James Maida
Gaming Laboratories International started in the spare bedroom of co-founder James Maida when he was working for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. Today, it is the industry’s premier testing lab with over 1,500 employees around the world. Maida is a member of the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame for his massive impact on the industry by making technology testing a centerpiece of gaming’s integrity. He spoke with GGB Editor-at-Large Roger Gros at the ICE trade show in Barcelona in January.
GGB: Building GLI into what it is today is a great story. Give us the thumbnail version.
Maida: Well, we started in 1989. We were the first lab, and we were in Toms River, New Jersey until 2001. Now our headquarters are in Lakewood. Today we have 32 offices around the world, nearly 1,600 employees. We can test from anywhere around the globe. And it really allows us to have a scale like none other. We meet every customer where they need to be and get them to market as quickly as possible. That’s what it has always been about—get customers to market with the least amount of pain, be their partner, figure out how to get their products through while we maintain tight regulatory control.
But it’s not just about speed to market, it’s also about integrity in the market as well.
Right. We use words at our company like “on time,” “on budget” and “highest quality.” And quality is the one thing that we’re unmatched with around the world. We never sacrifice product quality. So, yes, we’ll get you there on time as long as the product complies. If it doesn’t comply, we can’t certify it. So we have an especially hard job.
So let’s talk about land-based gaming and new jurisdictions coming into the industry. How do you help them get up to speed?
Let’s use Brazil as an example. We were able through Karen Sierra and her Latin American team to be in Brazil in 2009. Our team has testified in front of the legislature multiple times. We’ve known the regulators there for over 15 years. You know, somebody doesn’t clap their hands and say “Brazil is starting,” and now everybody has to get there. A lot of the hard work has been done over the 15 years so that when the regulator does go live, they’re in a really good spot.
GLI has had close relationships with regulators, but the regulators often turn over so quickly. A lot of the people who are appointed regulators have absolutely no experience in gaming. How do you handle that? How do you get them up to speed as quickly as possible?
So many of our regulators are appointed from the outside, many are promoted from within. We work at all levels of all the regulatory agencies. So when a new director is appointed, we’re in contact with the staff. We have a regulatory ground game around the world, and we visit every regulator as much as they want, usually once or twice a year. We are also meeting with all the staff. We’ll conduct GLI University sessions for that regulator or a group of regulators in a region. It’s all about education, making people feel comfortable.
Let’s talk about testing for iGaming. What have you done in that space?
We bought TST to develop standards for iGaming, but really testing is testing. This past year we brought on our ISS security divisions under the GLI brand. And Bulletproof handles cybersecurity.
We also test for lotteries around the world, and the testing looks oddly similar. There are differences, but lotteries are coming up with very cool new products that are starting to look like the rest of the gaming industry.
Sports betting is quite a bit different. We’re testing platforms and wallets and all types of bets and prop bets. So there is a whole different world of additional scrutiny and regulation over sports betting.
