Current regulatory standards for mobile Class II gaming are outdated and insufficient and tribes in turn are developing alternative safeguards and modernizing their regulations.
The session on mobile Class II gaming kicked off the tribal segment at the Global Gaming Expo Monday in Las Vegas.
Dave Viaplando, executive director of the Pala Gaming Commission, outlined the pitfalls and challenges that tribes face from a regulatory standpoint.
“It’s a whole new paradigm of regulation,” said Viaplando, former executive director of the Pokagon Band Gaming Commission in Michigan. “When Pokagon launched its mobile, it was an igaming solution and within weeks, the crooks came out of the woodwork. We had credit card fraud and identity theft. The bad guys will attempt to take advantage of the solution, which means we have to invest that much more in our standards. The mobile Class II gaming standards were written for bingo and pull tabs and not the type of mobile gaming we find today. A lot of tribes are creating alternative standards, which give us the opportunity to plus-up on the IT infrastructure, player protection, and cybersecurity safeguards. There’s a whole spectrum of the regulatory side of mobile Class II gaming that we don’t think much about in brick-and-mortar gaming.”
Tribal Gaming 547 under the National Indian Gaming Commission establishes minimum technical standards for Class II gaming systems and equipment used in tribal casinos. The regulation ensures the integrity and security of tribal gaming operations by setting requirements for equipment approval, testing, proper functioning, and fairness in game fairness and operations.
Session moderator Russ Witt, chief business development officer at Eclipse Gaming Systems, said the minimum standards provide flexibility for tribes.
“Even when the regulations first came out, there weren’t a lot of protections in there for inscriptions and (tribes) started right out of the gate with their alternate standards that have more security,” Witt said. “They’re all out there to share. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
Scott Crowell, tribal gaming attorney, said it’s wrong for tribes to think they’re operating the same games, but only in a mobile format, and that regulations transfer over.
“It’s not that simple,” Crowell said. “New mediums bring on an entirely new challenges,” Crowell said. “In the mobile environment, you need age verification and how you address problem gambling, both in terms of scope but also opportunity. In the mobile environment, the player has the ability to create his own self-control with caps and pushing winnings out of their account.”
Crowell encourages everyone not to assume it’s a minor change to what they’re already doing.
Robert Christensen, former director of digital gaming at Choctaw Casinos & Resorts, said it was important for the Choctaws to do a customer intake in the beginning. They addressed the strategic goals of the organization and what they would like to accomplish with their Class II product. “I’d advise every operator interested in this to take the time and write down what you want to do, because several options exist in the supplier space to help you achieve your goals.”
Hundreds of tribal-gaming regulatory authorities around the country have the sovereign right to interpret the rules and regulations, as long as they meet or exceed security standards, Christensen said.
“There are a wide variety of ways that regulators want to approach this,” Christensen said. “They may want a brand new set of internal controls and take an alternative technical standard approach, where they tweak a couple of things with regards to remote registration and deposit. It’s important to understand what you want to do and work closely with your regulators to figure out a way to make it happen.”
