical Environmental Services (AES).

Sawyer has a B.A. in environmental studies and geography from University California Santa Barbara and AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) certification. As project manager at AES, Sawyer has had tremendous success ensuring that trust applications meet the standards of the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Since joining AES in 2005 as an environmental planner and analyst, Sawyer has worked on more than 30 tribal gaming development projects across the country. Her primary role is to facilitate compliance with environmental laws at the federal level, and those in tribal-state compacts.

One of her most memorable projects involved the Spokane Tribe of Indians’ Airway Heights casino, which was the first Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Sawyer managed from start to finish. It required extensive coordination with multiple stakeholders. “The diverse perspectives and input from local resource agencies really added value to the process,” she says, “and helped to reduce the environmental footprint of the project.”

Her work also involves intensive public outreach. An EIS process begins with a scoping document, which describes items to be addressed in the analysis. Sawyer works with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to coordinate public hearings, where the scoping document is made available for public scrutiny. During a 30-day comment period, stakeholder organizations, businesses and individual citizens may request that additional issues be addressed by the EIS. Public comment periods are also open for draft and final versions of the EIS. The high-profile nature of tribal gaming projects means that EIS documents can elicit hundreds

I

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Hunger to Learn Lana Kotur Vice President of Customer Success, VizExplorer s she climbed the corporate ladder, Lana Kotur discovered she was often the youngest person in the room. She had to prove her credibility, and more than that, prove she deserved a seat at the table.

“That very feeling was a motivating factor for me. It drove me to always be the best prepared one in the room,” says Kotur, who was born and raised in Eastern Europe, then moved with her family to St. Louis when she was a teenager.

That motivation propelled Kotur through a series of gaming-related positions until she landed at VizExplorer four years ago. She now serves as the company’s vice president of customer success.

Customer success is slowly becoming a critical element of every organization, she says. “This function has a very simple role—providing value for both the customer and the company.”

VizExplorer gives Kotur a chance to utilize the skills she learned in more than nine years at Harrah’s St. Louis Casino and Hotel, where she worked in hotel administration, player development and food and beverage.

“Interestingly enough, in my early career I wanted to know everything about casino operations. I was curious and hungry to learn,” Kotur says.

She spent much of that time focused on different areas of casino marketing, building relationships and seeing that customers enjoyed their experience. Operational challenges enabled Kotur to transfer that knowledge more effectively, introducing new technology into day-to-day operations, for example.

“Relating to the end user in a way that spoke their language helped my credibility when standing in a room full of doubters,” she says.

While being the youngest in the room

A if not thousands of sometimes conflicting comments. The task of collecting, collating and addressing diverse perspectives is challenging, but “absolutely essential” to NEPA’s mandate that the public has informed access and input into federal agency decisions that could affect the environment.

Sawyer is encouraged by recent executive orders that have tended towards efficiency and expediency.

“We are seeing more projects moved through the NEPA environmental review process rather than waiting for extended periods of time for reviews to be completed,” she says.

Sawyer credits much of her professional development to working with other driven and talented individuals in the industry, including David Zweig, AES president, and various tribal law and NEPA attorneys, including Maria Wiseman, Chad Broussard, Susi Schaeffer, Scott Crowell, Mike Anderson and Matt Adams.

“I am very grateful to all of them for the guidance and mentorship that they have provided,” she says.

Outside her career, most of her energy goes to her family and raising two strong, independent little girls.

“We love getting outdoors and going on hikes or camping on the weekends,” she says. “I think the more exposure to nature children get, the more they inherently learn to value and respect it.”

—Tom Zitt, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, The Innovation Group

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“I learned the importance of relationship building and how to drive revenue by taking the time to know your customers, understand what drives them and create a unique experience for them.”

spurred Kotur’s drive, so did a series of mentors along the way.

Stephanie Richter, vice president of hotel operations at Bally's, Paris, and Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, gave Kotur the confidence to accept her first leadership role at the hotel front desk. “I was young and naïve enough to jump right into it,” she says. “I haven’t looked back since.”

