The World Game Protection Conference returns to Las Vegas March 11-13 to help the casino industry deal with the latest risks and scams that threaten its operations.
The annual conference that started in 2006 will be held at the Rio Las Vegas this year. It provides core training for casino employees and management and offers general sessions that examine current and emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, and explores casino practices to combat them all.
The final day of the conference focuses on the latest scams. Attendees vote on a list of the top casino scams for the year. The results garner a lot of attention in the gaming industry and is one of the top-read stories of the year in CDC Gaming.
“The message we want to convey at this show is that as casino executives, we have to think differently and have a different approach to compliance and employee theft,” said conference founder Willy Allison. “We’re also trying to talk about how we conduct ourselves ethically and morally. The media is looking at casinos all the time. Whether you’re right or wrong, you don’t want to end up in the news and have your reputation to go in the toilet. Times have changed and we should look at new solutions and be open to new ideas.”
More than 600 attendees are expected at the conference, approaching the 2024 record. The show begins with two keynote addresses, followed by training sessions to end the first day and start the second day.
The show kicks off March 11 with retired Las Vegas gaming lawyer Anthony Cabot talking about ethics in the casino industry, which have come under scrutiny for turning a blind eye to money laundering and illegal bookmakers placing bets.
“Our show is always about what’s going on now,” Allison said. “Cabot has written a book about Chinese crime in casinos and he’ll talk about ethics and doing the right thing.”
Cabot will be followed by a keynote address by former UK banking regulator turned chief compliance officer and human risk expert Christian Hunt, who will explore the behavioral drivers of compliance and what makes employees more or less likely to comply with rules. Hunt will reveal some of the key motivators behind why people break rules and explore the principles that help operators design strategies that increase compliance.
“In the last year or two, more money has been lost to casinos from compliance breaches and fines and management not doing the right thing than from cheating and fraud,” Allison said. “It’s a multi-million-dollar issue and we want to make a statement right off the bat that we prioritize compliance and legality. One of the biggest threats out there is noncompliance. I’m talking about money laundering and knowing your customer and association of how you do business and who you do business with.”
New regulations are always coming out and properties may put out a memo, but don’t do the necessary training for staff to implement them, Allison said.
“We have to get everyone on board, from the dealers up to the presidents,” Allison said. “The problem lies at the top. They have their money-laundering classes and training for people on the floor, but if you get executives hanging out with unsavory characters or bending the rules in terms of cash deposits, that’s not seen on camera.”
Scott Sibella, whose gaming license was revoked for just such behavior, at his revocation hearing cast blame on MGM Resorts International executives for turning a blind eye to illegal bookmakers for decades. He called it a matter for the compliance team.
“He threw his own executives under the bus, but he wouldn’t take responsibility for what he did,” Allison said. “You can’t say as a president of a casino that it’s compliance’s job.”
The conference has expanded the number of core training sessions this year that cover table-game and electronic-game protection, OSINT investigations, investigating gaming losses, surveillance management, and advanced advantage play.
Training sessions new this year include casino cybersecurity eyeing how digital bandits are infiltrating organizations. The other is crisis management.
“That’s about what happens if a truck parked out the front entrance blows up, you have to shut down your casino because of snow, and you have a mass shooting,” Allison said. “Crisis leadership is becoming more important. We feel the two new subjects are important training to get.”
The second-day general sessions feature Allison interviewing guests, starting with one on cheating in poker featuring Maria Konikova, a high-stakes poker player, psychologist, and author of three best-selling books. She has called for a ban on electronics and sunglasses in poker games.
Also on day two, Michael Kaplan, who has written dozens of articles on advantage players, will talk to Allison about his new book, Advantage Players, and his experiences in that world.
The day ends with Allison interviewing Acres Manufacturing executive Noah Acres about a recent study his company conducted, revealing that free slot play costs casinos billions a year. He’ll also talk about slot advantage play and how their software can detect it.
The third day starts with gaming protection trainer Sal Piacente talking about the latest scams he’s seen and heard about around the world.
That will be followed by Allison and Bill Zender, a casino consultant specializing in table-game protection, highlighting the top scams of the year and allowing the audience to rank them in terms of impact and ingenuity.
The duo will also examine what types of scams are trending, what 2024 scams have in common, and what casinos should do to sharpen their defenses against scammers in 2025.
Another highlight of the final day is a roundtable featuring four representatives from gaming enforcement divisions from Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ontario, Canada. They will talk about successful gaming-crime prosecutions, cheating scams, crime trends, and general BOLO (be on the lookout) information for the casino industry.
“This is new and I’m really excited about it,” Allison said. “They’ll give us insights across the country of what’s going on. This information sharing is what our conference is all about — getting in a room, talking through the threats, and hopefully coming up with ways to resolve them.”
The conference’s final afternoon starts with a session on what companies are doing to reduce employee theft. The speaker is Lamar Pierce, a professor of organization and strategy at Washington University in St. Louis. That session is followed by the keys to leading a winning casino team featuring Debra Nutton, a former casino executive and member of the Gaming Hall of Fame.
This year’s show added audio language translation via an app that enables up to 60 different languages for most of the sessions.
“This is new for us, but we’re pretty proud of doing it, because we want to reach the world,” Allison said. “Over the years, people have reached out and asked if we have translations. Now with AI technology a lot better, it makes us global.”
The conference also features an expo with leading manufacturers of casino game protection, surveillance, and security products.
