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GGB NOVEMBER 2024 •Vol. 23 •No. 11 •$10 Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers POGO STICKS BOUNDLESS BMM KEEP THE KIOSKS AMAZING AWARDS AMAZING JOURNEY Incredible Technologies’path from basement video consoles to the casino floor Top Talent The 2025 Class of Emerging Leaders of Gaming 40 UNDER 40Vol. 23 • No. 11 COLUMNS CONTENTS november 3 COVER STORY FEATURES 14 Scandinavian Monopolies Internet gaming operators in the Nordic countries are re-evaluating the monopolistic model of several state- owned entities. 24 Future Leaders The 2025 Class of Emerging Leaders of Gaming 40 Under 40 presents a model of gaming industry leaders for today and into the future. Here are profiles of 10 impactful leaders under age 40. 38 Meeting the Test BMM Innovation Group has established itself as a world leader and standard-bearer in testing, certification and compliance services. 40 The POGO Fallout Months after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. outlawed Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs), new revelations on the criminality of the enterprises keep arising. 46 Awards and Accolades The 23rd annual GGB Gaming & Technology Awards head up a robust awards lineup at G2E. 50 Kiosk Versatility The variety and advanced technology of kiosks dotting today’s casino floors ensure a seamless player experience. NOVEMBER 2024 www.ggbmagazine.com Global Gaming Business Magazine 10 How Americans Really Feel About Gaming 12 Opportunity on the Horizon 4 The Agenda 6 By the Numbers 8 5 Questions 13 AGEM 54 New Game Review 56 Frankly Speaking 57 Cutting Edge 58 Goods & Services 61 People 62 Casino Communications DEPARTMENTS Incredible Story Incredible Technologies began in the basement of a couple who developed games for home video consoles, grew into the largest coin-operated amusement supplier in the U.S., and ultimately pivoted to become a force in the casino slot market. Here’s the company’s remarkable story. 2012 G2E 2024 G2E4 Vol. 23 • No. 11 • NOVEMBER 2024 Roger Gros, Publisher | rgros@ggbmagazine.com X: @GlobalGamingBiz Frank Legato, Editor |flegato@ggbmagazine.com X: @FranklySpeakn Jess Marquez, Managing Editor jmarquez@ggbmagazine.com Monica Cooley, Art Director mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com Beck Kingman-Gros, Associate Publisher & COO bkingros@ggbmagazine.com Lisa Johnson, Communications Advisor lisa@lisajohnsoncommunications.com X: @LisaJohnsonPR Columnists Frank Fantini |Dave Forman Contributing Editors Carly Albright | Rae Berkley Jack Goodin |Robin Harrison-Millan Nicole Macedo | AJ Mason |Marjorie Preston Patrick Roberts |Cole Rush | Bill Sokolic ______________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Official Publication S o another G2E is in the books. I was involved in G2E for 17 years, helping out with the conference program from the start in 2001, so I’ve been to every one, except for 2021 when you were required to be vaxxed during the pandemic. But I was in the house, however, doing podcasts in my hotel suite, so I give myself half credit for that. Like every year, G2E is a great place to catch up with old friends, network with the top brass and learn about the trends and issues that will impact the gaming business in the future. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more contentious G2E than what occurred this year. Sweepstakes was the main point of contention. This segment of wagering has exploded in the last year, going from almost nothing to more than $4 billion in five years. Sweepstakes casinos run under the cover of social gaming. There’s nothing to buy; you get a limited amount of coins when you sign up and play the games—which are often provided by legitimate game developers. But then, when you run out of coins, you have an option to buy a different level of coins. Some sites call them “gold” coins, but they still theoreti- cally have no value even though you pay real money for them. Then you are entered into a “sweepstakes” where you can win money just like you would on a real-money slot machine. But since the winnings are awarded as part of a sweep- stakes—just like Publisher’s Clearinghouse—some- how it is legal. At G2E, there were passionate arguments on both sides. And some of the proponents of sweep- stakes are often recognizable and legitimate casino operators—online and land-based. But the fact that a player has to risk money to win money means sweepstakes are outright gambling. At Publisher’s Clearinghouse, you kind of knew you had to buy some magazine subscriptions to have even the slightest chance. At a sweepstakes casino, you definitely have to buy some of those “gold” coins to participate. But the bottom line is that sweepstakes opera- tors are unregulated, untaxed and have little to no KYC—although they would argue that point. If they were willing to become regulated, pay taxes and have a robust RG and KYC plan, we’d be OK with that. But of course, if that was the case, why wouldn’t they just become real-money online gaming? Watch for our January issue, where we’ll