10 Trends for 2025

Every December, GGB Magazine connects with some experts in the gaming business and our own writers to give readers a hint of what’s coming up in the new year. For 2025, the unknowns are high on the list. In some cases, we may seem like we’re spitballing, but read a little closer and you’ll find the value.

Technology is speeding up. Keeping pace is crucial as your competitors surely are doing a deep dive into the latest systems that can improve their performance. The industry is littered with companies that failed to recognize the advances in technology or misread those programs to their detriment.

Sports betting continues to be a low-margin activity, and the dominance of the top two companies is becoming harder and harder to penetrate. And it won’t help if advertising restrictions are imposed in various jurisdictions.

In the follow-the-leader culture of the slot business, cabinets are getting larger and bonus programs are getting more complex.

Indian tribes may be the latest beneficiary of the REIT phenomenon that has changed the commercial business. But what about tribal sovereignty? How can reservation land be owned by a REIT?

In the field of responsible gaming, doesn’t self exclusion offer the simplest fix to people afflicted with problem gambling? And if it does, why don’t we have an international database to make it more effective?

Gaming is always under the threat of increased taxes, and with the change of government in the U.K. that threat, while momentarily dodged, still remains.

Our 10 trends are certainly not all-inclusive. What’s happening in Thailand and the rest of the Pacific Rim? How about the UAE? Who’s in the best position to take advantage of the burgeoning gaming industry there? Texas, Georgia, LatAm? They are all in play.

So let’s all pay attention as we move through 2025. Every trend has an equal and opposite trend, to alter a known scientific theory. Stay alert and stay ahead.

Giant Cabinets

Even amid concerns about sightlines in casinos, slot-makers keep churning out huge cabinets

 

It wasn’t that long ago that jumbo cabinets were solely a novelty item for casinos. People would be drawn to slot floors by a giant three-reel stepper slot with a handle seven feet in the air, try a few spins, and move on to the rest of the slot floor.

One of the last pure novelty cabinets of this style was the Big Red cabinet, introduced by AGS with the game Colossal Diamonds in 2014. Shortly after that, though, cabinets for core and premium slot games began to grow.

Aristocrat was among the first to popularize grand-sized cabinets for the main floor. In 2015, its licensed Big Bang Theory game was presented on the Behemoth cabinet, featuring an 84-inch monitor. That same year, the supplier released its first large-format curved-screen cabinet, the Arc Double, with stacked 43-inch portrait monitors—to be outdone a few years later by the Neptune Double, with stacked 49-inch curved monitors that nearly touched the ceilings of many casinos.

By this time, several manufacturers were experimenting with premium games on huge cabinets. In 2017, Scientific Games (now Light & Wonder) released Monopoly Hot Shot as the inaugural game on its TwinStar V75 cabinet, with an imposing 75-inch high-definition monitor. That same year, IGT launched its CrystalCurve TRUE 4D cabinet, featuring a 50-inch curved portrait ultra-HD top display and 32-inch, landscape, ultra-HD lower display.

Also in 2017, Konami introduced its Concerto Opus cabinet, with a 65-inch monitor, and Everi launched the Empire MPX, with a 55-inch portrait LCD monitor stacked on top of a 27-inch base screen.

By this decade, every slot manufacturer was latching on to the large-format cabinet trend. Light & Wonder has the giant Mural, Cosmic and Horizon cabinets. Konami has the Dimension 75C; AGS has the Spectra SL75+; Everi has the Dynasty Dynamic; Ainsworth has the A-STAR Curve XL.

As suppliers launched larger and larger cabinets, the logistics of where they are placed on casino floors changed as well. Formerly, a giant cabinet would be placed either by itself near the entrance to a casino floor as a special attraction or would be placed against a wall. Now, they can be found throughout the slot floor, in circular pods, in banks, and as stand-alone end caps.

Recently, there have been some slot floor design concerns in relation to the large-format cabinets. Aristocrat launched its MarsX and Baron cabinets, with lower profiles in response to customer concerns regarding big cabinets blocking sightlines on the casino floor. Light & Wonder designed its Kascada Slant cabinet with the same pitch—a lower profile for clear sightlines across the floor.

The creation of these alternative cabinet lineups, though, has not slowed the march toward bigger, more elaborate hardware.

“Sightlines were always overvalued,” says Buddy Frank, who founded his BF Slot Strategies after a long career in slot operations. “Slot machines are the revenue generators—not the view to a casino cage, ceiling tiles or a far wall.

“The larger cabinets have become amazing beacons of excitement and entertainment. Today, they attract players like moths to a porch light. Broad aisles are great for traffic flow, but the play areas with the taller boxes stimulate more play by offering a maze of wonder and discovery.”

A look at this year’s G2E exhibits certainly supports that opinion. Light & Wonder rolled out amazing new branded games on its largest cabinets, including Dracula, Kong Skull Island and The Wizard of Oz—I’ll Get You My Pretty.

IGT launched its Wheel of Fortune Trio, a massive 12-foot display including three large cabinets and a giant version of the famous wheel. Konami offered the game-show theme BUZZR and the unique Bingo Frenzy Stampede on its jumbo Dimension 75C. Novomatic displayed its Piggy Prizes game on the V.I.P. Galaxy, which is basically a leather recliner in front of a game played out on a flat-screen TV.

