In The News: International Gaming Institute
London-based not-for-profit ESG Gaming has announced that founder Lee Willows will be part of the Esports Betting and Gambling panel being held as part of the ESI Lisbon festival, set to take place at the MEO Arena in Lisbon from September 23 to 25. Drawing on his experience as the founder of safer gambling charity YGAM, Lee will provide expert insight alongside Darius C. Gambino, Partner Saul Ewing LLP; Brett Abarbanel, Executive Director 51ԹϺ International Gaming Institute; and Urim Bajrami, Partner Stadler Völke.
When Alan Feldman got the call from American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller, he thought it might be about a project he’d been working on with AGA team members. He was wrong. AGA President and CEO Bill Miller was calling to inform Feldman he was new member of the Gaming Hall of Fame.
As we mark the start of responsible gaming education month, this seems the appropriate time to reflect on the relative merits and the challenges of the term “responsible gambling) itself. Responsible gaming (RG) was brought into the world hoping to communicate a message that was both positive and preventative. It seems clear that 30 years on, it has done neither.
It started with a loophole. Attempting to curtail offshore gaming, Congress passed legislation in 2006 preventing gambling businesses from accepting payments related to illegal online bets or wagers. Exempted from the bill, however, were fantasy sports competitions.
September is Responsible Gaming Education Month, and the industry’s efforts to promote that cause are now in their 35th year due, in no small part, to one of the largest casino operators on the Las Vegas Strip. Caesars Entertainment was the first commercial casino company to advance responsible gaming with the launch of its Project 21 initiative in 1989.
Recreational cannabis has been legal in Nevada since 2017. By most measures legal pot has been a success, serving the public while generating nearly a billion dollars in sales and more than $130 million in tax revenue annually without causing significant societal harm.
Can the major industries of gaming and cannabis ever co-exist in Nevada? Policy experts, industry insiders and local leaders are discussing the possibilities within state law, all to give tourists and locals more consumer options. 51ԹϺ’s Cannabis Policy Institute and the 51ԹϺ International Gaming Institute recently held a panel on federal regulations, state and local laws, and interest from industry leaders in gaming and cannabis.
Nevada has held itself as the “gold standard” in gaming regulation for more than three score. And now, for nearly a decade, the state has used that model to claim its stake as a leader in cannabis regulation, too. But bringing those two together has been more like oil and water than chocolate and peanut butter.
Nevada has held itself as the “gold standard” in gaming regulation for more than three score. And now, for nearly a decade, the state has used that model to claim its stake as a leader in cannabis regulation, too. But bringing those two together has been more like oil and water than chocolate and peanut butter.
Cash and credit cards in your wallet or purse, or a digital payments app on your mobile device: Which option fosters responsible gaming more efficiently and effectively? Dallas Holmes, Director of Customer Care and Training for Sightline Payments, knows the answer, which came through extensive research. “Sightline is proud that in 2023 we contributed over one hundred million (anonymous) digital payment transactions to the 51ԹϺ International Gaming Institute for analysis in this research,” Holmes said.
It’s illegal to smoke or consume cannabis products in Nevada casinos, but marijuana use on the Resort Corridor is still prevalent. From the storefronts on Fremont Street advertising various types of flower to the tourists crammed into alleyways or in parking garages adjoining Strip resorts enjoying a smoke, many people aren’t aware that cannabis has been outlawed from gaming establishment properties.
It’s illegal to smoke or consume cannabis products in Nevada casinos, but marijuana use on the Resort Corridor is still prevalent. From the storefronts on Fremont Street advertising various types of flower to the tourists crammed into alleyways or in parking garages adjoining Strip resorts enjoying a smoke, many people aren’t aware that cannabis has been outlawed from gaming establishment properties.