The University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ gaming education series goes on the road for the first time with a trip to a Southern California tribal casino.
The Morongo Casino & Resort & Spa will host the day-long UNLV Gaming & Hospitality Education Series Tuesday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The session will be broadcast live-streamed and available on for $149. The title of the seminar is Tribal Gaming Economy: Battling Competition.
“We’re excited about taking it on the road,” said Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business and one of the sponsors of the educational series. “We’ve had a couple of offers, including one from London and Morongo. We’re not ready to go overseas yet. There are a ton of casinos in Southern California, but there’s not a whole lot of gaming education like what we offer with one day immersion.”
The Morongo property is located on the Morongo Indian Reservation in the town of Cabazon, near Palm Springs.
Gros said they expect the conference to attract a lot of middle managers in the tribal casino industry, and he’s encouraged CEOs to send their staff who needed the exposure.
“There will be a lot of tribal members on how gaming works,” Gros said. “What we’re trying to do is focus on the future of tribal gaming, the competition coming from both commercial and more tribal casinos. We think there will be a big sea change in the tribal gaming area. We’re trying to help people prepare for that.”
Gros said the conference differentiates itself because it is a deep dive into issues, and there’s interaction between the audience and the panelists. The webcast also allows people across the country and world to participate in the questioning, Gros said.
“We do it differently than any conference in the industry so we’re glad we can bring it to that California, and maybe in the future we’ll bring it elsewhere,” Gros said.
The conference will feature a keynote address by Morongo Chairman Robert Martin, before launching into a CEO panel of casino leaders and market conditions. The panel will include Peter Arceo, general manager of the San Manuel Casino, Mark Birtha, president of the Hard Rock Sacramento, John James, COO of the Morongo Casino Resort and John Dinius, general manager of the Sycuan Casino Resort.
Gros called it a “power-packed” panel and a session where the audience can learn how managers of tribal casinos set and reach their goals. It will be moderated by Katherine Spilde, director of the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University.
The panel will be followed by a session on marketing methods and what works and what doesn’t. It features marketing expert Mike Meczka, president of MM/R/C Inc. He will explain how to create marketing programs that bring in customers.
A session on non-gaming amenities will cover how Native American casinos that aren’t expanding or considering area could risk being left behind. The moderator is John Cannito, president of the PENTA Building Group. The speakers are Dike Bacon principal of the HBG Group; John Dinius, and Mike Meyers, senior principal and senior project director with Lifescapes International.
James Siva, vice chairman of California Nations Indian Gaming Association and vice chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, will give the keynote address during lunch.
The afternoon sessions will deal with tribal technology and how tribes have a reputation for the place where new technology debuts in the gaming industry.
Gene Johnson, executive vice president of Victor Strategies will moderate the program that includes Tom Soukup, senior vice president and chief systems product officer with Konami Gaming; Angie Dobney, vice president of gaming and casino sales with Rainmaker, Michael Minor, executive vice president of gaming solutions with Global Payments and Rob Jacks, CIO of Agilysys.
A panel of sports betting in Indian country that will delve into why it has expanded into commercial but not among tribes. Only three tribes – two in New Mexico and one in Mississippi – have adopted sports betting.
“While a few tribes have taken steps toward sports betting, others are taking a wait-and-see attitude while legal, political and technological issues get resolved,” Gros said.
The moderator is Valerie Spicer, founding partner with the Trilogy Group. The speakers are Max Bichsel, U.S. director of Kambi; Steve Bodmer, general counsel of the Pechanga tribal government; and Vic Salerno, president of USBookmaking.
The educational conference closes with a discussion on tribal gaming of the future.
Victor Rocha, president of Victor Strategies will moderate the panel that features Jeffery Berns, executive director of casino operations for the Morongo Casino Resort; Michael Capen, director of client service for Gaming Laboratories International; and Rikki Tanenbaum, chief marketing officer for the San Manuel Casino.
To register to attend or purchase the webcast, https://conferences.regfox.com/unlv-gaming-hospitality-education-series-2019.
