Brett Abarbanel was raised in San Diego near the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. She was fascinated by the track — mostly because people leaving the facility seemed to snarl up traffic.

But as she got older, she became enamored of how wagering on races worked. She loved math and numbers.

“I found it to be fascinating. When I was of age to place bets, and I have never been a huge gambler, I loved to place a bet to see how it worked,” said Abarbanel, who used that curiosity to a launch career in research studying global gaming and social science applications at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute (IGI).