No, the trend toward bigger, brighter and flashier slot hardware is not over yet. In fact, as the slot market gets more and more competitive, it’s a good bet the biggest and brightest are yet to come.

—Frank Legato

Playing Safe

Protecting kids from the ills of gambling, and why an all-out ad ban is a bad idea

 

Call it what you like—safe play, consumer protections or sustainable gaming—but responsible gambling is having its moment. During a year in which no U.S. state legislature approved any kind of gambling expansion, responsible gambling became the industry’s “it” girl.

Lawmakers from Illinois to New York and Ireland to Ontario passed tighter gambling advertising laws while state and federal governments in the U.S. and beyond considered various degrees of such measures, including all-out advertising bans.

No U.S. state—not even those with the most stringent responsible gaming regulations—has a total ban on advertising.

“I think it sounds like an easy solution to deal with the rapid expansion of advertising and promotions in gaming where there is an addictive component,” says Cathy Judd-Stein, former chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. “I think an informed, data-based decision is what’s needed now.

“But I’m hesitant (to consider a ban) because the illegal market has the ability to advertise and advertise and advertise without any guidelines. I think a ban on the regulated industry would be harmful.”

In the U.S., a bill proposed by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Paul Tonko would do just that. Similar measures are being discussed in Australia and Canada. In all cases, the goal seems to be to keep wagering advertising off the air and away from youth. But problem and responsible gambling advocates have previously said such bans won’t work.

“I’m not a fan of, and I am a huge advocate against, the banning of anything,” lobbyist Bill Pascrell says. “I think it’s important that we do not put complete bans out there. In terms of athletes and celebrities, they can be utilized in a way that is useful for responsible gaming… I don’t think that banning anything is useful. And there is no proof that it works.

“Ad bans are very bad news. You won’t have anything on the airwaves to show where to go” for help with gambling addiction.

In Ontario, regulators landed on a middle ground. They did not ban advertising nor the use of celebrities. But in the new regulations that went into effect in February, celebrities can only be used for responsible gambling advertising.

In 2024, New York lawmakers passed a law that requires that any advertisement for sports betting or gambling carry “warnings about potential harmful and addictive effects of gambling.” It also mandates that the state gambling commission work with the state’s addiction services programs to ensure that all advertisements—for sports betting, land-based casinos and online gambling—include hotline numbers.

Also in the U.S., Illinois regulators tightened advertising guidelines, following the leads of lawmakers and regulators in Massachusetts and Ohio. The new rules, passed in September, strengthen existing measures by banning the use of words like “free,” “cost-free” or “free of risk.” They also ban gambling advertising on college campuses or other venues where the majority of attendees are under 21 and ban the use of messaging or logos on merchandise like toys that might appeal to youth.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission last summer added a first-of-its-kind prohibition when it approved a rule that prohibits offering promotions to anyone under the age of 21 during a “non-gaming, consumer transaction.” The rule was in response to Fanatics Sportsbook—part of the larger Fanatics merchandise empire—launching in the state and offering gambling credits to merchandise customers.

RG Leader Judd-Stein and the MGC have been on the forefront of such protections since wagering was legalized in Massachusetts in 2022. In that state, it was lawmakers that set the tone for a strict responsible gambling and consumer protection landscape.

Judd-Stein says in her state, lawmakers “put a premium” on such measures and gave regulators a head start by creating a research agenda.

“We were really well positioned” to prioritize responsible gambling, she says. The research “really informed the application process. The statute requires that operators submit an annual responsible gaming plan. I give the legislature a lot of credit for establishing this, and then the commissioners felt a responsibility to adhere to that.”

Across the world in legal gambling jurisdictions, responsible gambling has also been a top-line issue. The U.K. is testing the affordability checks endorsed by a 2023 white paper, while Ireland’s Advertising Standards Authority laid out guidelines that counsel against “encouraging” socially irresponsible behavior or suggesting that gambling could solve financial problems. The new standards also prohibit gambling ads that would appeal to or be available via “selection of media” to children.

— Jill R. Dorson

Marketing Trends

In a rapidly changing environment, casino executives need to be ready

 

As we approach 2025, casino marketing continues to evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements, changing customer behavior, and the increasing demand for personalized experiences. While some trends from past years remain relevant, 2025 will see a sharper focus on real-time personalization, privacy, and brand sustainability. Here are the trends we see as critical for casino marketers to consider in 2025.

Mobile-First Strategy

While a mobile-first approach is not new, 2025 will push casino marketers beyond mobile-friendly websites and basic apps. AI-driven mobile engagement might be the game changer. Casinos using AI to optimize mobile interactions will be able to offer real-time personalized experiences based on player behavior.

Casinos have an underutilized opportunity to turn their apps into digital loyalty gateways, allowing players to start the loyalty journey even before stepping into the casino. Instead of static offers, predictive analytics will allow for dynamic content—think push notifications that adapt to individual guest actions, whether browsing the app or walking through the casino. Mobile apps must integrate cashless payments, rewards systems, and AI-driven personalized offers to meet evolving customer expectations and bring the casino experience directly to players’ hands.

