In this week’s edition of the The Inside Scoop, I will recap my recent trip to Las Vegas for the 2014 iGaming North America Conference. Held at the Planet Hollywood Hotel Resort & Casino, this was probably one of the best conferences I’ve been to in a long time.
My trip started with a lunch meeting alongside the crew of one of my favorite poker brands, WSOP.com. Joined by the legendary @BillRini, as well as the other marketing rockstars, Adrian and Dee, we discussed some of the exciting promotions and developments WSOP.com has coming up in the regulated markets.
After working in this industry so long, it’s nice to see such a reputable and iconic brand such as WSOP.com making big moves online in the U.S. regulated markets. I’d look for more innovation and outside the box marketing from WSOP.com throughout the rest of 2014.
With the actual World Series of Poker in Vegas coming up this summer, it would be impressive to see if WSOP.com can successfully pass its main competitor’s, nj.partypoker.com, market share in New Jersey.
Notable Speaker Sessions At The 2014 IGNA
With the 3 regulated online gambling markets currently in the U.S. and several others on the brink of legislation, this may have been one of the most important IGNA’s to date. And with that, the organizers of IGNA pulled out no stops when making sure the speaker sessions were absolutely stellar.
With multiple sessions going on at once, there were several times I had to make tough decisions on which to actually attend.
Below are a few recaps of the three most notable sessions I attended:
Visionaries Perspective – Is iGaming the Problem or the Solution?
Probably one of the most anticipated speaker sessions of the entire conference, Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive and Andy Abboud, VP of Government Relations, sorry, Government Payoffs and Corruption (I kid Mr. Abboud), for Las Vegas Sands Corp. went toe to toe on regulated online gambling in the U.S.
As everyone knows, Sands Corp. is owned by billionaire geezer, Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged to spend whatever it takes in an effort to make online gambling in the U.S. completely illegal. The debate was a lively one that in my opinion made Mr. Abboud appear as a complete idiot.
Some of his arguments against regulated online gambling were laughable. At one point he mention 8 year old kids under Star Trek blankets in their bedrooms gambling online.
Mitch Garber, who is arguably one of the brightest minds in U.S. regulated gambling market was brilliant in his responses, as well as his arguments for online gambling. As he said, gambling in general is simply evolving with the times. The U.S. land based casinos need to evolve with times.
Garber mentioned that it’s nonsense trying to eliminate online gambling, as non-regulated rooms will always be here. Instead we need to protect consumers by allowing regulations.
He also made a strong point backed by studies that regulated online gambling will have no effect on land based profits, and if anything help land based casinos.
Easily one of the best conference speaker sessions I have ever attended. Howard Stutz wrote a nice summary of the exchanges here.
Regulated Online Poker – The Story So Far
How can you not like a panel with guys like @John_Mehaffey, @BillRini, and Dan from @PokerScout1. Even better, it was moderated by one of the regulated markets foremost industry journalist Chris Grove @OPReport. What a great mix of people to discuss this topic.
With two online poker operators (WSOP.com & UltimatePoker.com) the opinions on the questions asked varied greatly. It was interesting to hear the challenges still facing operators such as geo-location, as well as credit card processing.
It was also nice having the founder of PokerScout.com on the panel, who undoubtedly kept everyone honest with respect to traffic and stats. The panel agreed that although more poker rooms such as Virgin and Golden Nugget are expected to launch in New Jersey, the market can realistically only handle four online poker sites.
While opinions differed on many of the topics, all the panelists seemed to agree that California would be the “game changer” for U.S. regulated online gambling should that market open up.
Live at IGNA: As Close As You Want To Get To A Federally Prosecuted Sports Betting Trial
This was probably one of the more interesting sessions I attended. It opened with the Assistant U.S. Attorney from the U.S. Department of Justice of the Southern District of New York giving opening remarks. While he seemed like a nice enough gentleman, this is honestly the closest I would want to get to him again!!!
Where it got interesting though is when the team from @ifrahlaw hosted a mock federal trial that gave the audience a unique insight and understanding as to what a real federal sports betting trial might look like. A defendant stood trial on a mock stand and was examined and cross-examined.
At the end everyone was able to vote via twitter or text in real time on if the defendant was guilty or not. The audience indeed did find her guilty.
Overall, it was very well staged and gave a great perspective to those of us who have never been in a courtroom. And yea, that is the closest I EVER want to be to a federally prosecuted sports betting trial.
The Level Of Professionalism At iGNA Was Resounding
One resounding thing that stuck with me from this year’s IGNA was the shear level of professionalism. Not to take anything away from the IGB affiliate conferences, but there were a lot more executive level type individuals at this conference. Sure, it’s Las Vegas, but people were there to primarily do business versus the late night partying and gambling.
It was also finally nice to be back at a conference on U.S. soil where there was a great deal of optimism and excitement.
If I had to suggest a single conference that individuals working in the U.S. regulated gaming market should attend, it would be this one. In fact, I would say iGNA is a conference that is a must-attend.
