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Global Gaming Business Magazine Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Slot Floor Decisions The ongoing debate between purchased and leased slot machines EKG SLOT AWARDS LONG SHOT’S OWNERALYSE COHEN THE ARRIVAL OF AI RESORTS WORLD’S ALEX DIXON The Cashless Solution Brazil Bonanza? Land-based casinos closer in Brazil Koinand Marker Trax establish the model for complete cashless payments, not just in the casino, but throughout the resort APRIL 2025 Vol. 24 •No. 4 •$10Vol. 24 • No. 4 COLUMNS CONTENTS april 3 COVER STORY 32 The Coming of AI While nearly everyone agrees that artificial intelligence will soon influence every corner of gaming operations, the technology is still evolving. 34 Best of the Slots Aristocrat, IGT and Light & Wonder dominate the sixth annual EKG Slot Awards. APRIL 2025 www.ggbmagazine.com 10 Protecting States’ Rights 12 Look to the Leaders 4 6 8 13 30 38 40 43 44 49 50 DEPARTMENTS FEATURES Global Gaming Business Magazine 14 To Buy or Lease Slot operators and manufacturers weigh in on the longstanding debate over leasing slots on recurring-revenue deals versus buying the games outright, and the benefits of each model. 18 Brazil on the Brink After years of anticipation, Brazil appears to be ready to move forward on land-based integrated gaming resorts, launching a major new casino market. 26 Equestrian Pedigree Alyse Cohen’s family background in the horse-racing business serves her well as head of Maryland’s first 100-percent woman-owned retail gambling site. Cashless Complete The sister companies Koin and Marker Trax are building the future of cashless transactions at casino resorts, with technology that digitizes markers and provides for cashless wagering at the tables or the slots—and ultimately, across the resort.4 Vol. 24 • No. 4 • APRIL 2025 Frank Legato, Editor-in-Chief flegato@ggbmagazine.com Robin Harrison, Publisher robin.harrison-millan@clariongaming.com Roger Gros, Publisher Emeritus rgros@ggbmagazine.com Jess Marquez, Managing Editor jmarquez@ggbmagazine.com Gary Rotstein, Copy Chief gary.rotstein@clarionevents.com Monica Cooley, Art Director mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com Columnists Chris Cylke |Frank Fantini Contributing Editors Kevin Dennis |Kyle Goldsmith |Marjorie Preston Bill Sokolic |Kathy Urban ______________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Official Publication T he war on illegal sweepstakes casinos is going well. At least seven states in the U.S. have passed or are considering pass- ing legislation banning sweepstakes casinos. The attorneys general in other states have issued “cease and desist” orders that are actually being obeyed. The American Gaming Association has sweepstakes casinos in its crosshairs, and is encouraging not only state but federal action as well. But while that was happening, prediction markets have slid under the radar, and according to these exchange markets, they are legal in all 50 states. We really began to notice prediction markets in the runup to the 2024 elections in the U.S. You can’t legally bet on elections on any U.S. sportsbook or even the sweepstakes casinos, but the exchange sites that take prediction bets were openly taking wagers on Trump vs. Harris and encouraging these kinds of bets in public places, like billboards on the Las Vegas Strip. Being in the business, I opened up accounts in almost all operational legal iGaming sites in New Jersey, where I live during the summer. I don’t have that option in Nevada, where I live for the balance of the year, because online gam- ing is not legal in that state. But according to the exchanges, they are legal. So what the heck, in Nevada last month I signed up for the leading exchange site, Kalshi, and five minutes later I was placing bets, or more accurately I was creating a financial instru- ment that would pay off if I was correct. Now, signing up for legal online betting usually takes at least 20 minutes. You must pro- vide a form of identification, swear that you are located in the state where you are betting, down- load a geolocation app just to be sure, and figure out how to make a deposit. For sweepstakes casinos, it’s even more com- plicated because in addition to the ID and geolocation, you have to figure out how to tran- sition from gold coins to sweepstakes coins and back again. And God forbid you want to with- draw. That takes days to get money that you are entitled to—at least according to the sweep- stakes site. The ease with which I could sign up for Kalshi surprised me. And then when you want to sign in, there’s no two-factor process. Just punch in your phone passcode and you’re in. The range of finan- cial instruments you can purchase is indeed impressive. You can bet on politics—who will Trump par- don in his first 100 days?—sports—not as wide a variety of bets as a real sportsbook, but general things like who will win the NBA title—the weather—what will the high temperature be in New York City tomorrow?—financial data—what will be the U.S. GDP growth in Q1?—entertain- ment—what song will sit atop the Billboard Top 200 on March 15?