Privacy-First Personalization

Customer loyalty remains a cornerstone of casino marketing, but how it’s nurtured will shift in 2025. With increasing data privacy regulations, casinos must balance first-party data collection with personalized marketing. The key will be to create seamless, privacy-compliant interactions.

2025 will bring about Brand Loyalty 2.0, a renewed focus on authentic and purpose-driven engagement. As Player Performance Group President Chris Province notes, “Loyalty is born from delight. Casinos that can transform mundane transactions into moments of delight will enhance loyalty. For instance, simple interactions, like celebrating players’ milestones or sending personalized thank-you messages, can make loyalty feel more like a relationship than a transaction.”

With increasing data privacy regulations, casinos must also balance first-party data collection with personalized marketing. By using zero-party data (where customers voluntarily share their preferences) combined with first-party data, casinos can enhance loyalty programs with highly tailored offers while remaining compliant. Blocking and tackling the fundamentals of current technology—before adding new widgets—can improve outcomes with existing tools, yielding a guaranteed ROI in personalization without overextending on new tech investments.

Brand Values and Loyalty 2.0

In 2025, Brand Loyalty 2.0 will be the cornerstone of successful casino marketing. Building brands on a foundation of authenticity and purpose rather than just luxury or entertainment is about creating memorable experiences worth sharing. Brand Loyalty 2.0 means shaping a brand that resonates with customers and employees, fostering a culture of trust and pride in guest experiences and workplace dynamics.

This more profound, holistic approach—what we might call brand sustainability—emphasizes purpose-driven interactions, responsible gaming, and genuine community engagement.

Province adds that creating experiences people feel are worth sharing is essential for this level of loyalty. For example, influencers with authentic followings can often help spread our messages. Still, guests and employees who experience something remarkable will tell their stories, and word-of-mouth spreads in a way that genuinely resonates with the community.

Transparent, ethical messaging and a commitment to meaningful practices will distinguish forward-thinking casinos from competitors. This will create a brand that connects on an emotional level and inspires loyalty from customers and staff that transcends traditional measures.

AI-Driven Personalization and Advanced Data Analytics

Artificial intelligence will no longer be a buzzword but a critical tool in marketing strategies. AI-driven personalization will allow casinos to predict customer preferences and behaviors more accurately, delivering bespoke experiences that resonate with individual guests.

Chalkline CEO Dan Kustelski highlights the power of digital loyalty programs and AI to distill player data and deliver meaningful, tailored marketing messages that feel personal and relevant. From personalized promotions to custom game suggestions, AI will optimize interactions at every customer journey stage, whether through personalized promotions, custom game suggestions, or dynamic content within casino apps.

Artificial intelligence tools are also helping casino marketers do the proverbial more with less, as they are optimized for repetitive tasks and brainstorming.

Moreover, advanced analytics will offer real-time insights into guest behaviors, helping marketers make data-driven decisions about promotions, reinvestment strategies, and guest experiences. As consumer journeys become more fragmented, casinos will rely heavily on AI-powered tools to track, measure, and adjust marketing campaigns for maximum impact.

Social Commerce and Omnichannel Integration

Social commerce will be a critical component of casino marketing as social platforms evolve into central shopping destinations. Shoppable ads on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, combined with interactive video content, will allow casinos to convert digital interactions into physical visits more effectively. Kustelski emphasizes the impact of micro-influencers who resonate within local markets, providing authentic, personalized endorsements that drive interest.

An omnichannel approach will ensure consistent, personalized messaging across all touchpoints, whether through social media, email, or in-person interactions. For example, leveraging social media to sign up new loyalty members who can begin interacting with your brand before ever stepping onto the property creates a seamless flow from social media to the casino floor, ultimately improving engagement with a wider audience.

In 2025, casino marketers must embrace the future where AI, data privacy and brand purpose take center stage. However, this must be balanced with high-impact fundamentals that create sustainable growth. Technology available to all your competitors is not going to be the primary path for long-term sustainable growth in a competitive market. Integrating these trends into marketing strategies will ensure that casinos survive and thrive as people become more digitally driven.

—Julia Carcamo, President, J Carcamo & Associates marketing consultancy; founder, Casino Marketing Boot Camp

Slots and Pots

The pot-collection feature is now ubiquitous among new slot games

 

There’s another “new wheel” in slot game development. It’s called the pot-collection feature, also known as the “metamorphic” feature.

The reason it’s the new wheel is that bonus wheels were the earliest example of a slot game mechanic that was launched by one manufacturer and subsequently copied by virtually every other slot supplier.

While a 1970s mechanical Bally slot featured a spinning bonus wheel, the idea really took off in the mid 1990s, when Randy Adams of then-Anchor Gaming patented a roulette-style bonus wheel on a slot machine. Bally licensed the technology for a game called Wheel of Gold, but in 1996, IGT licensed it for a game that would cause the first major bonus trend, Wheel of Fortune.

IGT eventually acquired Anchor Gaming, along with the wheel patent. While it was active, any supplier creating a wheel game would license the technology from IGT. And they did. But when the patent expired, the flood gates opened, with just about every slot manufacturer launching games featuring bonus wheels.

