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MARCH 2026 • Vol. 25• No. 3 • $10 Global Gaming Business Magazine BOOMER’S SPORTSBOOK’S JOE ASHER VIDEO POKER EVOLUTION Association of Gaming Equipment Manufactuers SPORTS BETTING How artificial intelligence is changing the sportsbook Recognizing the casino life cycle, and when to grow, reinvent or build LIVE LONG AND PROSPER INDIAN GAMING 2026MARCH 2026 www.ggbmagazine.com 3 Global Gaming Business Magazine CONTENTS march COLUMNS 10AGA Growing Research for a Growing Industry Carly Johnson 12Fantini’s Finance Two to Bet On Frank Fantini 29NCLGS History of NCLGS: 1995-2026 Steve Geller 45 Regulation The Narrow Path to Gaming Growth Michael Pollock DEPARTMENTS 4 The Agenda 6By the Numbers 85 Questions 13 AGEM Update 34 Emerging Leaders With NJDGE’s Peter Czoch, Trilogy Group’s Eric Flores, and Winners Golden Group’s Ajoke Ajibola 40 Frankly Speaking 42New Game Review 44Cutting Edge 46Goods & Services 48 People 50 Casino Communications With Joe Asher, Founder and CEO, Boomer’s Sportsbook FEATURES Vol. 25 • No. 3 The Casino Life Cycle In the face of unprecedented competition, operators seek to identify their current life stage, and take action to remain solvent. By Cory Morowitz 18 COVER STORY 14 Marketing to Youth Attracting and retaining younger customers requires a revamp of the marketer’s playbook. By Juila Carcamo 22 Sports Betting and AI Rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology will change the nature of sports betting over the next few years. By Matt Rybaltowski 26 IGA 2026 The annual Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention will take place at the San Diego Convention Center March 30-April 2. Here’s a schedule of events and a preview of the extensive conference sessions. 30 Video Poker Evolution IGT continues its ongoing evolution of the video poker genre with new bonus features, new formats and features that have expanded the audience. By Frank Legato 36 Friendly Face The time is rapidly coming when slot clubs and marketers will recognize players when they sit down, thanks to biometric technology. By Marjorie Preston 30 22 144 Global Gaming Business MARCH 2026 Making a Mockery Vol. 25 • No. 3 • MARCH 2026 GGB Frank Legato, Editor-in-Chief flegato@ggbmagazine.com Robin Harrison, Publisher robin.harrison-millan@worldgamingbusiness.com Roger Gros, Editor-at-Large rgros@ggbmagazine.com Marjorie Preston, Managing Editor mpreston@ggbmagazine.com Gary Rotstein, Copy Chief gary.rotstein@worldgamingbusiness.com Monica Cooley, Art Director mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com Columnists Frank Fantini • Steve Geller • Carly Johnson • Michael Pollock Contributing Editors Rae Berkley • Julia Carcamo • Cory Morowitz Matt Rybaltowski • Bill Sokolic _____ 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 2026 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 AGENDA6 Global Gaming Business MARCH 2026 SPORTS BETTING SCANDALS: ERODING PUBLIC TRUST? A November 2025 survey by Sacred Heart University and GreatBlue Research looked at recent NBA and college betting scandals and their impact on trust in the integrity of professional sports. • Four of five U.S. sports gamblers (80.7 percent) were aware of recent NBA gambling investigations. A similar share (79.1 percent) said the reports had impacted their trust in the integrity of NBA games and 38.2 percent said they impacted their trust “a lot.” • The scandal divided the betting community; 35.7 percent said they are less likely to bet on NBA games, while 29 percent said the scandal makes them more likely, with 34.6 percent reporting no change. A majority of gamblers 55 and older (52.7 percent) said they were more likely to reduce betting on the NBA. Less than 33 percent of gamblers 18 to 34 felt compelled to limit their bets. • Nearly half (46.8 percent) of respondents believed players and coaches should be held most accountable for gambling violations. Twenty percent felt the responsibility lay with leagues, and 13.4 percent pointed to sportsbooks. In bad news for U.S. sports, three quarters of respondents, 75.1 percent, said they believe gambling corruption extends beyond the NBA, and 75.6 percent questioned the integrity of college athletics. Support for stronger regulation was overwhelming, with 84 percent favoring stricter oversight. To read the full report, visit sacredheart.edu and search for “sports betting scandals.” BY THE NUMBERS SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS IMPACT OF RECENT SCANDAL ON TRUST IN THE INTEGRITY OF NBA GAMES A study commissioned by the European Casino Association (ECA) reveals alarming figures about the scale and growth of illegal online gambling in Europe. The analysis, conducted by Yield Sec and released last November, reported that illegal operators now account for 71 percent of the European Union’s online gambling market, representing an estimated €80.6 billion in gross gaming revenue—more than double the legal market’s €33.6 billion. According to the study: • Illegal online gambling operators generated €80.6 billion in revenue in 2024, costing member states €20 billion in lost taxes. • The number of illegal operators targeting EU citizens in 2024 increased by 26 percent from 4,921 in 2023 to 6,220 in 2024. The study also reported that 92 percent of all the online content seen by European consumers promotes illegal online gambling. Of the estimated 118 million Europeans who interacted with online gambling during 2024, 81 million engaged with illegal and