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OCTOBER 2026 • Vol. 25 • No. 10 • $10 Global Gaming Business Magazine CMS TECHNOLOGY AGA ON G2E NGCB’S MIKE DREITZER The venerable supplier moves forward with renewed purpose IGT’s NEW ERA GLOBAL GAMES 2026 Our annual review of the best slots at G2E GALAXY’S MACAU PLAN Chairman Francis Lui’s ‘parallel strategy’ for Macau Scandal in Britain Testing the integrity of betting in the U.K.OCTOBER 2026 www.ggbmagazine.com 3 Global Gaming Business Magazine CONTENTS october COLUMNS 12 AGA G2E 2026 is Here Maureen Beddis 14 Fantini’s Finance Where Do We Grow from Here? Frank Fantini 87 Policy Gaming’s Future: Invest in ‘Experiences’ Michael Pollock 88 NCLGS Strengthening the Future of Responsible Gaming Christie Carpino DEPARTMENTS 6 The Agenda 8 By the Numbers 10 5 Questions 15 AGEM Update 82 Emerging Leaders With Brooke Hilton, Head of Casino, PointsBet Canada 84 Frankly Speaking 86 Cutting Edge 90 Goods & Services 93 People 94 Casino Communications With Mike Dreitzer, Chairman, Nevada Gaming Control Board FEATURES Vol. 25 • No. 10 16 Galaxy’s Next Challenge In an exclusive interview, Galaxy Entertainment Group Chairman Francis Lui highlights the operator’s strategy in Macau going forward. By Muhammad Cohen 20 Insider Trading in the U.K. The U.K. election betting scandal that tested public confidence has become a referendum on gaming integrity. By Martin Bjoerck Game Plan Can new ownership and a new strategy help industry giant IGT surpass its rivals? On the cover: IGT Incoming Chief Studios Office Jamie Knight and CEO Hector Fernandez 24 COVER STORY 16 78 78 CMS: The Total Picture Data gathered by today’s casino management systems create detailed guest profiles that inform customer service. By Joseph Bills4 Global Gaming Business october Global Gaming Business Magazine CONTENTS Vol. 25 • No. 10 PAGE 28 GLOBAL GAMES 2026 Our annual preview of the games to be shown at G2E from the world’s top slot manufacturers reveals twists on familiar game mechanics amid plenty of innovation. By Frank Legato 30 AGS 34 Ainsworth Game Technology 38 Aristocrat Gaming 42 Aruze Gaming Global 44 Bluberi Gaming 48 Eclipse Gaming Systems 52 Gaming Arts 54 IGT 60 Incredible Technologies 64 Konami Gaming 68 Light & Wonder 72 Novomatic Americas 74 Zitro USA4 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2026 W elcome to our GGB show issue. Also, welcome to my first “Agenda” editor’s letter. As Roger Gros, my friend and longtime mentor and the creator of this magazine, noted in this space last month, he has stepped down from his connection with GGB. Roger taught me everything about this industry. Well, the slots I figured out on my own (I’ll explain later), but to find out all about practically any industry development or issue, it was always down the hall to Roger’s office, to ask the Human Encyclopedia of Gaming. He will be missed at this magazine, and we all wish him well on his next venture. Back to our show issue. The October edition is our biggest issue of the year, intended to be used as a guide at the Global Gaming Expo, which starts early this year on September 28. When I say “guide,” I really mean a guide to the exhibits of the major slot manufacturers. Our “Global Games” section includes an article on each of 13 slot manufacturers, highlighting the games they plan to launch at G2E. Much of this information is exclusive. This project is something I’ve been doing about casinos in 1984 for Public Gaming and Casino Gaming, the latter of which I was founding editor. It was run by the Burke family, Almost immediately when I started writing about casinos, the focus went to the slot manufacturers. This was during the first big boom of popularity for the slot floor, which was surpassing the table game pit in casino revenues for the first time, thanks to the Telnaes virtual- reel system and consequent larger jackpots including the wide-area progressive introduced by IGT on Megabucks in 1986. In the early 1990s, I did my first work for Roger, then at Casino Journal (also a trade journal co-founded by him). I had met Roger at the old International Gaming Business Expo machines. Roger asked me to do a roundup of the slot manufacturers for the show issue of the magazine, to be distributed at the World Gaming Congress, then the sole gaming trade show in the U.S. At the time, Casino Journal was in a tabloid- size format, having been