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GGb SepteMbeR 2024 •Vol. 23 •No. 9 •$10 Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers 5 Women to Watch Social Media Madness WondrNation’s Anika Howard Rising Above the Noise Strong Player Rolling Along IGT’s Wheel of Fortune is the most popular slot game of all time The Price of Gaming How tighter games and changing rules are impacting player experience Global Gaming WomenVol. 23 • No. 9 COLUMNS CONTENTS september 3 COVER STORY IGT’s Wheelhouse After 28 years of success, IGT moves its signature Wheel of Fortune slot franchise into new territory with the launch of dedicated iGaming sites, video poker, VLTs and electronic table games carrying the iconic game show theme. FEATURES 14 Pricing Players Out? High-hold slot machines, double- and triple-zero roulette and 6-5 blackjack are certainly raising the overall house hold for casinos—but are these practices chasing players away? 22 Top Women Our seventh annual installment of this feature highlights the critical roles five accomplished women play in several disciplines within the gaming industry. 30 Surging Social Social casinos are thriving and still growing, providing players an immersive experience to rival brick-and-mortar gaming. 36 New Marketing Essential The use of social media in marketing and promoting casinos has grown from a novel tool into an essential piece of any marketing campaign. SEPTEMBER 2024 www.ggbmagazine.com Global Gaming Business Magazine 10 Class of the Industry 12 Highs and Lows 28 Navigating Election Year 48 Responsibilities of iGaming 4 The Agenda 6 By the Numbers 8 5 Questions 13 AGEM 34 Emerging Leaders 40 New Game Review 42 Frankly Speaking 46 Goods & Services 49 People 50 Casino Communications DEPARTMENTS4 Vol. 23 • No. 9 • SEPTEMBER 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 Maureen Beddis |Julia Carcamo Frank Fantini |Adrian Jooste Contributing Editors Jill R. Dorson |Alex Goldstein |Robin Harrison Marjorie Preston |Cole Rush Bill Sokolic X: @downbeachfilm|Michael Vanaskie ______________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Official Publication F rank Fahrenkopf once told me that the best thing he ever did during his long tenure as CEO of the American Gaming Association was to form the National Center for Responsible Gaming. Now called the International Center for Responsible Gaming, the organization was designed to encourage research into problem gambling. Fahrenkopf was always fearful that a federal inves- tigation would corner gaming executives the same way they cornered tobacco executives when Congress berat- ed them for denying that their product was harmful. He wanted to be proactive in creating an organization that did “blind” research, meaning that gaming com- panies would contribute funding to the group but have no control over its results—kind of a “let the chips fall where they may” approach. Now this was done well before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) launched the first federal investigation into gaming since the Kefauver Committee in the early 1950s. We are now celebrating the 25th anniversary of the final NGISC report, one which presented the first real study into problem gambling. It concluded that less than 2 percent of gamblers could be classified as “compulsive,” and that data has held up in other stud- ies since that time. The commission was serious, however. It was pro- posed by Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia, a viru- lently anti-gaming crusader, who envisioned a tobac- co-style inquest against the gaming industry. But Fahrenkopf, the former head of the Republican Party during the Reagan years, and a man well respected on both sides of the aisle, was able to use his influence to balance the seats on the commission so the industry would get a fair hearing. The board consisted of several members who might be considered anti-gaming. Kay Coles James was the chairwoman, and had been active in religious institutions and could have been considered anti-gam- ing. James Dobson was the head of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit religious group, and was definitely in the anti-gaming camp, which also included Paul Moore, a Mississippi doctor, Richard Leone, a former head of the NY-NJ Port Authority, and Leo McCarthy, a former politician from California. Fahrenkopf was able to nominate then MGM- Mirage Chairman Terrence Lanni, former Nevada reg- ulator Bill Bible and the president of UNITE-HERE, the chief hospitality union in the gaming industry, John Wilhelm. Also included was Robert Loescher, a Native American from an Alaskan tribe. The combina- tion of these individuals more than balanced out any kind of anti-gaming sentiment. The NGISC was empaneled for a two-year peri- od, 1997-99. It held hearings in every part of the country including Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere. There was a very determined research staff looking into issues that were never exam- ined before. Especially strong was the