Almost 20 years later, she still remembers the excitement—and the anxiety.

“I spent four years working alongside Stephanie, absorbing every bit of her style of leading, which set a strong foundation for the leader I am today. Stephanie also taught me to stop and have fun, show the human side of you,” says Kotur, who loves to travel and learn about the history and culture of others in the little spare time she has.

Peggy Rogers, a former vice president at VizExplorer, told Kotur it was time to discover the casino side of the business.

“I learned the importance of relationship building and how to drive revenue by taking the time to know your customers, understand what drives them and create a unique experience for them,” says Kotur.

When Kotur thinks about Bo Guidry, now general manager at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, she says his leadership taught her discipline and focus, and how to communicate in a very direct way.

“Bo was intimidating and inspiring at the same time,” she says. “I wanted to be the best at what I do and to make him proud. He is an influence in my career to this day.”

Kotur expects she’ll create a new generation of emerging leaders in the years to come.

“One of my passions is building teams and providing them with support to grow their careers,” says Kotur.

She works with industry veterans as well as those new to the business, and for the new ones, has three words of encouragement: “Go for it! This is an industry that thrives on networking and personal relationships. There have been times in my career that I considered changing paths and leaving the industry, but stayed for no other reason than that the opportunities are endless.”

—Bill Sokolic

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GOODS&SERVICES logue and research on governance, regulation and economic development issues.

NCRG NOW THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE GAMING

T San Manuel tribal officials Audrey Martinez and Lynn Valbuena present UNLV President Marta Meana with a ceremonial blanket

SAN MANUEL BAND OF CALIFORNIA GIVES $9 MILLION TO UNLV

T

he San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has given $9 million to the University of Nevada Las Vegas to fund education and innovation related to tribal gaming operations and law.

This gift—the largest out-of-state philanthropic gift that the California-based San Manuel Band has bestowed on an educational or health care institution—will support course development and an endowed chair at the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. It will also provide curricular, faculty and program support at the William S. Boyd School of Law. The historic agreement will, for the first time, infuse the unique elements of tribal gaming into the world’s leading hospitality and gaming program, and add a tribal gaming emphasis to the nation’s only master’s degree program in gaming law.

A $6 million portion of the gift will establish the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Endowed Chair in Tribal Gaming at the UNLV College of Hospitality. It will also enhance the college’s curriculum by incorporating tribal gaming into existing gaming courses, creating new on-campus and online degree-track courses in tribal gaming and developing a set of online certificate courses for community members and Native Americans across the nation who are interested in learning more about careers in tribal gaming operations.

The program, which will emphasize partnerships with other schools and tribes nationwide, will also host an annual, weeklong executive education seminar for tribal gaming professionals. The college plans to have faculty in place this fall, with the full tribal gaming program rollout anticipated by fall 2023.

At the UNLV Boyd School of Law, $3 million of the gift will support a professor in residence, a visiting professor and a program administrator, who will create opportunities for interdisciplinary dia-

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Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

he National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) has a new name that reflects its broader influence. In February, it announced its new name: the International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG).

ICRG Board “The globalization of the Chairman Alan work and mission of the Feldman ICRG will continue to develop the finest research and educational programs, aimed at reducing gambling-related harms worldwide,” said ICRG Board Chairman Alan Feldman.

Since 1996, the center has created a rigorous field of study of gambling disorder and responsible gaming. It is designed to further the mission of helping individuals and families affected by gambling disorder through scientific research and evidence-based educational programming.

ICRG-funded research has yielded more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, and has been cited more than 25,000 times in the scientific literature.

The ICRG’s most recent initiative is the Sports Wagering Research Fund, supported by the American Gaming Association, MGM Resorts International, William Hill US, GVC Holdings PLC, NASCAR, Hard Rock International, the PGA and IGT.

SCIENTIFIC GAMES, WILLIAM HILL EXTEND PARTNERSHIP

S

cientific Games Corp. and William Hill have agreed to extend their partnership for an additional four years, through 2024. Scientific Games will continue to provide its industry-leading OpenSports solutions to William Hill in the U.K. and Europe, building on a longstanding relationship since 2007.

