The 26th annual TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow kicks off Monday in Reno. This year’s event has a heavy focus on gaming and hospitality technology on the first day, then a week-long emphasis on cybersecurity.
The conference at the Grand Sierra Resort runs through Thursday. It attracts IT professionals, gaming and hospitality executives, and others within tribal government operations, who discuss transformational technologies.
Cybersecurity has been a big focus in Nevada, which sustained a ransomware attack in late August. It impacted state offices, websites, and services and forced temporary, but ongoing, closures of offices.
Cyberattacks continue to plague tribal gaming operations. Since the pandemic, tribal casinos around the country have been temporarily shuttered due to the attacks.
“Plenty of attacks continue to cause issues in the cyber world,” said Mike Day, founder and executive director of TribalHub, which puts on the conference. “We’ve integrated best practices of what tribes are doing and we’re watching our Tribal ISAC (The Tribal Information Sharing and Analysis Center) grow, which is all about cybersecurity of cyber professionals by tribes for tribes. That communication among tribes is a game changer. They’re sharing information about threats much more quickly.”
The threat of cyberattacks is getting more complicated with the progression of artificial intelligence, Day said. These include impersonations of executives and identity theft aided by AI. Phishing attempts are more difficult to detect.
“A lot of people are rebranding well-known brands in their phishing attempts and these attacks are devastating,” Day said. “There are new ways of having to think about how to protect your employees and organization. No one is immune from this – governments, companies, and individuals.
The gaming and hospitality track has four sessions, three on Monday: cashless wallets and best practices to manage and succeed; what’s new with casino gaming systems; how to create the best customer digital experience; and emerging technology in gaming and hospitality and what the future may bring.
Panelists represent gaming-system leaders at Aristocrat, IGT, Light & Wonder, and CasinoTrac.
“We have the big gaming-systems companies here and we’re talking about what they’re doing to prepare casinos for the future,” Day said. “We’re asking them some AI and cybersecurity questions as well; they’re important for helping organizations drive new revenue. Technology is a critical piece of all your operations. If you’re more efficient and saving money in some way, it’s probably got a huge technology component. If you’re making new money, it almost assuredly has a huge technology component to it. That’s the message we’re trying to get across.
“People need to think about technology differently. It’s not just something happening in the back room adding up numbers,” Day said. “It’s driving revenue and saving money. It didn’t always do that. That’s why it’s important to have a strategic technology plan, whether you’re a CEO or CIO or any of the leaders from gaming and hospitality organizations.”
TribalNet is expecting its largest attendance in history and largest tradeshow floor ever, Day said. People are recognizing that it’s not just an information technology conference, but an event that’s driving where their organizations are going in the future.
More than 700 people are expected to attend, along with nearly 250 exhibitors. Combined, there will be 1,700 to 1,800 people or more at TribalNet.
