Another cross-country trip, another gaming conference in the books.
This year’s Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention was a worthy entry into my memory bank of shows. The highlight, of course, was seeing old friends and acquaintances, and the new connections made. It felt good to be greeted as a part of this uniquely talented family.
But there was something different about this year’s IGA. I sensed an undercurrent of concern in most of the panel sessions I covered. People are worried about the threats to gaming in general, and tribal gaming specifically. In session after session, panelists warned of the intrusion of predictive markets, sweepstakes, and social media casinos.
It was like reading the same book over and over again, each chapter by a different author, but all saying the same thing.
Howard Glaser, Light & Wonder’s Head of Government Affairs, calls the intrusion of unregulated gambling “the largest attack on tribal sovereignty in modern history.” That may be a little overboard, but Glaser is not wrong about the threat. I heard similar sentiments constantly over three days at the San Diego Convention Center.
People are on edge. They really don’t know how to address these new forms of gaming emerging so soon after artificial intelligence became a powerful – and disruptive — force in 2023.
The gaming industry, experts agreed, is under siege. Kalshi, Robinhood, and other unregulated forces are at the gates, not asking to be allowed to operate but forcing their way in without regard to regulated gaming operators. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission seems poised to allow them to operate freely.
Victor Rocha, the notable conference chair of IGA, convened a panel with Glaser and other experts to discuss these forces, which gaming operators seem to view as a cross between Darth Vader and Lex Luthor.
The good news is that Rocha and others in the tribal community are aware of what’s going on. They recognize the threat. The tribal gaming industry is nothing if not resilient, and smart. Tribal operators didn’t bring in a little over $49 billion in 2024 by merely hosting bingo games.
But it’s clear that the way the public gambles is changing. There’s a quote from Bryan Burrough’s “Barbarians at the Gates: The Fall of RJ Nabisco” that seems particularly pertinent:
“Planning, gentlemen, is ‘What are you going to do next year that’s different from what you did this year?’”
Tribal operators, it’s your move.