This agreement expands on Scientific Games’ history with William Hill, and ensures that the two companies will continue to offer sportsbook and iGaming solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, William Hill will utilize Scientific

Games’ OpenSports solution on a modular basis.

This will enable William Hill to operate with greater speed and flexibility, and deploy proprietary products across multiple jurisdictions in Europe.

“By choosing Scientific Games, William Hill is reaffirming its commitment and belief in our products, services and team, and sending a message that we continue to be a source of competitive advantage for global industry leaders in all regulated markets,” said Jordan Levin, group chief executive, digital for Scientific Games. “We’re really building on one of our strongest relationships. The team at William Hill shares an ambition to create next-level player experiences, and together, across sports and iGaming, we’re making that a reality.”

EVERI INTRODUCES CABINETS, NEXT-GEN TOURNEVENT PLATFORM

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hree premier tribal casinos were the first to deploy the latest gaming hardware platforms and entertainment experiences from Everi Holdings Inc. The new Empire Flex cabinet, featuring Beast, recently debuted at Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, Louisiana. The new Empire DCX cabinet featuring The Mask-themed slot game debuted at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California.

And the TournEvent Now sit-and-go feature is now installed at Pala Casino in Pala, California.

“These first-to-market installations represent a significant milestone for Everi, and reflect our commitment to creating innovative hardware platforms on a consistent basis as set forth in our development roadmap,” said Dean Ehrlich, executive vice president and games business leader at Everi.

The Mask on Empire DCX. The Empire DCX premium video cabinet features dual-curved 43inch monitors with integrated edge lighting, a 4K display that provides a captivating player experience, enhanced game-controlled lighting, and premium 4.1 surround-sound. Players at Pechanga will experience an all-new slot game based on New Line Cinema’s 1994 hit comedy The Mask, which fol-

Everi Mask themed game

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lows the misadventures of bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss, who is transformed into a manic hero when he wears a mysterious mask.

Beast on Empire Flex. The Empire Flex cabinet, a new for-sale form factor with industry-unique lighting architecture, showcases a 49-inch flexed display with eye-popping 4K content, flexible integrated light bars and a larger enhanced glass button deck. Beast brings majestic and ferocious beasts to life. It gives players 1,024 different ways to win with immersive 4K visual engagement and innovative horizontal expanding reels.

TournEvent Now. Simplicity and flexibility are at the heart of Everi’s TournEvent Now sitand-go feature, an upgrade for existing Core HDX TournEvent banks and part of the next iteration of the industry-leading slot tournament system. This all-new feature offers operators a significantly easier approach to managing round one qualifying events, in which players can compete at their own pace and on their own time, effectively moving themselves through the first round of tournaments without the need for casino staff or formal events.

RW LAS VEGAS NAMES KONAMI MANAGEMENT PARTNER

R

esorts World Las Vegas last month announced the selection of Konami Gaming, Inc. as its exclusive gaming system management partner.

Konami’s award-winning Synkros system will streamline, manage and optimize the $4.3 billion resort’s gaming operations by converting meaningful data into actionable information. The system will provide the resort with powerful marketing, communications and tracking tools, designed to increase player engagement through individually customized incentives. It will assess and optimize real-time casino performance through detailed reporting and visual analytics, and manage accounting, slot and

table operations, among other capabilities.

Scheduled to open in summer 2021, Resorts World Las Vegas will be the first resort on the Las Vegas Strip to integrate the full suite of tools available through Synkros’ comprehensive enterprise software license throughout its 110,000-squarefoot, next-generation casino floor.

Through the partnership, Resorts World Las Vegas and Konami will collaborate to bring a complete array of marketing solutions to the property, including first-to-market technology, while simultaneously enhancing the player experience through key benefits, including cashless wagering, mobile account management, loyalty and bonus awards and more.