conceived as a break- room magazine for Atlantic City casino employees expanded its coverage to the entire industry. That I continued to do the annual slot roundup as the number of manufacturers expanded and contracted over the years. The suppliers came to trust that they could show me confidential information about slot games yet to be released (some not even in prototype form yet) without me divulging the information to anyone before the show issue came out. Eventually, the special section—called “World of Slots” in Casino Journal—would involve me visiting the slot manufacturers in person during the summer and writing an article on each company. It’s a mouthful of words—usually north of 20,000—but the task was made easier because I covered the same companies for years and knew their situations off the top of my head. column, “Frankly Speaking” in this magazine. (He snuck my photo to a cartoonist to get that goofy As usual, there are plenty of informative features in this issue, but enjoy the latest Global Games section. We hope it helps you as you traverse the trade show floor. Show Time Vol. 25 • No. 10 • OCTOBER 2026 Frank Legato, Editor-in-Chief flegato@ggbmagazine.com Robin Harrison, Publisher robin.harrison-millan@worldgamingbusiness.com Marjorie Preston, Managing Editor mpreston@ggbmagazine.com Monica Cooley, Art Director mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com Columnists Maureen Beddis • Christie Carpino Frank Fantini • Michael Pollock Contributing Editors Joseph Bills • Martin Bjoerck • Muhammad Cohen Kevin Dennis • Jess Marquez _____ 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, President and CEO, 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, International Center for Responsible Gaming • 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 FRANK LEGATO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF THE AGENDAUNFORGETTABLE REWARDS TRANSFORM YOUR LOYALTY PROGRAM TO MAKE EVERY PLAYER FEEL LIKE A VIP. ICONIC BRANDS rymaxinc.com Copyright ©2026 Rymax. All rights reserved.8 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2026 A new Gallup poll reports that U.S. adults are “significantly less likely” to gamble in 2026 compared to a decade ago. The steepest drops are in the “three most common activities:” buying state lottery tickets, gambling at a casino and taking part in an office pool. Bingo and video poker have also declined. The results are based on June and July surveys of more than 2,200 U.S. adults. Forty-five percent of participants report gambling in the past year, down from 64 percent in 2016. Moreover, just 57 percent of Americans feel gambling is “morally acceptable,” down from 67 percent in 2016. The drop in in-person casino gambling “could be a result of the rise of internet gambling,” the report continues. Only 4 percent of U.S. adults report gambling for money on the internet, “the only form measured in the survey that has not shown a decline over time.” In contrast to most other gambling trends, betting on college and professional sports has been “relatively flat” since 2003. Yet fewer today say they bet on college and pro sports than in earlier Gallup polls from the late 1980s and 1990s. BY THE NUMBERS FEWER U.S. ADULTS GAMBLING IN 2026 VS.2016 A ccording to the Business Research Company, through 2030, the casino gaming sector will be driven by increasing development of integrated resorts, rising tourism and leisure travel, and advancements in digital ecosystems and cashless payment technologies. Growth could be curtailed by more stringent government regulations and compliance requirements, high gambling taxes and what the August report calls “legal fragmentation and regulatory uncertainty across regions.” “Differing gambling laws, inconsistent enforcement standards and ongoing policy changes across jurisdictions are creating operational risks and limiting cross-border expansion for casino operators,” the research states. These companies are now tops in the global casino market: MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp., Boyd Gaming, Penn Entertainment, Hard Rock International, Genting Berhad, Galaxy Entertainment Group, SJM Holdings, Melco Resorts and Entertainment, Flutter Entertainment, Kindred Group, Evoke, the Betsson Group, the Rank Group, Crown Resorts, Sun International, Sands China and SkyCity Entertainment Group. 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