More recently, the hold-and-spin bonus feature, pioneered by Aristocrat on the games Lightning Link and Dragon Link, became the “new wheel” in slot games. The success of those Aristocrat games centered on the games’ branded “Hold & Spin” feature. Six coins, carrying cash-on-reels symbols, trigger the feature. The cash symbols lock in place, and the player gets three spins in which to land another coin. Every new coin returns the spin meter to three.

The feature continues until three spins without a coin, after which all the locked cash-on-reels credits are awarded, or until all 15 reel spots carry coins, which triggers the top Grand Jackpot.

Each manufacturer has released its own version of the hold-and-spin bonus, and each adds its own twist to the feature. Most now include lower-level jackpots and progressives in the prizes that can land and can extend the feature at the same time. Players can win multiple jackpots in these features. Special add-ons include extra spins, multipliers, “collect” symbols that add up all the coins on the screen and award them instantly, wild symbols and other enhancements.

This year, the big new game mechanic is the pot-collection bonus or metamorphic feature—in particular, the “three-pot bonus.” This is where “perceived persistence” is deployed to show you three pots of coins, three pigs, three panda bears or three of any of a number of other icons. The “pots” are of different colors, and each time a matching symbol lands on the reels, it travels up to the corresponding pot, making it seem to bulge as the award gets closer.

At any given point, one of those coins or icons can burst the corresponding pot, triggering a bonus with a particular enhancement. It’s normally a hold-and-spin bonus, with burst pots awarding enhancements to the spins like multipliers for coin awards, an extra spin when the three have expired, a “collection” feature awarding all coins, expanding reels that unlock new rows, or, popular lately, a “double” pot that triggers a second reel set; the hold-and-respin bonus then accumulates coins on 30 spots instead of 15.

There are many more simple versions of the mechanic, such as the game hosting one of the first appearances, if not the first, Light & Wonder’s 88 Fortunes. Early games like this typically feature a single pot, triggering a free-spin bonus. Multiple pots are now featured, triggering not only hold-and-spin features but enhanced free-game bonuses.

In the vast majority of cases, anticipation builds as the character above the reels grows fatter, the coin pot grows larger, or some other animation makes the player feel like, “one more coin, it’s going to hit.” The truth is that once the level of coins reaches a certain threshold, the pot or pig or piggy bank can burst at any random point.

Triggers on all of these games can burst two pots at a time, and all of them boast their most generous bonus event when all three pots trigger at the same time, for a triple-enhanced free game or hold-and-spin event.

Some of the manufacturers are now adding funny cartoon game mascots to the mix. They appear randomly to add wild symbols to the reels, to add multipliers, or often, to add bonus triggers to the reels, helping to trigger the bonus by adding the last two or three trigger symbols to reach the required six and enact the hold-and-spin feature.

One of the newest iterations of the feature comes from Zitro, which, at G2E in October, demonstrated the new game Merging Fu Pots. In this game, for an extra per-spin ante wager, the three pots merge into one, guaranteeing all hold-and-spin features occur with the maximum enhancements (in this case, including two independent screen arrays).

The pot-collection style of bonus feature is still evolving, to be sure. As each manufacturer adds its own twist to the bonus, it will remain a reliable mechanic for years to come.

—Frank Legato

Sports Betting Graveyard

Sports betting operators exiting the U.S.

 

While BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, Draft-Kings, ESPN Bet, Fanatics and FanDuel continue to grow their customer databases and jockey for market share in sports betting, many of the smaller and often independent platforms have disappeared, leaving consumers with fewer choices.

This year was the first since sports betting became a states’ rights issue in 2018 in which no state legislation legalized sports betting, though Missouri voters did in that state in November. Two states—North Carolina and Vermont—launched live wagering, the lowest number since 2018. The only number that appears to be rising is the number of wagering platforms that are downsizing or dropping out of the business altogether.

Companies like Betr, Sporttrade and Underdog Sports have grown in this environment. Rather than rushing to get licensed and go live in any available market, these companies have thoughtfully and intentionally selected markets in which they believe they can thrive. The growth has been incremental.

Over time, even successful national companies like Churchill Downs and Wynn Resorts have launched and then closed down. When the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned in 2018, many companies—even those outside of sports betting—embraced the opportunity to give it a go. FuBo TV and Maxim, a “modern” men’s brand that has a flagship magazine, launched a handful of online sportsbooks that folded within two years.

Since 2020, more than 20 companies have shuttered at least some of their U.S. digital sportsbooks, often with the goal of “focusing on the core business.”

In 2024, the contraction continued. Five sports betting platforms that had been active in multiple states announced or completed U.S. exits or downgrades. Betway, SI Sportsbook and Unibet opted to get out of the digital wagering business altogether. SuperBook and WynnBet pulled out of multiple states but continue to offer online betting in Nevada.

“You have a very competitive landscape and everyone is in a sprint while trying to survive the marathon,” says consultant Brendan Bussmann of BGlobal. “I think the challenge is if you are a small operator who is competing in an environment regardless of whether you are where you think you need be, and being outspent by the larger operators.”