—and many more. As I’m writing this, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Kalshi. It’s unclear what Kalshi will do, but Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, in a post on LinkedIn, said the company was “disappointed” in the Nevada order, stressing that the company has jumped through multiple regulatory hoops over the past three years to be certain that the product is legal and regulated. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a quasi-government agency, oversees these kinds of financial instruments, and initially turned down Kalshi’s plans for sports betting and prediction instruments, but later relented. “But the fight wasn’t done,” Mansour wrote on LinkedIn. “Our next step was the election market. After years of engaging with the CFTC, they rejected it. Again, we stayed true to our principle: instead of going around regulations or going off- shore, we decided to ask federal courts to weigh in. The courts sided with us because we were right on the law. We freed prediction markets, took them mainstream, and won big.” So I have a different view of Kalshi and similar sites than I do with sweepstakes casinos. Sweepstakes casinos use legal trickery to get around the law, while prediction companies claim to be regulated like any other financial institution would be. But the truth is they are not regulated the same way legal online casinos are. They have no licenses, no KYC, no RG programs. So where do we go from here? Existential Threat BY ROGER GROS, PUBLISHER EMERITUS Global Gaming Business APRIL 2025 THEAGENDA Winning isn’t just a result—it’s an art form. At Good Giant, we’ve spent decades working with premier gaming and hospitality brands that play to win. We’re here to blaze trails to new insights, to redefine best practices, and to come up with ideas that’ll leave your competitors saying, “Wish I’d thought of that.” MOBILE | RENO | TULSA | CHICAGO GOODGIANT.COM Advertising that wins.6 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2025 BYTHENUMBERS a January study from Dr. Sally Gainsbury and colleagues from the University of Sydney titled “Understanding Electronic Gaming Ma- chine Players” surveyed 204 individuals who had played poker machines (pokies) in the previous 30 days at a “large EGM venue in Western Syd- ney.” The study sought to gain insight into playing habits and attitudes toward responsible gaming tools. Included in the study was a question with 201 respondents regard- ing the practice of sticking to budgets when playing. According to the graph, 28 percent of respondents say they “sometimes” keep budgets, the highest of any group. The next highest was 24 percent for the “al- most always” category. Notably, the categories for “never” sticking to budgets and “never setting budgets at all” were identical, with each gar- nering 8 percent of respondents. In addition, a follow-up question was asked regarding how satisfied respondents were with their gambling activities. Authors noted 69 per- cent of respondents who indicated that they were “very satisfied” with their gambling also reported “always” or “almost always” sticking to budgets. Meanwhile, 38 percent of those who were “dissatisfied” with their gambling said they “rarely” or “never” stick to budgets. tell us how you really feel o n February 5, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced its intention to host a roundtable discussion on the advent of prediction markets, the controversial futures exchanges through which investors—or bettors—can purchase contracts tied to the outcome of certain events. Last fall, it began with election contracts, but over the winter the markets began offering sports contracts, thus eliciting strong opposition from the regulated gaming industry. The CFTC opened a public comment period for submissions and has since made those submissions public. As of writing, there have been 24 total submissions that have been released. The vast majority (13) came from gaming tribes or tribal groups, and these were spread throughout the U.S. All tribal submissions touched on similar argu- ments, those being infringements on both tribal sovereignty and exclu- sivity for gaming. There were very few industry representatives that submitted com- ments, other than the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Geo- Comply. The AGA was neutral on prediction markets when they offered election betting but has since come out against them, now that they have entered into sports contracts. The only responsible gaming-related group to submit was the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, but its submission actually argued in favor of the markets, saying that the concerns that apply to regulated sports betting and iGaming wouldn’t be applicable to this new type of asset exchange. From a business perspective, there’s a chance that bookmakers and suppliers could be assessing potential opportunities within the sector— after all, the markets are federally legal and there’s nothing preventing them from also entering the space if their legality is cemented. frequency of respondents per frequency of KeepIng to the budget publIc comment submIssIons regardIng predIctIon marKets