Summary

In this episode, Nick & guest co-host, Dan Cherry, catch up with Slot Check Founder & CEO, Grant Stousland. Learn about Slot Check, a revolutionary smartphone app that communicates to players machine data points such as location, RTP, payout history, and more. Hear how operators are discovering how transparent communication with slot players is generating incremental trips, longer sessions, higher ADTs, & material upticks in satisfaction & retention. Also in this episode, the FBI's sports betting stings & G2E 2025. Links referenced in show: Slot Check - https://slotcheck.com Sacred Heart University Poll - https://www.sacredheart.edu/media/shu-media/press-room-2025/SHU-2025-Nationwide-Sports-Gambling-Poll-ADA.pdf

Transcript

Nick Hogan:

Good morning, Dan. How are things in Las Vegas this morning?

Dan Cherry:

Morning, Nick. It’s great to be here. And it was great to see you in person in the States a couple of weeks ago at G2E.

Nick Hogan:

Yeah, that was lovely. Had a great time there and it was lovely to catch up with everybody in the industry, and here we are, now in late October. As you mentioned, G2E is wrapped and we’re all back home now, kind of ticking through our follow-ups. We’re going to be hitting G2E in a minute here, but I thought it would be best to first cover a news topic that’s been generating a lot of discussion. And that’s the FBI’s announcement, that two gambling-related sting operations, codenamed, Operation Nothing but Bet and Operation Zhen Diagram. Ugh. They resulted in the arrest of some 30 people, including Miami Heat guard, Terry Rozier, former NBA player and coach, Damon Jones, and the current head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups.

So in the case of Rozier, the allegation is that he was peddling inside information about players, including himself. In one case, he apparently tipped off bettors that he’d be leaving a game early, which resulted in about $200,000 in under bets on his performance, that paid off hugely when he exited the game after just nine minutes. The charges filed against Jones and Billups are more serious, in that each was charged, not only with trading insider NBA info, but also, for serving as celebrity shills who were used to lure wealthy players to rigged poker games, which were operated, and here’s the fun part, Dan, by associates of New York’s Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families. So one of the more sensational elements of the story regards to technology use in the scam, this included altered DeckMate2 shufflers that transmitted card recognition data, contact lenses and glasses that read marked cards, hidden cameras and chip trays, and incredibly x-ray poker tables. So you can’t make this stuff up.

Not surprisingly, the news is generating a lot of discussion, not only about the pace and scale of sports betting’s proliferation, but also, its influence on the integrity of sports generally. So x-ray tables aside, I can’t say that this story shocked me too much. I’ve always kind of followed the rule, never bet on things that breathe as the incentive for corruption is quite large. And while the odds of getting caught are typically and unfortunately quite slim. So this made me quite curious about the American attitudes towards sports betting, which in turn led me to a 2025 study conducted by Sacred Heart University in Connecticut in which they polled Americans about their views on sports betting. So I’ll post a link to that study in our show notes, but just kind of summarize top-line findings in three areas. So first, support for legalization. Nearly 60% of the respondents support legalization within their own states, and roughly 53% support its legalization nationwide.

Second, in terms of league partnerships and media coverage, roughly 50% of Americans oppose sports leagues partnering with gaming platforms, while just 30% support it. And roughly 27% polled say that sport media’s coverage of betting has grown excessive. Third, and this is where things get somewhat contradictory and weird. 61% of Americans are concerned that sports betting significantly increases the corruption risk in sports. And whereas 37% believe that sports betting’s legalization is balanced positive, 48% feel that it’s balanced negative.

So Dan, I’m not entirely certain how to interpret some of the study’s findings, but what I do know is that, historically, whenever there have been concerns regarding the fairness of gambling propositions, it’s just bad for business, bad for the industry. So I guess, my questions for you in this area are, first, how damaging do you feel that this and other such scandals will prove ultimately in terms of the popular perceptions of sports betting? And two, do you feel there are regulatory or free market steps that could be taken to boost fairness and player confidence, just generally? And by player, I mean, better confidence, I guess.

Dan Cherry:

Yeah, it’s a wild story, isn’t it? And I’m no-

Nick Hogan:

Oh, crazy.

Dan Cherry:

… expert. I didn’t even know it was called, until this now, Operation Nothing but Bet, right? I like that. No, I mean, everything I’ve been reading about it kind of says what you just said, which is on the one hand, the public is asking for this and is demanding legalization and expansion. On the other hand, even those asking for it are raising obvious concerns, on both problem gaming and corruption, and how are those addressed? So I get The Athletic sends out a weekly newsletter on the business of sports, and the one that they just sent out was titled, It’s Okay to Learn About Sports Betting. And basically, the theme of it was exactly what you just said, which is this ambivalence on, “Yes, we want it. Yes, we need this, but here are our concerns.” And there was three topics in it that I thought were really fascinating and I’ll just list them out here for you. The first was an article written by one of their staff writers, Ian O’Connor, and it was about the NBA and it went back to 2007, if you remember the referee Tim Donaghy betting scandal.

Nick Hogan:

Yes, yes.

Dan Cherry:

And the evolution from that time and what the NBA’s position and all the pro sports positions were around sports betting, to where they’re today, which is obviously a polar opposite, and doing all these partnerships. And the article really advocated, you asked about free market versus regulatory, that the genie is kind of out at the bottle at this point. And it’s really difficult for there to be free market solutions because it’s a mature industry now, it’s