For the five operators that shut down all or most of their U.S. operations in 2024, Bussmann appears to be on the money. WynnBet pulled out of eight U.S. markets in August 2023, and completed its non-Nevada exit in Massachusetts earlier this year. The company cited the high cost of customer acquisition as a key factor in the decision.

For SuperBook, quick expansion was in part predicated on being able to offer its NFL SuperContests in other states. Due to regulatory issues, that concept never came to fruition and in July, after four years of rapid expansion, the company said it was unable to capture market share and would return to focusing on its Las Vegas retail locations and platform. It shut down eight platforms.

Betway, owned by SuperBook, also announced in July that it was pulling back on U.S. operations. The company was live in nine U.S. jurisdictions, saying it could not see a path to profitability.

SI Sportsbook is the most recent to announce its withdrawal, which is still in progress. Unibet announced its withdrawal late in 2023, saying it could not compete against the U.S. market leaders. The company completed its exit in 2024.

For consumers, there are fewer and fewer choices. And though not tangible, it’s also possible that innovation will slow down as the number of companies competing for customers shrinks.

“There will always be innovations coming from other groups along the way, but the biggest profitability for the consumer is consistent competition, whether that is three players or a dozen,” Bussmann says. “Competition drives innovation.”

Amid the exodus, Betr, the microbetting wagering site backed by MMA star Jake Paul, is growing incrementally. It is live in two states with plans for more, despite pulling out of Massachusetts early in the year. Sporttrade, which offers stock-market-style trading in some jurisdictions, is now live in five U.S. states. And Underdog Sports, which has a massive fantasy sports business as well, launched in North Carolina in March. The company is licensed in Ohio and has market access in several other legal states, and has also chosen a methodical approach.

“Look at who has survived or at least said, ‘Hey… here are our core markets and this is where we are going to compete’ vs. saying, ‘Hey, here’s a new market, we’re going to go compete,’” Bussmann says. “If those that have withdrawn had said, ‘Hey, there are three markets that I think work; I‘m going go be in those,’ then they would still be around.”

—Jill R. Dorson

All You Need Is Self-Exclusion

Responsible gaming practices need to focus on those being harmed

 

Afew years ago, I was at a dinner party and soon after learning what I did for a living, someone I had just met volunteered to me that he was in the casino self-exclusion program. He said that he had unsuccessfully tried to stop gambling on his own and that self-exclusion was the only thing that could have helped him with his gambling. He was probably right.

Responsible gambling interventions tend to focus ideas that seem sensible. Pop-up messages that interrupt focus and encourage breaks, pre-commitment tools that let players limit their spend, on-site staff who specialize in answering questions about gaming myths… these best practices all make intuitive sense.

But when we look at the evidence, the only operator-led solution that shows a measurable effect on gambling problems is self-exclusion. Everything else seems to be too small to matter or too hard to measure. Meanwhile, the results of self-exclusion are incredible. In just six months, we can see that excluders will fall from being well within high-risk categories of gambling problems to, on average, low-risk individuals with minimal urges to gamble and high reported self-control over their gambling.

Now of course, other things matter. Prevalence rates of gambling problems have been falling for decades at levels that cannot be explained by self-exclusion enrollment alone. Something else impacts player health—and maybe it’s everything in combination—but looking at the evidence that we have today, it’s hard to say that regulators or operators should focus on anything else until they have produced a well-managed self-exclusion program.

The “well-managed” part of that sentence should not be taken for granted. From research I have read and been a part of, here are a few insights about the importance of excellence in execution:

• On-site marketing matters: Of all the places where excluders report hearing about the program, four out of five will have included literature from inside the casino. That’s more than friends, family, help lines, Gamblers Anonymous and treatment providers, combined. Program marketing should be more than a brochure at the rewards desk. Everyone who walks in the door should have enough awareness to understand the basics of how the program works.
• The network size matters: The most used strategy for violators of self-exclusion is to just go to a different location. To be effective, programs must be cross-operator, and ideally, cross-border.
• Effective enforcement matters: Excluders that attempt to gamble while in the program and get caught immediately have outcomes that look like people who never tried to gamble, while those who don’t get caught the first time they try to gamble show effectively no improvements from enrolling. Whether it’s facial recognition, mandatory ID checks, or just knowledgeable staff, there needs to be a barrier that keeps excluders out.

While some markets execute on these programs well, today the United States is mostly an unfortunate patchwork of unknown, ineffective and/or absent programs. Fixing this should be highest priority for every regulator and operator in the country. Operators in the same state need to address technical and operational issues to integrate and enforce their programs, regulators need to solve policy issues to enable programs that cross state lines, and some places like Nevada— Nevada’s self-limit program allows enrollees to opt out of direct marketing programs at individual casinos but does not restrict gambling access—should actually create an exclusion program.

As an industry that is often torn between a balance of preserving individual choice against improving public health, perfecting self-exclusion is the most obvious area in which to invest. It empowers gamblers to make positive binding choices for their futures, but it does not inhibit or adversely impact other players in any material way. Self-exclusion is an incredible solution, unique to the gaming industry, and it deserves far more attention.

—Dr. Kahlil Philander is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hospitality Business Management at Washington State University.

