Casino Enterprise Management

High-priced watches are a tough sell in this Chinese enclave these days, but flashbulbs are flying off the shelves. While much of the chatter at the G2E Asia exhibition and conference in early June centered on the slowdown of growth in the world’s biggest gambling market, there’s no need to get out those feel-sorry-for-Macau violins just yet.

Check out these latest headlines and announcement from the gaming industry's top movers and shakers! Featuring a new approval for GLI, a Youth Sprint Car Racing sponsorship for INAG, a major honor for GameLogic, a new GM for Microsoft, a new CNIGA member, an important approval for PokerPro, and more.

At any given time, somewhere in the world a Gaming Laboratories International employee is at work testing or certifying a new technology, responding to a regulator or supplier’s question, or sending out an urgent letter. This July marks GLI’s 20th anniversary, and the independent gaming-equipment test lab has come a long way—along with the rest of the industry—in the past two decades.

All throughout our history, Native Americans have had a special relationship with our environment. In fact, this relationship is the substance of our identity and the essence of our tradition and cultural values. Land, water, fire and plants are sanctified in our prayers and used as symbols during our dialogue with the creator.

Gaming companies have historically made a huge proportion of their revenue from only a small proportion of their customer base. A senior casino executive who did not wish to be named once told us that “50 percent of the revenue comes from only 1 percent of the customers.” This huge skew, combined with a massive overall reduction in wealth (the Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example, has gone down 36 percent in one year), places the key revenue drivers of gaming business at risk in today’s economy.

In this second installment of CEM’s exploration of all things networked gaming, industry insiders and innovators tackle open standards. Are they working? Are they enough? Join us as industry-leading contributors share their thoughts on open standards, starting with the Gaming Standards Association’s System to System and Game to System standards and how they will affect the future of the casino floor.

Mum was the word regarding a Meadowlands “Boardwalk” racino at the aptly themed “Leadership in Challenging Times” 13th Annual East Coast Gaming Congress. Still, any mention of New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine addressing an audience will always pack a conference hall, and such was the case at the Atlantic City Convention Center this May 19.

Back in 1976 I took my first job in the publishing world at the youthful age of 16. It was a summertime position working in the mailroom of a large international textile trade association in St. Paul. Eight magazines were produced there each month, but they were laid out manually with film and tape. It was very manual and a labor intensive process. There wasn’t any desktop publishing in those days.

The gaming industry is no longer overwhelmingly populated by independent operators and small suppliers working solely in the United States. The industry, rather, has transformed over the past two decades into a global behemoth. Major casino operators have properties located not only in multiple U.S. jurisdictions, but now also own, or participate in joint venture ownings, properties in foreign countries.