UNLV wraps up its 2018 gaming education series with a day-long panel discussion on player development and payment processing.
The Dec. 13 event at the UNLV Stan Fulton Building/International Gaming Institute serves as a doubleheader with one registration paying for the entire day. The sessions were combined to avoid any conflict with Thanksgiving.
The UNLV Gaming & Hospitality Education Series is a partnership between UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality; Casino Connection International, Global Gaming Business Magazine, and Applied Management Strategies.
A session on building the perfect casino host features Nick Ippolito, president of Player Development Systems, Inc. who will discuss what makes a great host and how casinos should find them.
Hosts who can make your players feel at home and salve the sting of a loss are invaluable, said Global Gaming Business Publisher Roger Gros.
“It’s such an important part of the business,” Gros said. “If you can’t bring clients to your place and keep them as loyal players, you’re not going to have success over the long run. These panelists explain how to deal with players and how you create that loyalty so that person doesn’t come to the property just once but multiple times.”
One of the morning sessions is rating your players and hosts. The days of hosts calling players isn’t over, but technology creates a lot more opportunities whether it’s via text, social media or online play, he said.
The moderator is Brian Wyman of the Innovation Group. The panelists include gaming executive Cath Burns, Andy Caras-Altas, founder and CEO of TraffGen Global, and Lana Kotur, senior director of customer success in VizExplorer.
The morning session wraps up with a panel discussion hosted by Gros entitled, In the Trenches: Trials and Tribulations of Casino Marketing.
The panelists will describe how to build a successful casino marketing department and how to maintain relationships inside and outside the casino. They will also share some stories of notable casino marketing campaigns, players and historic hosts, Gros said.
The panelists include Anna Romanova, a senior vice president of Europe/Middle East marketing for MGM Resorts International; Jackie Yee, a senior Asian player development and marketing executive; and Michael McNamee, president of Bay Group Consulting.
The afternoon session on payment processing kicks off at 1 p.m. with a session entitled, Casino, the Federal Government and AML.
It will feature Greg Lisa, a partner with Hogan Lovells US, who served as chief of the MSB and casinos section and interim director of the office of compliance and enforcement, Gros said. Lisa will outline the current efforts at FinCEN and within the industry to curtail all money laundering at online and land-based casinos, he said.
That will be followed by a session on why payment processing is crucial to the industry’s success, Gros said. The panel will talk about the difficulty of casinos accepting and disbursing payments because credit cards can’t be used like in traditional industries, Gros said.
The panel will talk about ways casinos are moving into the 21st century by using e-wallets, pre-loaded debit cards and other electronic methods that consumers can trust and understand, Gros said. Speakers will explain how to reduce overhead and how to better manage the cash using products that are offered today, he said.
The moderator is Tim Richards, chief product strategy officer with Everi Holdings Inc. The panel includes Joe Pappano, senior vice president of Worldpay; Al Zayas, director of cage and credit operations with the Pechanga Resort Casino; and Kurt Williams, co-founder and CEO of Casino Cash Trac.
The day will wrap up with a discussion on iGaming payments since one of the biggest hurdles to the success of online gaming and mobile sports betting is the acceptance of credit cards, Gros said.
Many of the largest card issuers, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and American Express, still don’t allow their cards to be used for online gambling or sports betting, Gros said. While conflicting federal and state laws are part of the problem, there are also concerns about what might happen if the credit card holder failed to pay, he said.
The panelists will talk about the latest trends in online gaming payments and how the recent legalization of sports betting may move the process along more quickly, Gros said.
“The iGaming payment is such a big thing now and even today it’s difficult get money into your account,” Gros said. “You can’t use credit cards in most cases and with banks federal regulations are still on the books that you can’t transfer money for any type of gambling purposes. Most banks won’t challenge that even though iGaming is legal in several states.”
The moderator is Angela Segovia, director of product marketing for Everi Payments. The panelists include Christopher Justice, president of Global Payments Gaming Solutions; and Omer Sattar, co-founder and executive vice president of strategic initiatives for Sightline.
The sessions can also be viewed by webcast either live or on tape.
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