British Bonus

Tax rates are always an issue in the U.K., especially when the government is looking for more money

 

When you do not like something, tax it.

Throughout history, gambling has always had its detractors, no more so than in the U.K. Governments around the globe have sought to control gambling through regulation and some have had the bright idea that applying special taxes to gambling is in and of itself a way to control the supply as long as the rate is set high enough.

I understand that if supply is restricted the person with permission to operate gambling should pay some amount to the government for the privilege. But my libertarian instinct does not understand why, when there is no control over the supply (anybody can have permission provided they are fit and proper and meet certain financial thresholds, etc.), there should be an additional tax paid on top of general corporate income tax and the other taxes that apply to businesses.

The U.K. has a whole array of taxes that are applied to different types of gambling. Each product has a different tax (or duty) rate. The highest rate applies to land-based casinos—it starts at a rate of 15 percent but rapidly escalates to a marginal rate of 50 percent of GGR above approximately £14 million. France has a similar rate for land-based casinos, but the computation is so much more complicated.

The 50 percent top rate (up from 40 percent) was introduced in 2007 by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, many believe as punishment for the British casino industry lobbying to bring down the Labor Government’s flagship “super casino” initiative (they would have been anything but “super casinos”).

The tax rates on gambling used to follow the principle that the “harder” the gambling, the higher the rate.

Financial spread betting is taxed at 3 percent; gambling machines, depending on stake and prize limits, are taxed at between 5 percent and 25 percent of GGR (there are eight categories of gaming machines!); bingo at 10 percent; lottery at 12 percent of sales; horse and dog racing at 15 percent (there is an additional 10 percent levy on GGR from bets on horse races that is paid to the horse racing industry); and online gaming at 21 percent.

It does appear to be an anomaly if you follow the trend above that gambling in a casino should be taxed at over double the rate of playing casino games on your phone. I am not arguing for higher taxes on online gambling but for lower taxes on land-based casinos. But then again, pigs might fly!

In October, the anti-gambling brigade at the Guardian newspaper had access to reports from two think tanks (lobby groups), the Social Market Foundation (SMF) and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The former pushed the idea that remote gambling taxes should be doubled to 42 percent, which would raise almost £1 billion, and the latter proposed it should be raised to 50 percent to bring it into line with international norms.

Both the SMF and the IPPR took the view that gambling was a pernicious activity, and it deserved to pay more in tax to right the wrongs it does to society.

The Guardian suggested that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves was favorably reviewing this idea and would raise the tax on remote gambling in the annual budget in early November. Needless to say, this led to a collapse in share price of the major online gambling companies.

The British Gaming Council, the trade association for Britain’s gambling industry, rode to the rescue, touting that the industry employs lots of people and pays a huge amount in taxes every year (£3.4 billion last year)—if that is your only argument, you have lost the battle.

One week before the budget, putting further pressure on the Chancellor, the Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling published a report and an editorial arguing for a public health response to gambling. In the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies (slightly altered), “well they would, wouldn’t they?,” the clue is in the name of the commission.

It is very sad that the Lancet, a highly respected peer-reviewed journal, would allow a commission with the Lancet’s name to use a meta-analysis (read cherry-pick) of studies and rely on at least one study that was unbelievably inept to support the commission’s view that gambling is more harmful than it possibly is.

I am the last person to argue that gambling is not harmful, but please use real data and come to the issue with an open mind so that we can actually understand the true level of harm and devise policies to mitigate the damage that it causes. Raising taxes on gambling does not reduce harm.

In this event, Reeves did not raise any of the gambling taxes in her first budget; she left them where they were. This was followed by a lot of self-congratulatory back-slapping from industry bodies and hand-wringing from the anti-gambling lobby.

BGC CEO Grainne Hurst issued a statement: “We welcome today’s budget and its commitment to not increase gambling duties on the regulated betting and gaming sector… We have been clear, any duty rises now would have hit customers, prevented growth, risked jobs and bolstered the unsafe, unregulated gambling black market.”

But as with all things, the devil is in the details. The budget papers contained the following paragraph: “The government will consult next year on proposals to bring remote gambling (meaning gambling offered over the internet, telephone, TV and radio) into a single tax, rather than taxing it through a three-tax structure. This will aim to simplify, future-proof and close loopholes in the system.”

I think this can be interpreted as taxes on remote gambling will go up. All that is left to decide is by how much.

—Andrew Tottenham, Managing Director, Tottenham & Co, a business consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, market assessments, feasibility studies and project development for the international gambling industry

REITs In Indian Country

GLPI’s deal with a California tribe could be just the beginning

 

For years, commercial gaming operators have been selling their land and assets to REITs (real estate investment trusts) and cashing in on millions—and often billions—of dollars while still being able to operate their casino operations. But since tribal casinos are largely on sovereign reservation land and they are the only entities approved to operate those casinos, the fit with REITs didn’t seem to work.

In November, however, Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (GLPI) reached a deal with California’s Ione Band of Miwok which became the first agreement in which a tribal casino partners with a REIT. The technical term is a $110 million “delayed draw term loan facility.” In the deal, GLPI essentially leases the land and finances the construction of the casino. At the end of 25 years, or at a maximum of 45 years, the tribe can pay back the loan and GLPI walks away.