tribal gaming component, which presented evidence about the mas- sive positive impact gaming had on tribal nations. As I tagged along across the country attending all of the hearings, I witnessed a rather amazing sight. The cooperation and dedication of the participants in the study was clearly designed to actually get a fair reading of how gaming was impacting the nation at that time. And it wasn’t just limited to casinos. They studied horse racing, lotteries, bingo, illegal gambling and, of course, the negative impacts of gaming as it pertained to people with a gambling problem. I came to respect all the members of the commis- sion. Terry Lanni was so eloquent in his defense of the industry. John Wilhelm, though he often clashed with gaming executives when negotiating union contracts, sang the praises of the impact the industry has had on his members. Bill Bible calmly explained how regula- tions were able to keep the industry on the straight and narrow. But even the supposedly anti-gaming peo- ple were cordial and respectful of witnesses who testi- fied about what gaming meant to their lives. Kay James turned out to be the star of the show, however. Her control over the process was both demanding and respectful, and her stamp is all over the final report. And it’s well worth it to review the final report, because much of what the industry is built on today was outlined in this version. Check it out for yourself! www.federalregister.gov/agencies/national-gambling- impact-study-commission. But there are now rumblings that we need another federal study on gaming with the advent and growth of legal sports betting and online gaming. If that comes to pass, let’s hope we have someone as diplo- matic and skillful as Frank Fahrenkopf, or the circum- stances could be dire for the entire gaming industry. 25and Counting BY ROGER GROS, PUBLISHER Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2024 THEAGENDA This is a giant headline. We made it as big as possible so you’d read these much smaller words. You see, this ad is a metaphor about us. All the benefits of being a large agency like depth of talent, vast resources and gaming experience, coupled with the scrappiness of a small shop. It works. Just like this ad did. Email chad@goodgiant.com to learn how we do it.0 10 20 30 40 50 6 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2024 taxes for thee, Not for me D raftKings sent the sports betting community aflame on August 1 when it announced plans to implement a surcharge on winning bets placed in markets with multiple operators and tax rates above 20 percent beginning January 1, 2025. After its competitors declined to follow suit, the plan was ultimately scrapped August 13. The criteria outlined above applied to New York (51 percent tax rate), Illinois (sliding scale from 20 percent to 40 percent), Pennsylvania (36 percent) and Vermont (20 percent). The bookmaker said that in Illinois, winnings would have been subject to a 3.2 percent surcharge, to be treated as a separate transaction. Some back-of-the-envelope math esti- mated that the bookmaker could have reaped more than $200 million in additional revenue from the surcharge, but it was unclear how that rev- enue would be categorized or whether regulators would have had to ap- prove the surcharge in the first place. Bettors, analysts and consultants alike voiced various opinions on the charge, ranging from abhorrence to intrigue. The announcement shed light on the future of tax rates in the sports betting industry, especially with some of the largest potential markets—including California, Texas and Georgia—still yet to be legalized. BYTHENUMBERS T he July 2024 edition of the Game Performance Report produced by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming and Fantini Research featured an operator poll with 80 respondents, asking what percentage of owned slots each ex- pected to replace in the next 12 months. Conversion kits and lease replace- ments were not included in operators’ responses. The most common answer was 5 percent, from 27 percent of operators. Overall, the weighted average was 5.45 percent. Sixteen percent of respon- dents plan to replace more than 10 percent of owned games, followed by 8 percent and 1 percent (both garnered 9 percent of responses). Only 4 percent of respondents indicated that they would not replace any owned games in the next year. Of all the totals listed, the lowest replacement level to garner responses was 9 percent, with only 3 percent of operators. To obtain a copy of any Eilers & Krejcik reports, contact Rick Eckert at reckert@ekgamingllc.com. 51% 20-40% 36% 20% NEw YoRk ILLINoIs PENNsYLvANIA vERmoNt Percentage (%) of the casino-owned slot machines on your casino floor you plan to REPLACE over the next 12 months©2024 IGT. Collective performance across all reporting properties, August 2024. BRAGGING. RIGHTS. EARNED. PeakCurve ™ 49 Increase your ROI. Contact your Account Manager today. Games NEW RELEASE 8 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2024 