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DECEMBER 2025 • Vol. 24 • No. 12 • $10 Global Gaming Business Magazine SELF-SERVICE KIOSKS THE NCLGS WINTER MEETING GEOCOMPLY’S KIP LEVIN Rob Goldstein’s Next Act Association of Gaming Equipment Manufactuers The outgoing chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands reflects on his career and future 10 TRENDS FOR 2026 Our annual evaluation of 10 gaming industry trendsDECEMBER 2025 www.ggbmagazine.com 3 Global Gaming Business Magazine CONTENTS december 14 Macau Do-Over With new industry and attractions, the Chinese SAR hopes to evolve from a gaming mecca to a global tourism center. By Marjorie Preston 18 Trending for 2026 Our annual rundown of the Top 10 gaming trends for the coming year examines M&A activity, tax and regulatory issues, anti-money laundering efforts, new developments in sports betting, dominant trends in slot game design and more. By Patrick Evans, Roger Gros, Kyle Goldsmith, Robin Harrison, Frank Legato, Marjorie Preston, and Matt Rybaltowski COLUMNS 10 AGA Reflecting on 202 Joe Maloney 12 Fantini’s Finance What Business Are You In? Frank Fantini 32 NCLGS NCLGS Winter Meeting Juliann Barreto DEPARTMENTS 4 The Agenda 6 By the Numbers 8 5 Questions 13 AGEM Update 41 Frankly Speaking 42 Emerging Leaders With Aristocrat’s Alex Walsh, BMM’s Maria Romero de Alba, and Caesars Entertainment’s Shannon Wright 44 New Game Review 47 Goods & Services 49 People 50 Casino Communications With Kip Levin, Chief Executive Office, GeoComply FEATURES Vol. 24 • No. 12 30 Get to Know Betr Betr serves the casual sports betting audience with an app founder Joey Levy calls “simple, intuitive and fun.” By Kathy Urban 38 Serve Thyself Self-service kiosks have evolved into one-stop service on the casino floor that ha eliminated all those long lines. By Frank Legato Golden Years As Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Rob Goldstein prepares to transition to the role of senior advisor in March, he looks back on a career of twists, turns and triumphs in an exclusive interview. By Roger Gros 34 COVER STORY4 Global Gaming Business DECEMBER 2025 A Predictions Prediction Vol. 24 • No. 12 • DECEMBER 2025 GGB Frank Legato, Editor-in-Chief flegato@ggbmagazine.com Robin Harrison, Publisher robin.harrison-millan@clariongaming.com Roger Gros, Editor-at-Large rgros@ggbmagazine.com Marjorie Preston, Managing Editor mpreston@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 Frank Fantini • Joe Maloney • Juliann Barreto Contributing Editors Patrick Evans • Kyle Goldsmith • Alex Goldstein Matt Rybaltowski • Bill Sokolic • Kathy Urban _____ EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni, President, Armeni Enterprises • Dike Bacon, Principal/Partner, HBG Design • Lauren Bates, President, Global Gaming Women • Mark A. Birtha, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Hard Rock International • Brendan Bussmann, Principal, BGlobal Advisors • Alex Dixon, Senior Advisor, Board of Directors, Resorts World Las Vegas • Daron Dorsey, Executive Director, Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers • Sally Gainsbury, Director at Gambling Treatment & Research Clinic & Professor of Psychology, University of Sydney • Stephen Martino, Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, MGM Resorts International • Bill Miller, President and CEO, American Gaming Association • Walt Power, CEO, Grand Ho Tram • Rob Russell, Senior Gaming Analyst, Regulatory Management Counselors PC • James Siva, Chairman, California Nations Indian Gaming Association/ Vice Chairman, Morongo Band of Mission Indians • Michael Soll, President, The Innovation Group • Kresimir Spajic, CEO, Allwyn Digital • Katherine Spilde, Executive Director, Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming, San Diego State University —————— GGB Magazine 702-248-1565 • 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 2025 Clarion Digital Media LLC GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS is published monthly by Clarion Gaming International, LLC. Printed in Nevada, USA. Email: subscriptions@ggbmagazine.com Official Publication BY ROGER GROS, EDITOR-AT-LARGE THE AGENDACHICAGO • LAS VEGAS • MOBILE • RENO • TULSA GOODGIANT.COM Winning the season is about more than just making spirits bright. It’s about setting you up for long-term success with marketing solutions that’ll bring plenty of jingle your way. At Good Giant, we have decades of gaming, hospitality and resort experience to help you wrap up more wins for the holidays and beyond. Let’s sleigh the new year. Reach out to us at hello@GoodGiant.com. Brighter ideas. Merrier results.6 Global Gaming Business DECEMBER 2025 M ulti-attraction integrated resorts (IRs) have doubled average guest stays from 2.3 days to 4.1 days and increased non- gaming revenue share from 35 percent to 58 percent, reshaping profit models in the gaming market, according to research from Mordor Intelligence. Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, for example, derives 65 percent of revenue from non-gaming amenities while sustaining high VIP win rates. Integrated resorts deliver larger tourism multipliers, higher employment and stronger foreign-currency inflows. As more jurisdictions pivot to the IR model, global operators with proven resort blueprints are best positioned to scale, the research continues. IRs are the anchor around which the modern casino gaming market reorganizes. BY THE NUMBERS INTEGRATED RESORTS = MORE NON-GAMING REVENUE NEW CORE SLOT INDEXING TRENDS T he Eilers-Fantini U.S. & Canada Game Performance Report for October reflected rising momentum among emerging suppliers, with Bluberi, Zitro and Sega Sammy making notable gains across core and premium categories. Bluberi stood out with multiple Top 25 debuts in the New Core Video segment, signaling growth across both new and existing titles as competition broadens beyond traditional leaders. Among rising performers, Zitro and Sega Sammy posted standout results with releases such as Legendary Sword (Zitro) and Mega King-Mystic Wolf (Sega Sammy). Titles from Apex Gaming, Lightning Gaming and Gaming Arts also posted EMERGING GAME SUPPLIERS GAIN ON THE LEADERS upward performance trends, underscoring a more diverse and competitive supplier landscape heading into year’s end. Aristocrat, Light & Wonder and IGT continued to anchor the market. Buffalo Mega Stampede, Spooky Link and Dragon Link fueled Aristocrat’s lead in both owned and premium leased segments, while new Piggy Bankin-Break In and Ultimate Fire Link themes helped Light & Wonder maintain top-tier momentum. IGT reinforced its wide-area progressive dominance through chart- toppers such as Wheel of Fortune-Double Diamond and Megabucks-Wolf Run Eclipse, as Everi posted steady gains across multiple segments.ON THE RISE Proven Performance8 Global Gaming Business DECEMBER 2025 O nce the youngest personal licensee in Nevada history, Jonathan Jossel came to Vegas to work at what was then a run-down property, the Plaza Hotel & Casino. Now this executive is helping bring new life to a once-neglected part of town: Downtown Las Vegas. GGB: Downtown Las Vegas is really having a moment. Talk about your involvement with the revitalization of the Plaza. Jossel: The Plaza is located at One Main Street, the first address in the history of Las Vegas. It was a really iconic building, built in the ’70s. But it was neglected as Downtown was forgotten and the Strip developed. When I came here, it was in bad shape financially and physically. In 2007, when the subprime market collapsed, the Fontainebleau sold its furniture after going bankrupt. We ended up buying tile, cabinetry and furniture, and shut down to do a big remodel. Some people said, “You should knock it down and start again.” But I believed with a bit of investment we could take the Plaza from what it was and really improve it. We try things other people aren’t trying. We have 16 pickleball courts. We have an outdoor equestrian center for rodeos. We do fireworks Friday nights in the summer, on holidays like New Year’s Eve and for special events like the Neon City Festival. And we have the only bingo in Downtown or on the Strip. Our core customers are from the Midwest and California. A lot of good customers come from Hawaii. But we just had a bingo tournament for 850 players, predominantly 70-to-80-year-olds. We just had a music festival for 21-to-25-year-olds. Soon we’ll have the rodeo. We’re constantly adapting to what’s happening in town, which changes our customer base every few weeks. There’s a lot of talk about Vegas becoming more expensive. How is Downtown looking to buck that trend? First, I hate to hear that. It’s a bad message for Las 5 QUESTIONS “We’ve looked at the Philippines, we’ve looked at Vietnam, we’ve looked at Cambodia. It’s still down to fundamentals: customer access and the regulatory environment.” —Ed Tracy, Asia CEO, Hard Rock International, on the U.S. company’s global aspirations Jonathan Jossel CEO, Plaza Hotel & Casino Las Vegas 1 2 3 4 5 Vegas. Downtown, we’re really conscious of that. Downtown has always been known as a better place to gamble than the Strip. But there weren’t good restaurants, good hotels, nice pools. Now we have both good gambling and nice amenities. Sports have brought a new wave of visitors to Vegas. Has it also contributed to the decline by making visitors come “by appointment” to follow teams, rather than being drawn by fun and spontaneity? “By appointment” is a great way of describing it. But these events are so expensive, people feel their overall experience is more costly. Group rates go up because these amazing experiences have high price tags. But look at the stats. Vegas occupancy is down in the last couple of months, but other big tourist markets are down too. In addition, Vegas enjoyed record-breaking tourism levels after the pandemic. That type of growth isn’t sustainable. Maybe what we’re seeing now is just a blip, and things will readjust. Downtown made $226.9 million in gaming revenue over the three months to September 30, compared to $2.12 billion for the Strip. Do you see much scope for growth in Downtown? There’s tremendous growth opportunity. Downtown is roughly 10 percent of the citywide market. That number is growing. A new casino opened Downtown last year, and I could see another coming. We have 17 acres of undeveloped land. I’d love to build a new hotel tower and casino. Downtown is ready for a higher-end product. If someone is staying at Venetian, Wynn, Bellagio, they’re probably not going to want to stay Downtown. But if I could build a room for them, a spa and some amenities, those players will come. Downtown has the gambling, it has the historical element. Some people think it’s more fun. I think there’s a huge amount of growth potential. December 3-4: Lottery CX Summit, Vienna, Austria. Produced by Eventus International. For more information, visit eventus-international.com. December 10-11: G2E Asia @ the Philippines, Manila Marriott Hotel. Produced by RX Events. For more information, visit g2easiaphilippines.com. December 10-13: NCLGS Winter Meeting, Fairmont El San Juan Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Produced by Spectrum Gaming Group. For more information, visit nclgs.com. January 19-21, 2026: ICE Barcelona, Fira de Barcelona, Spain. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit ICEgaming.com. February 3-5, 2026: MEGA Mexico Gaming, Mexico City. Produced by Eventus. For more information, visit eventus-international.com/ mega. March 3-5, 2026: SBC Summit, Rio Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Produced by SBC Events. For more information, visit SBCevents.com. March 18-19, 2026: SAGSE Protection & Compliance, Hilton Buenos Aires. Produced by SAGSE Latam. For more information, visit sagselatam.com. March 24-25, 2026: Prague Tech & Gaming Summit, Vienna House, Prague. Produced by Hipther. For more information, visit hipther.com/events. April 6-9, 2026: BiS SiGMA South America 2026, TransAmerica Expo Center, São Paulo, Brazil. Produced by BiS SiGMA. For more information, visit sigma.world/south-america.Next >