Most importantly, according to GLPI, the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the deal, potentially opening up these kinds of arrangements with other, more successful tribes. The Ione Band has been trying to arrange financing for its casino near Sacramento for years, and this deal allows the tribe to get started.

While Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier, an Indian gaming law expert with Snell & Wilmer, hasn’t read the detailed agreement, she says this could be a game changer.

“As a sale-leaseback transaction, the tribe will continue to own its tribal lands and not the REIT. It is likely the REIT has a lease to conduct gaming on the tribal lands that has been approved by the NIGC (and possibly the BIA as well). The tribal casino must continue to be 100 percent owned by the tribe, although the REIT can manage the gaming operations—again with that contract being approved by the NIGC. It is important that the parties can show that the tribe still maintains 100 percent control and management over the tribal gaming operations, because the financial compensation is likely through a fixed rent structure as opposed to revenue sharing of the casino proceeds to the REIT.”

As for GLPI, Chairman Peter Carlino admitted there’s an element of risk in the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

“It’s still an unknown,” Carlino said. “The value has yet to be proven.”

The tribe is also excited about the deal.

“This transaction represents the first time that a REIT has provided both project financing and/or a long-term lease option to a tribe for purposes of direct investment in a gaming asset on tribal trust lands,” said Ione Tribal Chairwoman Sara Dutschke. “The tribe is pleased to have found a partner in GLPI who placed their trust in the tribe, supporting our efforts toward self-determination and self-sufficiency through the financing of the construction of Acorn Ridge Casino, a tribal enterprise two decades in the making.”

The law firm of Drummond Woodsum, which advised GLPI on the deal, said in a press release:

“The loan with the long-term lease option is the first-ever real estate investment trust financing in

Indian Country, marking a significant innovation in tribal finance that promises to expand financing opportunities for tribes.

“In particular, the… duration of the loan with the exercise of the long-term lease option opens up the possibility of long-term financing alternatives in Indian Country that can be deployed where standard bank financings or other types of shorter-term financings are less attractive.”

Staudenmaier says that foreclosure on a tribal property would be difficult, but protections for the REIT are likely built into the deal.

“It is likely that the REIT has the typical protections a commercial lender would have, including the option to foreclose on the property and operate everything except the aboriginal casino itself,” she explains. “After 45 years, the Ione tribe keeps the land ‘and we all go our separate ways,’ to quote the GLPI CFO in media reports. In effect, the REIT can foreclose on the property but cannot continue operating the casino; instead, the REIT could operate a non-gaming business out of the facility.”

Although the deal isn’t a blockbuster at $110 million, it is important because it’s the first. Barry Jonas, of Truist Securities, agrees.

“We see gaming REIT expansion into tribal gaming as significant,” he says.

Carlino says his company has been working on this kind of tribal gaming agreement for years, and it fits into the company’s process.

“If we can’t find opportunity, we’ll make it, with caution and care always,” he said.

—Roger Gros

2025 is the Year of AI

How AI impacts the gaming industry

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved steadily since the first algorithms introduced in 1957. The speed of evolution was limited due to the slow evolution of computing power and the lack of connected databases to offer the trillions of pieces of information needed to train the data.

Training refers to the algorithms that associate all the information to be able to read and correlate the information to provide simple answers from questions (or queries). In 2025, AI’s emergence in the gaming industry will begin to impact competitive dynamics, and more importantly, accelerate security threats and human competency levels.

Generative AI is the first wide-scale, practical application of artificial intelligence. While it is still in its early stages, it is offering tremendous promise in reading, understanding and making sense of mountains of information.

With advancements like ChatGPT achieving an IQ nearing 160 at the time of writing this article, AI can now function as a highly skilled, non-judgmental assistant. This transformation allows professionals to offload routine tasks, freeing time for strategic priorities.

Key AI-Driven Trends for 2025

1. Data-Driven Competition

Data will emerge and be recognized as a core asset for organizations in 2025. Companies that establish clear programs for data ownership, access and use will be at a competitive advantage. Data is the fuel for AI, and data management will serve as a foundational measure of an organization’s value and its ability to innovate.

2. AI-Enhanced Cybersecurity Threats

2025 is projected to be a challenging year for cybersecurity, as AI-empowered hacking becomes more sophisticated. AI tools allow hackers to identify vulnerabilities, patterns and personal information at unprecedented rates. Organizations need to anticipate and prepare for human-directed (employee) cyber-attacks, where intruders use AI to exploit individual-based vulnerabilities. Without robust AI-driven defenses, companies risk high costs associated with security breaches.

3. AI and Cheating Detection

As AI usage increases, so does the risk of AI-enabled cheating in gaming. Enhanced AI detection tools will be essential to maintain fairness, as hackers and cheaters use advanced algorithms to exploit game mechanics. Detecting AI-driven cheating requires continuous development of monitoring systems that can identify anomalous behavior indicative of unauthorized assistance or automated play.