“Reinventing the hospitality experience in Las Vegas means enhancing our service measures and boosting customer engagement through every touch point of the Resorts World Las Vegas experience, including gaming,” said Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas. “Through this partnership with Konami and the implementation of Synkros, we will have the ability to connect with players in real time, to provide the most cutting-edge, personalized gaming experience.”

PA BOARD LAUNCHES PROBLEM GAMING WEBSITE

I

n recognition of March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) introduced a new responsible gaming website that will promote resources to help people with gambling problems.

As part of an effort to raise awareness of problem and compulsive gambling and provide professionals and individuals with information, the PGCB’s updated, user-friendly website provides information on how to recognize the warning signs of a gambling problem, and where to find treatment options in Pennsylvania.

The website address is responsibleplay.pa.gov. It also can be accessed via a link on the homepage of the PGCB’s website, gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.

Information on problem gambling treatment and other resources also is available by calling 1-800GAMBLER. During Problem Gambling Awareness Month, staff with the PGCB’s Office of Compulsive and

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Problem Gambling along with their partners, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, the Pennsylvania Lottery and the Council on Compulsive and Problem Gambling, were available at events in Harrisburg, Trevose and Pittsburgh.

i2C, SIGHTLINE PARTNER FOR OMNICHANNEL OFFERING

D

igital banking and payments firm i2c has partnered with Sightline Payments to deliver cashless, mobile and omnichannel programs to more than

45 gaming resorts, state lotteries, and digital gaming and sports betting sites across eight states.

Founded in 2010, Sightline provides payment services to MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the Oregon and Pennsylvania state lotteries, Churchill Downs, Golden Nugget online, DraftKings, FanDuel, William Hill, and Rush Street sports, among others.

The Sightline platform integrates with the i2c agile processing vehicle and APIs to deliver Play+, a cashless solution that gives gaming operators the ability to move money in real time between tables, slots and kiosks. A value card gives VIP guests immediate access to winnings. The card is reloadable and can be used on any service (gaming, hospitality, entertainment and ATMs) at resorts, both brick-and-mortar and online.

Sightline also integrated Smart Money, a program that works with guests’ iOS and Android mobile devices at retailers.

GALAXY GAMING TO BUY iGAMING FIRM PGP

G

alaxy Gaming, Inc., a developer and distributor of casino table games and enhanced systems, will buy 100 percent of the equity interests in Progressive Games Partners LLC (PGP). PGP owns the worldwide online rights to a comprehensive suite of proprietary casino table games.

Since signing its first license agreement with Cryptologic in 2003, PGP has worked with leading online operators and platform providers. An integral part of its success is founded on its exclusive online distribution rights for Galaxy’s gaming content, as well as other games, including Perfect Pairs and Caribbean Stud Poker, through its other licensors.

Pursuant to the purchase agreement, Galaxy will pay $12.425 million to acquire all the equity interests in PGP. At least $6.425 million will be paid in cash, and the rest in shares of Galaxy common stock valued at $1.91 per share, according to a news release.

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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PEOPLE MURREN EXITS MGM

J

ames Murren, MGM Resorts International’s chairman and CEO, announced in February that he would be stepping down after 22 years with the company, 12 of them as its leader. During his tenure Jim Murren with MGM, Murren oversaw the development of CityCenter in Las Vegas, MGM Cotai in Macau, MGM National Harbor in Maryland, and MGM Springfield in Massachusetts.

As a reward for leaving, Murren’s exit package will total around $32 million, including a $2 million salary, $4 million in bonuses, a $7 million “equity award” and a $12 million severance payment.

He’ll also receive $575,000 a month next year for providing consulting services to the company.

Like all companies with a presence in Asia— and most gaming companies in general—MGM Resorts has taken a hit in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus.

But 2019 proved a good year overall for MGM. Company stock has climbed around 17 percent, as Murren’s management team responded energetically to increasing pressure from activist investors, launching a program of massive corporatewide cost cuts, which was expected to boost EBITDA by $300 million through 2021.

MGM also sold most of its remaining resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, in a series of deals expected to net the company more than $8 billion in cash— funds management will use to continue to buy back stock, pay down some of its $15 billion of debt, and pursue a mega-resort in Japan.