present both sides of the issue by speaking with those who are in favor of sweepstakes and those who are opposed. It should be an interesting topic. Another contentious issue was the relationship of sports betting operators and players. Most of the legal sportsbooks in the U.S. have rules that prevent expert sports bettors from participating in any meaningful sense. The terms and conditions that you are forced to agree with to participate are some- times hundreds of pages long and hide the fact that sportsbooks have the ability to prevent a good play- er from wagering any significant amount of money. Some people say that sportsbooks have every right to limit the way their players wager because of the sometimes onerous tax rates that they pay the states. Others say that as a regulated entity, sports- books should treat every player the same, no matter the regulatory handicaps under which they operate. Our friend Richard Schuetz is the CEO of American Bettors’ Voice, an organization founded by professional gamblers Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos and Billy Walters, which hopes to give bettors a seat at the table in the discussions between sportsbook operators and regulators. Will this group have suc- cess in reaching some kind of consensus with sportsbooks? Too early to tell but still a battle- ground. As always, responsible gaming was a hot topic, as experts outlined that the industry is attracting younger players—one keynote speaker said the aver- age age for the online gambler is now 34 years old! This suggests that the industry must have a plan for sustainable growth by developing effective responsi- ble gaming practices to maintain its appeal to that younger demographic. But how do we get there? Yes, another milestone G2E is in the books, and now we look forward to the ICE trade show and conference to be held for the first time in Barcelona, Spain. We’re confident that ICE will address the issues raised at G2E and help us understand where the industry is going at such a great speed. Sweeping Changes BY ROGER GROS, PUBLISHER Global Gaming Business NOVEMBER 2024 THEAGENDA Our name should tell you enough When your agency has vast gaming industry knowledge and the deepest bench of talent in the business, but acts like a pack of hungry animals hellbent on proving it, well, we’re what you get. And that’s a pretty good bet. Drop us a note at hi@goodgiant.com6 Global Gaming Business NOVEMBER 2024 BYTHENUMBERS H ow susceptible are gambling websites to online bot attacks? Less so than any other industry, according to the 2024 Global Bot Security Report from online fraud specialists DataDome. The report conducted bot checks on over 14,000 of the world’s highest-grossing websites, all of which receive at least 5 million visitors per month. In all, gambling ranked as the best-protected industry against such attacks, out of 18 total. The data showed that just over 15 per- cent of gambling sites successfully blocked all test bot attacks, and an- other 40 percent blocked at least some of the attacks. Forty-four percent failed all tests, which was actually the lowest percentage of any sector. But researchers did note that the gambling industry’s perform- ance fell sharply from last year, when only 37 percent of domains blocked all attacks. After gambling, the media and airline industries were ranked as the second- and third-best performers. Disturbingly, the health sector had the worst protection, followed by luxury and e-commerce. I t’s no secret that the sports betting landscape has long been male- dominated. But a September survey from Betting Ladies asked 144 female bettors about their betting preferences and spending habits, and over half (62 percent) said that they occasionally hide their winning amounts from their partners. Additionally, 88 percent of respondents indicated that they would share a large win with their partner, but over a third (39 percent) have never told their partner that they bet at all. With regard to sports and bet types, football was by far the most popular sport for female bettors, garnering 72 percent of the vote. Straight money-line bets (28 percent) were the most popular type, followed by player props (19 percent ) and parlays (17 percent). Beauty products were the most popular avenue for spending win- nings, at 30 percent. Clothes and shoes were a close second at 28 per- cent and nights out and entertainment came in at 24 percent. The smallest category was saving and investments, at 4 percent. Most Protected IndustrIes 88% would share a large win with their partner8 Global Gaming Business NOVEMBER 2024 CALENDAR “TheyIt” 5QUESTIONS L uAnn Pappas spent 30 years with the Harrah’s/Caesars organizations, working in many jurisdictions. But when the owners of the Scarlet Pearl in D’Iberville, Mississippi, Bob and Dolores Granieri, came calling, she made the jump. It was right after she had suffered a major heart attack, but she was ready for the chal- lenge. Today, the Scarlet Pearl is one of the most successful casinos on the Gulf Coast. She sat down with GGB Publisher Roger Gros in the newly created