unregulated operators. These platforms offer no consumer protections, responsible gambling measures or dispute resolution and often do not even feature basic KYC for age verification. €80.6 billion = Illegal online gambling operator revenue €20 billion = lost taxes AWARENESS OF RECENT REPORTS INTO INVESTIGATION OF NBA PLAYER/COACHES FOR GAMBLING VIOLATIONS8 Global Gaming Business MARCH 2026 M ark Maislish joined Pragmatic Play as the supplier’s chief revenue officer in November 2024, bringing years of experience in the finance sector at giants such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Speaking at January’s ICE conference in Barcelona, Maislish shared Pragmatic Play’s vision at a time of global growth, further expansion into regulated markets and a rapidly accelerating live casino business. GGB: Which markets are particularly driving revenue? Mark Maislish: If we look at December last year, we saw 40 percent of our top 100 operators achieve all-time highs. So the growth we’re seeing across the industry is a pretty broad spread. I think there’s a bit more of a buzz about Latin America being a growth region. We’re seeing that as well. But I would say we operate globally and what we’re seeing has been pretty broad across our operators. What other potential expansion opportunities is Pragmatic Play looking at? I How important is innovation for providers such as Pragmatic Play? It’s really important for us to continue to innovate, and we’re continuing to see that in the industry. Even if I just look at some of our existing franchises—Gates of Olympus, for example—it’s still a top game, it’s still fantastic. But we need to continuously innovate that franchise. If you look at December last year, our top game globally was Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, while our mid-December release, Fortune of Olympus, also performed brilliantly. That’s a continuation of additional features and modification on the original game. This also applies to both our new releases, such as the upcoming Jelly Express, and us bringing popular slot IPs to our live casino portfolio—which you’ll see soon with Gates of Olympus Roulette. If you’re not innovating, it’s hard to stay ahead of the game. Of the revenue split between slots, live casino and other verticals, where do you see the strongest upside? The slots business is the bedrock of our group; I think everybody is aware of that. So the focus on maintaining that leadership and the innovation in that vertical is really important for us. Live casino is a key strategic growth area, and while our footprint today is measured, we see substantial long-term potential globally. We’re seeing tremendous momentum in the live casino product—we launched 150 tables last year, and we’re going to launch hopefully more than double that number this year. The biggest area of growth is our live casino product, and what we’re doing is trying to support that with investment. By the next ICE, what do you hope to have achieved? And how does Pragmatic Play get to that point? We want to be able to deliver the tables that we plan to this year. We want there to be continued momentum in our live casino product. We hope to announce some more studios. And then on the slots side, the product team has done a really good job of building on existing franchises with new features that are exciting for players. These are the two most important areas for us. We’re also building our sportsbook out. That is, I think, a bit earlier in the process for us. But we’ve got plans to sign a number of important clients up over the next couple of months. It’s a smaller piece of the group, but it’s important for us to continue to broaden our product suite. 5 QUESTIONS “Prediction markets are just illegal sports betting that somehow has been allowed to exist, despite state gambling laws that have been intact forever. Crazy this hasn’t been stopped.” —Ross Gerber, co-founder, investment fim Gerber Kawasaki Mark Maislish Chief Revenue Office, Pragmatic Play 1 2 3 4 5 March 3-5: SBC Summit, Rio Centro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Produced by SBC Events. For more information, visit SBCevents.com. March 10-11: NEXT Summit New York, Convene Brookfield Place, New ork City. Produced by Next.io. For more information, visit next.io/summits/newyork. March 17-19: ASEAN Gaming Summit, Shangri- La the Fort, Manila,Philippines. Produced by Asia Gaming Brief. For more information, visit aseangaming.com. March 18-19: SAGSE Protection & Compliance, Hilton Buenos Aires. Produced by SAGSE Latam. For more information, visit sagselatam.com. March 24-25: Prague Tech & Gaming Summit, Vienna House, Prague. Produced by Hipther. For more information, visit hipther.com/events. March 24-26: SPiCE South Asia, Shangri-La Colombo, Sri Lanka. Produced by Eventus International. For more information, visit spiceseries.com/ssa. March 24-26: Gaming & Technology Expo Cartagena, Las Americas Convention Center, Cartagena, Colombia. Produced by GAT Events. For more information, visit gatevents.net. March 30-April 2: Indian Gaming 2026 Tradeshow & Convention, San Diego Convention Center. Produced by the Indian Gaming Association. For more information, visit indiangamingtradeshow.com. April 6-9: BiS SiGMA South America 2026, TransAmerica Expo Center, São Paulo, Brazil. Produced by BiS SiGMA. For more information, visit sigma.world/south-america. April 28-30: SBC Summit Malta 2026, InterContinental St. Julien’s, Malta. Produced by SBC. For more information, visit sbcevents.com.Next >