The World Game Protection Conference (WGPC) that launched 20 years ago is scheduled for March 3-5 in Las Vegas, where attendees will learn all about the latest scams and threats facing the casino industry. For the first time since its debut, the conference will be held at South Point Hotel Casino.
Each year, the WGPC connects people responsible for observing, detecting, reporting, investigating, or acting on undesirable activities in a casino and examines current and emerging threats, vulnerabilities and risks while exploring casino practices to combat them all.
The conference provides core training for casino employees and management on the first day before offering general sessions that examine current and emerging threats. The event concludes with attendees voting on a list of the top casino scams for the year.
Conference founder Willy Allison said he expects 2026 to be the most digital year ever for the casino industry and scams.
“The tools for the bad guys have gotten so much better when it comes to digital crime and digital fraud,” he said. “My job is to give people more information and intel than the internet. There are a lot of people relying on the internet too much. There needs to be a return to old-fashioned getting-the-facts. That’s getting lost, and I’ve seen gaming protection training programs of casinos think they are saving money by using the internet. When our show talks about the scams and threats in the industry, you’re getting a real-world story and analysis of what you need to do to prevent it.”
Allison noted that a lot of times the solutions to problems are obvious, but because managers are so busy they are clouded on the right way to do it. They focus instead on something they learned 10 years ago.
The World Game Protection Conference continues to bring in the top experts in the industry to provide training and speak at the general sessions and be the leader in the space, Allison said.
“We’ve been going for 20 years,” he proclaimed. “We’ve been through the Great Recession and a pandemic, but we’re still standing. The reason we’re successful is we’re the only conference trade show in the casino industry that focuses on education first. We recognize a need for education. Other shows generate revenue through their exhibitors and sponsors. We’re the only show where the majority of our revenue comes from conference attendees wanting to learn. We don’t do pay-for-play with vendors paying to get on the stage. We bring in expert speakers and teachers.”
Allison believes that the second reason for their success is being topic-driven. They keep it fresh by bringing new topics that people should care about in the casino business. “We focus on keeping people sharp and thinking ahead,” he said. “We spend a lot of time each year going over the topics of the day.”
The third reason for their success is seeking out what Allison called “obsessed speakers” – passionate people who focus on a specific niche and are recognized experts.
The show is big on substance over celebrity, he added.
“We have experts that have done their homework on a topic and have information that can help the people in our audience be better at their jobs,” said Allison. “We search the world for authors, researchers and people that bring something new to the subject.”
The fourth reason for success, he said, is that the conference is the only focus for him and his wife Jo. They don’t own any other shows but are dedicated to educating the people in “my industry.” Allison previously worked as a surveillance director.
“We are a casino conference by casino people,” he said. “I am passionate about game protection. I come from the world of casino game protection. I like to keep it real. I don’t do tricks or magic. I come from being involved in investigations and surveillance and monitoring of crooks and bad guys. I know how casinos work.”
When the show started in 2006, Allison said it was a surveillance and table games protection show because he came from that world, but they now cast a wide net of all areas of operational risk.
“Instead of just talking about card counters and table game cheats, we have expanded our content over the last 20 years and topics are now ranging from cyber security and AML to compliance. Those have become big issues in our industry. With the expansion of gaming around the world, they affect everyone.”
The biggest change in show format came after the pandemic, with the installation of training seminars – eight of them for three hours each – focusing on various topics of risk operation and covering the foundational subject that management in casinos should know.
The second day of the conference is guest perspective day, focusing on guests who are making news and writing books and have interesting takes on risk. Not all of them come from the casino industry, but it’s important for the industry to learn from others, Allison said.
“The third day is dedicated to inside intel,” he explained. “That’s the casino industry day. That’s where managers of casino operational departments talk about the latest intel on what’s going on in the world and ways we’re getting on top of it.”
The casino industry has gone from a room full of VCRs taping what happens across the property to now using artificial intelligence. That means going from a manual skillset of analyzing tape to utilizing software to help spot threats.
“When you look at scams over the last 20 years of streaming through concealed cameras to scams originated from factories in Southeast Asia or from Mexican cartels pulling off heists in casinos, the biggest change has been digital,” Allison said. “A lot of people running casinos are still in the analog world. Casino management is interested in how technology can increase their profits, but they need to look more at how it can decrease their profits. One cyber attack can cost a Las Vegas casino $100 million. It’s a classic example of how we’re not staying one step ahead. We need to be looking at the emerging threats coming through.”
What’s new for the show this year is a core training session on casino management, said Allison. While the show teaches game protection and crisis management, he thought it would be helpful to demonstrate how to run a casino operation. The speaker for the three-hour course is Debi Nutton, who made history as the first operational casino executive inducted to the American Gaming Association Gaming Hall of Fame.
Allison will be moderating a panel session called “The Amazing Race to Automated Surveillance,” which will highlight how video surveillance is AI assisted. That’s the future and manufacturers are starting to produce products for that and will talk about the progress in the industry, he added.
“The goal is to get the audience involved and have a say in what they would like to see and what solutions can be provided,” Allison said.
The show wraps up talking about the current threats and big scams of 2025 and commentary is provided on what can be done to deal with it.
“I think because criminals can use illegal gambling and online gambling as training fields, they are going to bring these same techniques to brick-and-mortar casinos,” Allison said. “They already have. You will find digital cheating equipment for table games all over the place.”
This is the first time the conference is off the Strip corridor. It remains on Las Vegas Boulevard but six miles south of the corridor and easily accessible to the Strip. Allison called the South Point an old-school casino that has kept its pricing and service models intact since the pandemic.
“It feels more local and feels more Las Vegas,” Allison said. “We feel our customers will value that.”