trIbes/trIbal groups: 13 IndIvIdual companIes: 5 non-trIbal polIcy/lobbyIng groups: 3 IndIvIduals: 38 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2025 CALENDAR “TheyIt” 5QUESTIONS S teve Sutherland has been an executive of slot supplier Konami Gaming, Inc. for more than 24 years, in- cluding seven years as president and chief executive officer. Sutherland has worked with one of the longest-tenured management teams in the supply sector to keep Konami among the top five slot manufac- turers and consistently near the top of industry surveys in game performance. In October, Sutherland re- ceived the AGEM Jens Halle Memorial Award for Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism. He sat down with GGB Editor-in-Chief Frank Legato at the ICE conference and trade show in Barcelona in January. To hear and view a full version of this GGB Podcast, visit GGBMagazine.com. GGB: Congratulations on receiving AGEM’s Jens Halle Award. What do you consider the high points of achievement during the career that led to your award? Sutherland: In one of the most memorable achievements, we started from ground zero. We had to get licensing started with Nevada and then commence pursuing other jurisdictions, so the Nevada Gaming license started everything... Today, we’re licensed in every major jurisdiction around the world from a game standpoint, and we’re successful. A trend at Konami over the years has been stability in the executive team. To what do you attribute your own longevity at Konami? I had the unique opportunity, when I joined Konami, to build out the team, and we were very selective on the people that we were bringing in. These people have been at my side. The longest-tenured person’s been at my side for 24 years. We are a team. We work very closely together. We’re very open-door with our em- ployees coming in. At any point in time, they can come see me, and they’re welcomed in. We have a very open culture, and it’s all about fulfilling our commitment to the customer base, and fulfilling our commit- ment to our shareholders. Another thing that’s set Konami apart among slot suppliers is its legendary amusement lines. How important has it been to tap into that expertise? Konami is a conglomerate of multiple divisions, and we’ve had the ability over time to pull in talent from the amusement side and the consumer software side. I’m not talking about pulling game content, but the (strength) of the gaming and system business was in that ability to pull development talent from the amuse- ment division. They’re responsible for developing a lot of the core content that you’ve seen over the past few years that has been performing better than some... The key has been that ability to pull that raw engineering talent, as we have access to those groups as need be. Your Synkros casino management system has drawn praise across the industry. Is that footprint still growing? We have grown over the years from the initial couple thousand connections to going on 140,000. We have adapted a system that was designed to handle a small route operation to the world’s largest casino. We have stepped very heavily into the biometric field with SYNK Vision. We’re trying to make it easier to communi- cate with the floor personnel immediately on certain actions that have to take place. Konami has been near the top of the slot market in terms of market share and ship share for years. What do you think is most important going forward? It’s very simple: Our employees are focused on our customers, and on delivering quality product... We have to have that undying commitment to providing good products. That is the focus. We’re an R&D company first. We need great product. At times we don’t hit that, but if you’re humble and you fulfill your commit- ments, good products come out. That’s the reason for success. And that’s why I show up every day. 1 2 3 4 5 Steve Sutherland March 10-12: SiGMA Africa , GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World, Cape Town, South Africa. Produced by SiGMA Group. For more information, visit sigma.world/africa. March 12-13: NEXT Summit New York 2025, Convene, New York City, New York. Produced by NEXT.io. For more information, visit next.io/summits/newyork. March 31-April 3: Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California. Produced by the Indian Gaming Association. For more information, visit indiangamingtradeshow.com. April 15-16: East Coast Gaming Congress, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Produced by Spectrum Gaming Group. For more information, visit eastcoastgamingcongress.com. May 7-9: Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia, the Venetian Macao, Macau, China. Produced by RX. For more information, visit g2easia.com. May 13-15: SBC Summit Americas ,Broward County Convention Center, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Produced by SBC Events. For more information, visit sbcevents.com.AT IGA BOOTH #741 // ©2025 PlayAGS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All ® notices signify marks registered in the United States. All ™ and ℠ notices signify unregistered trademarks. See the products. Meet the gang. PlayAGS.comNext >