G2E Retrospective, Third-Quarter Anticipation
G2E is always the gaming industry’s trade show-reunion-party and all-around industry festival.
This year, two letters were omnipresent: AI.
They stand for, of course, artificial intelligence.
The issues surrounding the fast-developing technology in gaming aren’t expressed in the kinds of extremes voiced elsewhere, which often range from the greatest change since the industrial revolution to the end of humankind.
In gaming, so far, AI is seen as important but maybe not the end of the world as we know it. Maybe just the greatest thing since sliced bread, or at least ticket-in ticket-out.
The most obvious and universally agreed upon impact of AI is that it is time-saving. Computations that would have taken human beings and their more primitive computer programs many hours are now done in seconds. That leads to the second assumed major impact—cost-cutting, as fewer engineers are needed for the calculations or game designers for iterations.
Beyond that, the major changes are more open to debate. But generally, people are positive, noting the benefits to casino and online operators in marketing. As for people, there’s the assurance that, at its core, game development needs creativity, which means it needs creative people, not just super-fast computer calculations.
We took the opportunity of Fantini Research’s G2E CEO One-On-One podcasts to get informed takes on the AI phenomenon, including how industry leaders are using the technology.
CEOs had a lot of interesting observations, as you might imagine. However, two in particular, Kiran Brahmandam of Gaming Analytics and John Connelly of Interblock, provided insights beyond the usual.
Brahmandam is close to AI. It’s not a novel idea to him, but a tool or set of tools for his company that self-describes as an AI service firm. It still takes human creativity, however, to use that tool effectively, he says.
Connelly comes from the perspective of a CEO who has been at the lead of the electronic table games revolution. He sees AI as a fast-moving revolution that will be disruptive.
Listen to these CEO podcasts so you can get a sense of where they’re coming from for yourself. The interviews can be found on the FantiniReseach.com website in the Trade Shows and Events section, G2E CEO One-On-One Interviews tab.
AND THEN…
…G2E is followed by the release of third-quarter earnings and investor conference calls for public companies.
Prior to the last earnings season, we suggested that casino company executives on the calls be candid about industry trends given an uncertain economy, the negative reaction of many of our foreign friends to President Trump’s tariffs and various pronouncements, and consumer perceptions that Las Vegas casinos now prefer gouging to hospitality as a way to build profits.
That didn’t always happen. Instead of providing lay-it-on-the-table truths, some executives sounded rosier than the facts appeared to indicate.
Admittedly, the general business press and today’s proliferation of online information outlets have overplayed the trends, at least for the short term. Las Vegas will still be there next year and next decade, hosting visitors and cranking out profits for investors.
But there’s also no question that the online and associated technology revolution—from digital gaming (legal and otherwise) to sweepstakes arcades to everything from predictions markets to marble racing—is fast creating new competition for conventional entertainment companies. Even brick-and-mortar casinos continue to proliferate, perhaps slicing up the pie more than growing it.
Put simply: Gaming today is ubiquitous and becoming more so every day, and that has investment implications.
Third-quarter earnings calls provide companies with another chance to address the many near-term uncertainties as well as provide a vision for the future.
Shareholders, as owners of the companies, are owed unvarnished truth and credible outlooks. Let’s hope it’s forthcoming.
RIP ERNIE STEVENS JR.
Sometimes, a person’s importance isn’t fully appreciated until they are gone.
Such may be the case of longtime Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr., whose unexpected death immediately created a huge void in the gaming universe.
It’s more difficult to measure the successes of an association leader than those of business executives who can point to P&L statements as objective measures.
But the tremendous growth of Indian gaming in the United States is certainly at least partly attributable to Stevens. For more than two decades, he steered the ship of Indian gaming policy, providing cohesive leadership to a constituency of tribes that ranged in size, influence, economic need, their own particular cultures and histories, and often separate or competing self-interests across a vast continent of multiple jurisdictions.
Today, Indian gaming is an extraordinary success for the economic development and sovereignty of Indigenous Americans.
Stevens left a legacy for which all Americans should be thankful.