Murren will remain with the company until a successor is found, and will then remain as a consultant for the rest of 2021.

NOVOMATIC CEO RESIGNS

N

ovomatic CEO Harald Neumann announced his resignation last month for family reasons, effective immediately. Neumann had Harald Neumann served as Novomatic’s leader for the past six years, and led the impressive growth of the European manufacturing giant. He was appointed CEO in October 2014 after serving as the leader of Novomatic subsidiary Austrian Gaming Industries.

Although he’s leaving immediately, Neumann

will remain on the company’s advisory board and consult on its planned international expansion.

There was no announcement about his successor, and reports quickly surfaced that he may not be replaced, but have his duties assumed by current COO Ryszard Presch and CFO Johannes Gratzl.

Novomatic recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, with more than 255,000 gaming and video lottery terminals in operation around the world. The company employs in excess of 30,000 people and has sales totaling approximately €2.6 billion.

PENNSYLVANIA CASINO SHAKES UP LEADERSHIP

W

ind Creek Bethlehem in Pennsylvania recently announced changes in top management, part of a leadership shakeup in the wake of the casino’s purchase from Las Vegas Sands by Wind Creek Hospitality, a branch of Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Carr, who headed the casino when it was Sands Bethlehem and oversaw its sale to Wind Creek Hospitality, left his position in February.

Kathy McCracken, formerly Kathy McCracken executive VP of marketing and operations, was promoted to the top post.

McCracken, a veteran of casino operations, marketing and systems, is the first woman to hold the top post at the casino, which was headed by Robert DeSalvio, Douglas Neighold and Mark Juliano before Carr took the job in mid-2017.

WONG REAPPOINTED SANDS CHINA PRESIDENT

S

ands China has reappointed Wilfred Wong as the company’s president in a series of executive moves that saw Grant Chum named chief operating officer and Dylan James Williams assuming the post of general counsel and retaining the position of secretary.

Wong, 67, a Hong Kong businessman, has served as president of Las Vegas Sands’ Macau casino subsidiary since 2015. He also was COO. He will continue to exercise overall leadership of the company, Wilfred Wong while focusing on its strategic objectives in Macau and the greater Pearl River Delta region, Hong Kong-listed Sands China said.

Prior to joining the company, Wong was involved in the property development and construction sectors in Hong Kong, where he holds a number of high-profile positions in the city’s film

industry and also serves as chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Public Administration.

Chum, 44, worked in Hong Kong’s financial sector for more than a decade before joining Sands China in 2013 as senior vice president of global gaming strategy, and later, chief of staff.

Williams, 44, a veteran of the telecom, media and technology sectors in the South China, joined the company in 2006 as debt compliance manager, and has served in several positions, most recently as senior vice president of legal. He has been company secretary since 2017.

DRAFTKINGS NAMES DIRECTOR OF RESPONSIBLE GAMING

C

hristine Thurmond, a former senior business contributor at the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, has been named the first director of responsible gaming at DraftKings.

Thurmond will “lead the expansion of DraftKings’ already robust responsible gaming framework for its iGaming, sportsbook, and fantasy sports products,” according to a DraftKings news release.

She spent almost 20 years at Harvard Medical School in various leadership positions, and was involved with the group that created its Division of Addiction.

GGB

April 2020 Index of Advertisers

AGEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 AGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Casino Player Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Casino Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Emerging Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Everi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 FABICash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Fantini Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Fox Rothschild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 G2E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Gaming Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Gary Platt Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 GGB News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 ICE NA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 iGaming Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 IGT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 21, 67, 43 Incredible Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 IT Technology Solutions (BetConstruct) . . .33 J Carcamo & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Kambi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Konami Gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 OIGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Scientific Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7, 11, 49 SuzoHapp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 TransAct Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 UNLV Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

APRIL 2020 www.ggbmagazine.com

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CASINO COMMUNICATIONS

Q

&A

Per Jaldung CEO, Casino Cosmopol AB, and Chairman, European Casino Association

T

he last several years have been challenging for Per Jaldung and the European Casino Association (ECA), which he chairs. While gaming in Jaldung’s native Sweden hasn’t changed much, the rest of Europe has experienced a sea change, both in online and land-based gaming.

