Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
GGB's totemic founder reflects on the industry he helped chronicle—and why he’s not done yet.
It wasn’t my intention to use the titles of Clash songs for my last two Global Gaming Business Agendas, but here we are. (“I Fought the Law” was last month’s parable.)
You see, after 25 years, I’m relinquishing my connection with GGB. It’s a difficult transition for me. Not because I believe GGB is in the wrong hands—far from it. Our sale two years ago to Clarion Gaming—now WorldGaming—was the right move. It enabled our staff to stay together and gave our magazine a life beyond me, which were my goals. WorldGaming has the good of the publication—and the industry—at its core and I have no doubt GGB will continue to be the voice of the global—or world—gaming industry for a long time to come.
No, the hard part is that I don’t want to step away from the gaming business itself. You see, I’ve been there almost from the start. No, I wasn’t in Nevada in the 1930s—I’m not that old. But in 1979, I was involved in the legalization of gaming in New Jersey as an original dealer at Caesars Atlantic City, the second casino to open in the resort. So I’ve pretty much seen it all—riverboats, tribal casinos, sports betting, online gambling. And the list goes on.
Gaming is always changing. Remember the ruckus caused by TITO? Now it’s the industry standard. Remember server-based gaming? Yes, but it kind of slipped away. And how about how legalizing online gaming will follow sports betting as a great tax source? Yeah, not so much.
But there are major shifts happening today that will impact the future of gaming and I want to continue to cover them and offer my opinions. (Which is why I never got above the dealer position when I worked in the industry. I had too many opinions!)
Let’s start, of course, with the prediction market companies. I’ve been saying they’re an existential threat to the gaming industry since they became a thing almost two years ago. I won’t stop until they’re stopped. Using a weak and malleable federal agency as a prop claiming they’re regulated is a joke. If their products are so superior, they should join the industry the way everyone else has. Obtain a license via strict and exhaustive investigations, pay whatever fee and tax is required, and submit to state regulation. That’s the only way.
There are always mergers and acquisitions shaping the future of our industry. The proposed mega-deals—like selling Caesars to Tilman Fertitta’s Landry’s Inc. or Barry Diller’s People, Inc. fully acquiring MGM Resorts—will have a massive impact on gaming in Las Vegas and worldwide. I can’t wait to see how both the intended and unintended consequences play out.
So to answer the question in the title of this final Agenda, I’m not going anywhere. Along with my wife Beck Kingman-Gros, who really has been running the company and my life for the last 30 years, we will continue to create content that will inform, educate and hopefully challenge the status quo in the industry.
The one thing I know for certain is that our future work will heavily emphasize responsible gaming, which I believe is the single most critical issue facing our industry today. While the gaming sector has made remarkable progress over the years in addressing gambling-related harms, it still isn’t enough. We must ensure our products remain safe for consumers, and that our messaging is genuinely responsible and helpful.
We hope to help shape that message by delivering meaningful content that sparks candid discussion, constructive feedback and, ultimately, industry-wide consensus on how to minimize unintentional harm.
Until you hear from me again, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has been part of GGB over the past 25 years. You are the real reason for its success—I was just along for the ride.
