Gaming’s Future: Invest in ‘Experiences’
The following is a summary of remarks by Michael Pollock to the Racing & Gaming Conference at Saratoga, August 11, 2026
In the 17th century, pioneering mathematician and philosopher Sir Isaac Newton famously projected the future of U.S. gaming with his Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
That is the most powerful law in the history of the modern gaming industry. And it can never be repealed.
Actions and reactions have been watchwords in this industry for a half century. It was precisely 50 years ago this November when New Jersey embarked on a journey that continues to gain Newtonian momentum.
That 1976 referendum to authorize casinos in Atlantic City did not just lead to the first casinos in the United States outside the state of Nevada. It also set Newton’s Law of Motion into action, leading to more than 1,000 casinos across the continental United States. Newton can also take credit for the more recent moves into iGaming and iLottery, as well as the expanded spawning of illegal verticals, such as predictions markets and “skill” slot machines.
Indeed, gaming in Atlantic City is the action that prompted reactions and further actions, creating a perpetual motion machine that Newton would have marveled at—and that continues into the foreseeable future.
By their very nature, gaming projections often need to be drafted with proverbial pencils that come equipped with erasers on the back end. But, as the gaming industry has learned over that past half century, some rules of gaming can be written in ink, and not the disappearing variety.
Two indelible rules of gaming are:
• Gaming’s success in advancing public policy is linked to capital investment, and that is true irrespective of the specific policy goals, which can range from urban development to growth in employment and tourism, among others.
• Successful gaming policies recognize the distinction between an “experience” and a “transaction.” Casino and racetrack operators provide experiences, while lotteries and iGaming offer transactions.
Those rules must work in tandem. Optimal experiences demand optimal capital investment. A successful gaming policy depends on discretionary spending, and not simply grabbing a slice of the existing gaming pie.
The optimal policies are those that allow adults who engage in transactions to earn points that can be redeemed as experiences.
Experiences are the tools that build successful policies, as they lead to potential growth in employment, visitation, discretionary spending, capital investment and tax revenue, including sales taxes, employment-related taxes and other fiscal streams.
Policymakers need to understand the distinction between transactions and experiences, but they also need to pursue policies that can leverage transactions to create experiences, and states need to recognize the importance of that goal as they consider further expansions of gaming.
As the gaming market becomes more crowded, policymakers and operators must respond with new models that go beyond core gaming spending to target overall discretionary spending through both geographic and demographic expansions. The alternative—business as usual—is a prescription for failure.
Sir Isaac Newton is not alone among great gaming gurus. Consider the thoughtful words of baseball sage Yogi Berra, famed for his oratorical (“it ain’t over till it’s over”) and mathematical (“baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical”) pronouncements.
Yogi was once asked for his opinion on a popular local restaurant. “Nobody goes there anymore,” he said. “It’s always too crowded.”
Baseball fans and linguistic afficionados will be aghast at any attempt to meddle with perfection and rephrase a Yogiism for our industry, yet I will step into the batter’s box with the following:
As the gaming market in the Northeast continues to expand, industry leaders must respond and adapt through new business models, and policymakers need to develop more thoughtful—and flexible—regulatory policies, which must include an emphasis on tax rates that fully consider all revenue streams. Otherwise, yours will be the place no one goes to in a crowded market.
Yogi would not have expressed such a convoluted view, but then again, he did once note: “I never said half the things I said.” Yogi, take a bow.
Michael Pollock serves as senior policy advisor for Spectrum Gaming Group, after retiring in 2023 as managing director. He began analyzing the casino industry in 1978 and served as spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
He was a close adviser to the chairman, and he oversaw the Office of Legislative Liaison. Pollock is the author of the award-winning book Hostage to Fortune: Atlantic City and Casino Gambling, published by the Center for Analysis of Public Issues in Princeton, New Jersey.
He is the former editorial page editor of The Press of Atlantic City and has won 20 journalism awards.
