GLI welcomes nearly 300 regulators to North American Roundtable

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Nearly 300 regulators from across North America and the Caribbean gathered in Las Vegas last week for GLI’s North American Roundtable.

Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), the world’s leading gaming testing laboratory and technical consultancy, put a sharp focus on cutting-edge technologies and their potential impact on North American jurisdictions during the Roundtable, which took place March 12 and 13 at the Flamingo Las Vegas. The event was produced by GLI University.

GLI President and CEO James Maida said, “As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we were thrilled to welcome so many regulators from such a wide range of jurisdictions to the Roundtable. There is no other event in the world that draws this many regulators together, and our Roundtable has become recognized worldwide as one of the most informative and important gaming education events of the year. It is our pleasure to produce the event and provide regulators with the most up-to-date information possible to help them in their important responsibilities.”

The event also drew thought-leaders from across the gaming industry spectrum. Delivering the keynote address was Dr. Bo Bernhard, Executive Director of the International Gaming Institute at UNLV, who gave a historical context to the future of gaming and regulation.

Next, Maida and GLI Senior Director Technical Compliance Patrick Moore led a discussion of the ten most important technological issues that regulators are likely to face in 2014, including experiential gaming, multi-state agreements, virtual WAP environments and game-level facial recognition.

GLI Director of Engineering Mackenzie Haugh led a panel discussion on modern content delivery systems and the growing trend of convergence. Panelists were Craig Durbin, Assistant Director of Security at the Oregon State Lottery; Matthew Katz, Chief Executive Officer of CAMS; and Stephen Patton, Senior Development Director at Bally Technologies.

GLI VP of Government Relations and General Counsel Kevin Mullally led a discussion of what may be the most significant issues facing the industry since regional expansion of gaming in the early 1990s, including iGaming, Social Gaming, the use of virtual currency, and new technologies for responsible gaming. Panelists included Elizabeth Cronan, Director of Gaming Policy for the American Gaming Association; Jamie Hummingbird, Director of the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission; Charles LaBoy, Assistant Director for Gaming for the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency; Tom Mungham, COO of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario; and Jeanne-Marie Wilkins, Senior VP & CIO for Isle of Capri Casinos.

iGaming in North America was the focus of a two-part session. First, discussing iGaming’s potential impact on Tribal operations were GLI’s National Director of Tribal Development Russell Witt and panelists Jana McKeag, President of Lowry Strategies; Jeffery Nelson, Counsel for the Tribal Internet Gaming Alliance (TIGA); and Valerie Spicer, Executive Director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association.

Part two of the discussion focused on non-Tribal operations in North America, including lotteries. GLI Canada CEO Salim Adatia led panelists Michael Ellen, Director of Licensing for the Alderney Gambling Control Commission; Terry Johnson, Commissioner for the Nevada Gambling Control Board and Jim Logue, Deputy Director of Video Lottery at the Delaware State Lottery.

Class II gaming continues to be of vital socioeconomic importance to gaming Tribes, and a spirited town hall-style forum covered a range of related issues. Witt moderated panelists Dan Little, Associate Commissioner for the NIGC; Daniel McGhee, Tribal Gaming Commission Administrator for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama; and Shelia Morago, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association.

The importance of Title 31 compliance and safeguards against fraud and reinforcing player protection came into sharper focus in a panel led by GLI VP of Global Services Ian Hughes. Len Senia, Owner & Manager, Senia Casino Management Service, began the discussion with a review of nine critical compliance areas, then joining the discussion were NEWave COO Tom Bechtel and Sr. VP of Global Marketing at JCM Global Tom Nieman.

GLI Director of Software Development Zack Hollis and Power Strategies President Stephanie Maddocks gave an in-depth overview of GLI’s newest exclusive tool, GLiCloud®. Developed from direct feedback from regulators GLiCloud saves time, saves money, reduces errors, and increases compliance by storing all device compliance information digitally in the cloud, all in real-time.

In addition to the panels, attendees took part in three learning modules. “Publishing Land-based Content to Websites” was addressed by Hughes and GLI Development Representative and Technical Project Manager Stephen Naylor.

GLI Technical Compliance Manager Faisal Khan and GLI Manager of Technical Compliance Chad Kornett led attendees through the topic “Improving Technical Regulations in an Interconnected World.”

Last, GLI Director of Professional Services William Higgins; Development Manager Professional Services, Salim Adatia; and Sean Mason, Senior Field Engineer reinforced the importance of network security in the session, “Project Health Check & Recovery, Network Risk Assessments and Network Communication Testing.”