Jaldung explains how regulatory changes have affected his members, who focus largely on landbased casinos, and why issues with online gaming, bookmakers and gaming taxes are beyond his control.

He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros at the ICE trade show in London in February. To hear a full podcast of this interview, where Jaldung discusses money laundering, online gaming and European competition, visit GGBMagazine.com.

GGB: Give us a little background on the European Casino Association.

Per Jaldung: The European Casino Association

has been around for about 15 years. It started as a loose network of casino operators, and has developed into more of a professional trade organization, year by year. It is built on the membership of 30 European countries. It’s more than just European Union countries. It’s also a couple of countries outside the European Union. But we are all united in the common interest of the land-based casino industry, and the regulation of this industry.

We speak for about 1,000 casinos in Europe.

Let’s talk about the image of the gaming industry in Europe. There’s been a lot of negative publicity about the gaming industry; some studies found that about 75 percent of all media coveage is negative. Why?

I don’t know the number, but it does not surprise me. The absolute majority of articles are negative at this point. And most of the time, the articles are about lack of responsible gambling and money laundering problems. It’s not only on the local level, where the regulators are working with the industry, it’s also on the pan-European level, where 66

Global Gaming Business APRIL 2020

there are different opinions on how gambling should be regulated.

There are some parts of the industry, like the online industry, that would like to have a harmonization and a European licensing system, where they can operate across all countries. But the regime right now—the decision that’s been made in the European Union—states very clearly that each country has the right to regulate and make laws about gambling, on the national level. And that’s a principle the ECA defends. We want each country to be able to manage its own gambling, depending on the culture, history, and relation to gambling.

A complicated part of the European industry is that there are many different parts. You represent land-based casinos, but as you mentioned, there’s an online industry, a betting-shop industry, not to mention the lottery, which is always a very big part of the industry here. Is there a chance everybody can get together and speak with the same voice?

On some subjects, for sure. You know, we are open to speaking with everyone, and also to debate with everyone. We don’t need to agree on everything, but certainly on some areas we definitely can join forces. We all agree about fighting crime in the industry. Nobody wants that.

“We are not trying to fight regulation in any way. We need regulation. But we need fair regulation, a level playing field, and the respect of the law. That’s all.”

The American Gaming Association has reached out to tell the good news about the industry— the taxes produced, jobs created, community involvement, those kind of things. Has the European Casino Association endeavored to do that as well?

Yes, we have, actually—we’re in the middle of an information campaign right now. I really think that the land-based, regulated and licensed industry has done a tremendous job creating value in society. Not only job opportunities, but also a lot of tax money, or surplus, if it’s a governmentowned company, which it is, in some cases.

So, a lot of times the casino in a community is really an economic and financial motor, with a lot of different services that it attracts.

And responsible gaming? Is everybody on the same page with that?

In the U.K., there seems to be a pretty big crackdown going on, and a lot of fears of overregulation that will impact all parts of the industry, not just the casino end. How are the regulators approaching that, and how are you approaching the regulators?

Everybody’s on the same page, but then it’s a question of ambition. I would say that in the land-based industry, which goes 100 years back, we have a lot of experience in this field, and we have worked with it for a very long time. I know there are companies also, in other parts of the industry, that do a tremendous job in this area.

But there are also examples where this is not sufficient at all. And it’s more window-dressing and whitewashing going on. But the politicians and the regulators and the media, they can see through this.

We are very happy to consult regulators, lawmakers and other stakeholders, and we do that in a lot of different cases. We are all involved in a lot of policy work, in the EU institutions, with good contacts. And we feel that they are listening to our voice.

We are not trying to fight regulation in any way. We need regulation. But we need fair regulation, a level playing field, and the respect of the law. That’s all. Everybody that has a license, we are happy to talk to and work with anyone, for the good of this industry.

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