CALENDAR “TheyIt” 5QUESTIONS S lot supplier Aristocrat Gaming has achieved a dominant position in every market in which it operates, and the Native American market is no exception. That’s why the Conference and Trade Show of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA), held August 12-14 in Oklahoma City, has been one of the most important events on Aristocrat’s annual calendar. Kurt Gissane, Aristocrat’s chief revenue officer, gam- ing, spoke with GGB Editor Frank Legato from his Las Vegas office ahead of the OIGA trade show about the importance of the Native American market to Aristocrat, and how the company continuously strives to serve tribal customers. To see and hear this interview as a GGB Podcast, visit GGBMagazine.com. GGB: How does the OIGA trade show fit in with Aristocrat’s product goals, particularly in the Class II area, where your subsidiary VGT has had a longstanding presence? Gissane: Our focus remains constant regardless of what we do, and that’s always on our customers. Obvi- ously, Class II products are always featured at OIGA, but so are our Class III products. We display a full range of our portfolio. It’s also interesting to note thatVGT is now a fully integrated brand of Aristocrat Gaming. Obviously, it’s got a great brand and a lot of brand equity, so we are really loyal to the VGT prod- uct, but it is now fully integrated into the Aristocrat Gaming portfolio. How much do Aristocrat’s studios concentrate on Class II content? Are there Class II-first releases? Not with every studio, but we do some. Our studios are focused on developing content across all the differ- ent streams and areas of our business, even in social gaming. Some of our studios will even put games on our social platforms first to test them before they bring them into land-based casinos. And, that could be Class II or Class III. There certainly are some studios that focus more heavily on Class II, but again, it’s all about col- laboration, and a lot of them do both Class II and Class III. The Hunt for Neptune’s Gold game family is an example of a Class II-first release now being adapted for Class III. How much collaboration is involved in achieving this? One of our mantras at Aristocrat is what we call “collective brilliance.” That’s where we really collaborate across all different teams and build on great ideas to create the best content for our customers. And obviously, we’re super fortunate at Aristocrat that we’ve got 13 amazing studios, building tremendous games. We’ve got a lot of great proprietary brands. So, they’ll take from that. And, as you’ve seen, The Hunt for Neptune’s Gold is a great example of a Class II-first release now entering Class III, but that goes both ways. Let’s talk about the NFL slot series. You’ve got the Class II-only release Rings of Victory. How’s that been received, and is the fact it’s offered on the RELM stepper platform related to its targeting Class II? The NFL series has obviously been an amazing new addition to our portfolio. It’s an amazing franchise, and something we’re very proud of. We’ve created NFL games for both Class II and Class III, and we launched it across six different cabinets. That was by design, to bring games out for every different player demographic and across both Class II and Class III. So it was by design that we put it on all of those platforms, but obvi- ously stepper products, in particular in Oklahoma, have been very successful. You’ve got both Class II and Class III in Oklahoma. Is Class III a hard sell where both are available, considering the tribes keep all Class II revenue? Not at all. Class III has been a growing segment in Oklahoma, and it’s very strong. And again, with the strength of our portfolio, it’s a place we’ve really been able to experience a lot of growth. Oklahoma’s an ex- tremely important market for Aristocrat, and the industry in general. Oklahoma tribal casinos continue to deliver for their tribal members and for the state of Oklahoma, which is super exciting. And, we’re there to help as much as possible by producing the best games we can and delivering the best products to our partners in the tribal casinos. 1 2 3 4 5 October 7-10: Global Gaming Expo (G2E), The Venetian Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada. Produced by Reed Exhibitions. For more information, visit globalgamingexpo.com. October 15-16: European Gaming Congress , Hotel Polonia Palace, Warsaw, Poland. Produced by Hipther. For more information, visit hipther.com/events/egc. October 21-24: World Lottery Summit, Paris, France. Produced by the World Lottery Association. For more information, visit world-lotteries.org. October 29-31: SBC Summit Latin America , Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida. Produced by SBC. For more information, visit sbcevents.com. 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. December 4: Global Regulatory Awards, Grand Connaught Rooms, London, U.K. Produced by Vixio. For more information, visit gamblingcomplianceawards.com. Kurt GissaneNext >