Salim Adatia, VP of iGaming, talks about the company’s GLI University initiative and the top topics discussed at March’s North American Regulators Roundtable in Vegas.
iGAMING TIMES: First of all, explain a little bit about GLI University, how it began and what is its mission.
SALIM ADATIA: Today’s rapid pace of technology advancements demands up-to-date knowledge to remain successful in gaming. GLI is committed to helping regulators and gaming industry professionals with this, by equipping them with the tools and information they need to succeed. That’s why GLI University was created. Courses can be delivered anywhere in the world at a GLI lab or our clients’ facilities. Whether it’s Slots 101, iGaming, sports wagering, cybersecurity, or game math, our world class faculty of industry experts offer best-in-class training and education to help gaming professionals tackle the complex challenges of the industry, both today and tomorrow. GLI University also stages annual roundtables, seminars, and regional training tailored to individual clients’ needs.
iGT: How important is it for state regulators in the US to communicate at events such as March’s North American Regulators Roundtable? And on what issues in particular is more cooperation needed?
SA: In our view it is vital. That is why one of the main objectives with our Regulators Roundtable is to foster open dialogue, discussion, and cooperation between regulators in a safe, welcoming, and collegial atmosphere.
Conversations carried on outside the Roundtable as well. For example, over lunch and networking breaks, in this year’s Innovation Room, or even over the din of our high-energy cocktail party at Luxor’s HyperX Esports Arena. We know that providing this type of forum facilitates opportunities for greater collaboration.
Take, for example, tribal and state regulators who seek to cooperate when crafting sports wagering regulations, which is what our GLI-33 Event Wagering Systems technical standard was designed to encourage. In fact, we’ve already seen several jurisdictions, including the Mississippi Choctaw Gaming Commission, the Cherokee Tribal Gaming Commission, the West Virginia Lottery, and the Rhode Island Lottery have already adopted the GLI-33 Event Wagering System technical standard “out of the box.”
iGT: Which of the roundtable’s ‘top ten technologies to affect the gaming industry’ pose the greatest or most immediate challenges the sector?
SA: Readers of iGaming Times certainly can appreciate the major impact new and emerging technology trends such as omni-channel convergence is having on the gaming industry. After all, the “i” in “iGaming” stands for “interactive” as consumers demand entertainment services that are immediately available through all their electronic devices, 24/7. As we have seen with the explosion of mobile sports wagering revenue in comparison to traditional land-based sports books, the potential to deliver similar gaming content through these multiple digital channels is paramount. In our view, this is something we should all be keeping up to speed given as the opportunities continue to evolve so too will be the challenges.
iGT: Which technologies are making the regulatory objectives easier to achieve?
SA: GLI has been at the forefront of providing gaming regulators and operators with a variety of cutting-edge technologies designed to make their jobs easier. For example, GLIAccess is an online, password-protected portal that provides suppliers and regulators 24/7 access to GLI’s certification database, which is the world’s most comprehensive library of testing information.
Regulators can use GLIAccess to approve certifications and communicate directly with the lab. Additionally, Kobetron offers a variety of advanced verification and casino-management tools like IRIS Online and IRIS Enterprise that allow regulators and operators to quickly and instantly check the regulatory status of all components on the casino floor.
Moreover, GLI has also developed award-winning automated testing technology, which improves the accuracy and efficiency of testing gaming devices and systems to regulatory standards by reducing guesswork and enabling testing to occur around the clock in high volume, thereby making regulatory objectives easier to achieve by improving quality and reliability.
iGT: How would federal oversight of US sports betting affect the growth and regulation of the industry?
SA: That is a question which is best left for political pundits and gaming industry analysts to debate. Nevertheless, we do continue to support harmonization and standardization. For this reason, we spent a significant amount of time culminating our decades of experience with globally accepted best practices and standards, when we developed the GLI-33 Event Wagering Systems Standard. It’s now a successful resource for individual gaming jurisdictions to adopt entirely or use as a starting point to develop their own unique set of sports betting regulatory standards.
This all said, regardless of which fork in the road US sports betting takes going forward, one thing the industry can count on is that GLI will always be there in support.