players’ lounge in the property in September. To hear and see a full GGB Podcast of this interview, visit GGBMagazine.com. GGB: Explain what this property was like when you first got here. Pappas:When I first got here, I was in a hard hat on an outside elevator. It was under construction when I came down to see it after the family told me they were building in Mississippi, which intrigued me because I had been here after Katrina to help reopen the Grand casino. At that time, I had lived in New Or- leans, lived here, went back to Atlantic City, and then ultimately took this job. You’ve had lots of experience in the industry, mostly with Caesars/Harrah’s Entertainment. What’s it like to come to a property where it’s owned by one family and you don’t have all that corporate oversight? It’s been an amazing experience. As you know, I worked for Caesars 30 years. I started in the gift shop on the graveyard shift. This has been a big change and a welcome change. It’s very, very different because it is a single family-owned casino, their one and only casino venture. It’s just been an unbelievable ride ever since. You had to develop a corporate culture here because it was a brand new property. What did you bring from Caesars and what did you institute on your own? Well, it’s actually the opposite. We didn’t want a corporate culture. We wanted to really hit home that this is a family-owned business, that we care about you, we care about the community, and we care about our cus- tomers. We opened up saying we have three missions—clean, friendly and safe. What we do for you, the asso- ciates, what we do for our customers, and most importantly, what we do for the community. And what did I bring from Caesars? It really was the original Harrah’s days, when it was Phil Satre, Mike Rose and seven properties. Let’s talk about the Southern Mississippi market. What is your market in terms of where your players come from? It is very different than what I was used to, because at Harrah’s, it was more regional and national. We are probably 80 percent local. Customers come on average 14 times a month, predominantly female and obvi- ously predominantly slots. Now, the big operators like Caesars and MGM, meaning the Beau Rivage, do fly in a pretty significant amount of charter planes. So we do get customers that visit from other markets. We see that when we pull the database. But remember, when we opened, it was without a database. We might be the only casino I know in the country that started with nothing. So it was a struggle. As we sit here today and look back, there were times where we didn’t think we were going to make it. The first two years were rough when we were getting used to the dynamics of marketing to an ultra-high-frequent local customer. What is your best season at Scarlet Pearl? Typically the first quarter is the best quarter, which is the opposite of the other markets I’ve worked in. But remember, you’ve got Mardi Gras, President’s weekend, Valentine’s Day… Up north, you always had snow storms, so you suffered there. We don’t have to worry about that. We have hurricane season, yes, but the first quarter’s the best quarter, and actually the seasons here are all pretty even except that pop you do get in the first quarter. 1 2 3 4 5 LuAnn Pappas November 11-14: SiGMA Europe , Mediterranean Maritime Hub, Xatt il-Mollijiet, Marsa, Malta. Produced by SiGMA Group. For more information, visit sigma.world/europe. November 27-28: Eastern European Gaming Summit , Inter Expo Center, Sofia, Bulgaria. Produced by the Association of Gaming Industry in Bulgaria. For more information, visit eegamingsummit.com. November 27-28: GAT Caribe Cancun , Cancun International Convention Center, Cancun, Mexico. Produced by 3A Producciones. For more information, visit gatevents.net/gat-cancun-2024 December 2-4: Thai Entertainment Complex Summit , Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse, Bangkok, Thailand. Produced by Winna Media. For more information, visit winnamedia.com. December 4: Global Regulatory Awards, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, U.K. Produced by Vixio. For more information, visit gamblingcomplianceawards.com. December 3-5: Certificate in Gaming Leadership , River Spirit Casino, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Produced by the OSU Spears School of Business. For more information, visit business.okstate.edu. December 9-11: Global Symposium on Racing , Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, Arizona. Produced by the University of Arizona. For more information, visit rtip.arizona.edu. January 20-22: ICE Barcelona , Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit icegaming.com. February 23-25: SiGMA Eurasia , Dubai Festival City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Produced by SiGMA Group. For more information, visit sigma.world/eurasia. February 25-27: SBC Summit Rio , Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Produced by SBC Events. For more information, visit sbcevents.com/sbc-summit-rio.©2024 PlayAGS, Inc. 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