4. AI-Driven Marketing

In the gaming industry, innovators are turning to AI-driven marketing, leveraging data from numerous sources to create centralized data repositories. This aggregation allows for deep insights into player behaviors, preferences and spending habits, enabling tailored marketing strategies. Companies with comprehensive data capabilities will have an edge, as they can deliver highly targeted campaigns, optimize customer engagement, and foster loyalty through customized experiences.

5. The Human Advantage

AI’s impact on the workforce is a point of concern for many. However, the innovative leaders will massively invest in training their employees in using generative AI to do more with less, to find opportunities in massive amounts of information, and to empower their people to exploit this new competitive edge.

The Way Forward

2025 is set to redefine the landscape of artificial intelligence in the gaming industry, with AI’s reach extending across competition, security, marketing, and workforce transformation. Companies that invest in data management, cybersecurity defenses, marketing intelligence and workforce training will be better positioned to harness AI’s full potential.

As AI continues to evolve, its role in shaping the industry will be increasingly significant, with data and adaptability serving as core components of success. The year marks a pivotal point for AI, establishing it as a fundamental aspect of industry strategy and daily operations.

—Earle G. Hall, CEO of AXES.ai; co-chairman,

AI and Cybersecurity Policy Committee, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce; and emeritus board member, Government Blockchain Association. LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/earlehall

Storm Clouds Ahead

Headwinds are about to increase for the international gaming industry

 

If you are a gaming operator or investor, the casino and gaming industry has been a relatively stable and predictable place for investment. Sure, there have been blips like the 2008 financial meltdown and the quick rise and fall of sports betting-related valuations, but for the last 30-plus years, investors and operators could count on a predictable set of circumstances that dictated the allocation of capital around the industry.

Essentially, a new jurisdiction would open, casinos would be developed, and vendors and operators would pile in within the constraints of each market. Eventually, new jurisdictions and casinos would open nearby, and the process would repeat itself until casino-related gaming became ubiquitous.

This scenario played out repeatedly across land-based commercial and tribal markets and now is repeating in the online space, all under the backdrop of an expanding U.S. economy and with a consumer hungry for increasingly diverse gaming options. Fortunes have been made and lost based not so much on whether consumers accepted gaming as an entertainment alternative, but more on how regulation limited the playing field and how well investors navigated that field and capitalized their businesses to get through downturns and the impacts of competition.

Although it’s fair to say that the last 30 years have been reasonably good for gaming operators, tribes, investors, employees, regulators and the states and communities that benefit from related tax receipts and economic activity, the world has changed significantly. Consequentially, our risk dashboard says it’s time to be clear-headed about future risks that could and should impact the deployment of capital and the time horizons for casino industry investment. Several potential risk scenarios appear on our dashboard, including:

The macroeconomic environment is flashing yellow. After three years (2021-2023) of spectacular post-Covid growth, there are some headwinds affecting the economy that can be seen in land-based gaming revenues which have grown at an anemic 0.6 percent for the first eight months of 2024 in the 38 markets we track, with 22 markets reporting downturns. Some of this weakness is attributable to the economic environment where consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index has declined from a three-year high of 79.4 in March 2024 to 70.1 as of September 2024. Macroeconomic headwinds that have contributed to this malaise include unemployment, which has ticked up to over 4 percent, elevated price levels and relatively high interest rates. Other factors include the rise of other forms and channels of gaming distribution such as online, sports betting and distributed gaming.

Economic uncertainties abound. A new administration with a mandate and an agenda to completely remake the American economy poses significant risk. At worst, unprecedented tariffs (for the last 90 years) could spark an international tit-for-tat response which could mimic the early 1930s when the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act led to a 66 percent decline in international trade and led to the Great Depression. At best, higher tariffs could act as a tax on consumption and potentially lower consumer spending, including on gaming goods and services.

Bulging budget deficits matter. Since 2016, federal government spending has increased by 54 percent while tax receipts have only risen by 27 percent, and the deficit has ballooned by 100 percent to over $2 trillion annually. Expected tax cuts under the new administration will likely make this deficit larger, and higher interest rates and a more uncertain geopolitical landscape suggest that the budget deficit will be addressed through cuts to actual government services, entitlements and transfer payments. Further, any significant cut in spending could be recessionary.

Immigration policy could both be recessionary and cause wage pressures. The reported future forced deportation of over 11 million undocumented immigrants and reductions in legal immigration will certainly impact the economy. Most economic experts agree that mass deportation would lead to a significant reduction in GDP and could also create wage pressure on some lower-end jobs, including many that could impact the bottom line of the casino industry.

The geopolitical environment has become fraught with risk and the world seems to be awash in conflict. Ukraine, the Middle East, the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula are several of the hotspots that seem to have the world sleepwalking into all-out conflict. China continues its efforts to upend the U.S.-led international order and backlashes against globalism, and an inward-looking administration might make their efforts a reality. The consequences of that happening represent a huge unknown and could affect international capital flows.

From the economy to the geopolitical environment, risk is on. As a responsible gaming investor or operator, deploying capital in this environment requires continuously monitoring the risk environment while staying nimble. While some of these risks may never materialize, it’s certainly worth understanding them and planning for any contingencies that might arise should they occur.

—Cory Morowitz, Managing Partner, GGHM, advisers to the worldwide gaming industry