Diallo Gordon

Swift and frictionless payment processes are a crucial part of the customer experience for all gaming offerings, both retail and online. Pavilion Payments started fresh in 2025 with the January appointment of Diallo Gordon as its new president. Gordon, who boasts experience in nearly every facet of gaming, will look to accelerate a cashless wave that has largely stalled in its momentum from previous years. He met virtually in June with GGB Managing Editor Jess Marquez.

GGB: You have a versatile background, and as I understand, your first foray into the industry was with the Mississippi Gaming Commission?

Gordon: Yes, as a lab engineer. Initially it was to evaluate a lot of the new casino management systems that were coming into play juxtaposed to removing coin off the floor, so ticket in, ticket out. There was a two- or three-year phase where that was the thing that was happening in the industry. I was also looking at games as well. So I got to cut my teeth and understand math and pay tables and return-to-player and game hold, and how it’s all important.

It seems as though momentum for cashless in casinos has slowed post-Covid. What’s your current view of the sector?

I think early on it was more of a product geared to high rollers, where the convenience was enough. But for the mass market, convenience is not enough. You’ve got to have something sexy behind it in terms of loyalty or reduced costs that offsets the higher fees that they would see on the floor through traditional gaming products. For regulators, there are some barriers as well in terms of establishing a cashless wagering account, KYC, and a lot of the anti-money laundering components of that. As vendors and technologists, did we spend enough time inviting the regulators into the tent and giving them a seat at the table as we were developing this out? I would argue that we didn’t.

One of the difficulties with payments is the fees associated with moving money. The end user doesn’t care about operators’ costs; they want their money. How do you reconcile that?

We’ve been talking to a lot of operators, and as they look to deploy cashless, something’s got to give. Do you want money on the floor, do you want coin-in, or do you want commissions or parking fees and resort fees and stuff like that? I think a lot of the more savvy local and regional operators and the tribal operators understand that the calculus there, it’s a little bit of a different model, and it’s probably well-served to have fewer fees on cashless transactions that are going to actually drive coin-in and table game revenue, which is what I believe the industry needs. Otherwise, the customer just feels like they’re getting nickel-and-dimed everywhere.

What did you think about the position before joining, and how do you reflect on it so far?

If you’re going to succeed or not as a leader, it has to be with your team, and you’ve got to come in and evaluate what you have, what you don’t, and why things are the way that they are. You have to embrace what we call customer centricity, being able to have open and honest discussions with your customers on what you do well and what you suck at. And that can be very, very humbling. What I love about our C-suite is that we are all committed to listening to our customers and seeing where we can do better with our products and services.

What is most important for Pavilion to focus on moving forward?

Well, I am a capitalist, so hopefully we would have several additional customers utilizing our flavor of cashless. We want to grow the business, but I also want to do it in a compliant and responsible way, and we take those obligations very seriously. I think a year from now, you’re going to be delighted and surprised with what we’ve done in the marketplace. But we need to show it.