The Nevada Gaming Commission has approved licensing for several executives of gaming companies, including executives with Caesars Digital and BetMGM who testified about the changing sports wagering landscape and competition many have deemed illegal.
Those granted licenses include Barbara Wilson, chief financial officer for Interblock USA; Theodore Bogich, chief operating officer at Boyd Gaming; John Sou, senior vice president and general manager for the Fremont Hotel & Casino, California Hotel & Casino, and Main Street Station Hotel, Casino & Brewery; Eric Hession, president of Caesars Digital; Witold Wacinski, senior vice president of strategy and development for BetMGM; and Giuseppe Gardali, president of B2B for Gan Limited.
Hession, who has been with Caesars Entertainment in some capacity for more than 20 years, including serving as chief financial officer, has run the sports betting and icasino operations for the last five. The company operates the William Hill and Caesars brand. He weighed in on the expansion of igaming and sports betting in the nation.
“It’s very dynamic and changes seemingly every week, particularly in the last four to five months. It’s also extremely competitive. There are a lot of different companies and each state has different regulations, competitors, and dynamics. You have some federal involvement now, with the CTFC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) authorizing certain forms of sports betting. You have sweepstakes and daily fantasy companies.”
Hession thinks the Caesars Rewards and William Hill brands are strong. “That resonates with people. We put a lot of effort in the last three years into making our product much better, so when customers come in, there are fewer friction points and they’re about to get their bets down quickly. We get it through our trading team quickly and they get their money out quickly. All of those things are very important to customers.”
When he looks ahead, Hession sees a combination of making sure the app functions, it has the right wagers, and customers can find what they want quickly.
Commissioner George Markantonis cited “a lot of wannabe players starting to enter these markets as competitors that aren’t entirely legal.”
Hession cited offshore operators blatantly going around the rules, while Caesars makes an extreme effort to comply with every rule. “I’m confident that with our team, brand, and support, if we know the rules and everybody plays by them, we’ll be very successful.”
As for what keeps him up at night, Hession said the company always needs to be ready to adapt to whatever rules might be put in place at the federal level. When a new state legalizes, they need to be ready on day one to turn on the app.
“On a tactical level, I get a list of who we’re rooting for in the (NCAA tournament) basketball games and hope they go our in direction,” Hession said. “I get nervous about our app going down and having payment problems or tech issues. There’s always the risk something goes wrong from a technical aspect you didn’t expect and customers can’t use our product. That’s the worst feeling.”
In 2023, the William Hill app broke down during the Super Bowl.
BetMGM’s Wacinski discussed the growth in legal sports betting and igaming and his hopes that they can be expanded with more approval from states.
“But there’s a lot of uncertainty, because offshore operators and quasi-legal products are deployed, primarily due to inventiveness and the lack of a regulatory framework in a number of states,” Wacinski said. “People find ways to deploy products that the players want, so we’re are hoping to legalize, so we can participate in those markets. We also see a lot of pressure on our economics with tax increases and restrictions being put in place. We always remain compliant to the letter of law and regulations and as a legal operator, we have to deal with those things.”
Markantonis asked what’s needed to stop companies trying to hone in on regulated operators.
Wacinski said operators setting up products circumventing state laws should be addressed by those states.
