Technological Breakthroughs in Gaming To Be Showcased at Global Gaming Expo

G2E’s Innovation Lab will showcase new technologies shaping future of casinos, sports betting.

Global Gaming Expo 2018 (G2E), North America’s premier international gaming trade show and educational event presented by the American Gaming Association and organized by Reed Exhibitions and taking place in Las Vegas October 8-11, released its Innovation Lab lineup for 2018, featuring new innovations shaping the future of the gaming industry including the use of beacons and artificial intelligence.

“The first two years of the Innovation Lab have been met with positive feedback as a space for innovative concepts for the gaming industry to come to light, and we’re excited to bring it back for G2E 2018,” said Allie Barth, vice president of industry relations for the American Gaming Association. “This year’s Innovation Lab will feature a wide array of perspectives on how the industry can advance into the future both through gaming and broader resort management.”

The AGA’s Innovation Lab serves as a centralized hub for innovation relevant to the gaming-entertainment industry. It hosts a collection of fifteen-minute TED-talk-style sessions designed to foster conversation and inspire innovation among the gaming industry. In addition to leaders in the gaming industry, Innovation Lab 2018 will also feature speakers from outside companies such as Microsoft, Allied Esports and others.

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Attendees are invited to come together to share ideas, receive valuable insights and learn from esteemed leaders who are driving innovation forward across multiple industries. Unique to 2018, each day of presentations at the Innovation Lab has a dedicated theme. The schedule includes:

Tuesday, October 9 – Big Data & Analytics

• 11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. – Accelerating Digital Transformation with dotData (NEC)
  Speaker: Ryohei Fujimaki (Ph.D.) founder, CEO and CTO, dotData
  
  Data Science has become a major area of technology investment driven by the impact it can have on customer relationships, revenue, operation, supply chain and risk management, among many other business functions. A self-service data science platform can make data scientists more productive and enable more contributors – from data and BI engineers to business analysts – to participate in the data science process. dotData, an enterprise-grade data science platform, significantly automates feature engineering which is typically the most challenging and time-consuming part of data science. This session will give you insight into the dotData technology platform and how it will empower the gaming industry to accelerate the digital transformation and deliver greater impact to their business.
  
• 11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – Microsoft Research (Microsoft)
  Speaker: Dr. James McCaffrey, senior research software engineer, Microsoft

  Deep neural networks are responsible for many technological breakthroughs in speech recognition (Siri & Cortana), pattern recognition (self-driving cars) and genomics (DNA sequencing). With the repeal of PASPA, deep neural systems are on the verge of disrupting sports wagering with similar massive impact. In this session, Dr. James McCaffrey from the Microsoft research team will explain what deep neural networks are and how they work in the simplest terms. Attendees will walk away with a solid understanding of the capabilities of deep neural networks and insight into leading-edge efforts applied to sports betting so they can identify new business opportunities and communicate with subject matter experts.

• 12:30 a.m. – 12:45 a.m. – iGaming Ideas
  Speaker: David Sargeant, Betting and Gaming – Innovation Consultant

  Sports betting operators offer hundreds of thousands events a year, each with thousands of things to bet on, against a backdrop of millions of price changes a day. How do you market a constantly evolving product set when instant and in-game betting is the biggest market share? This session looks at how technology and automation can solve the problem with case studies from publishers and operators around the world.

• 1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. – Using Online Wagering Data for Responsible Gaming Measures (Playtech)
  Speaker: Simo Dragicevic, CEO, BetBuddy

  As U.S. states continue to regulate and expand into new online gaming products, opportunities and expectations to improve consumer protection measures increase. Driven by the nature of new online gaming products, which require all play to be registered, operators are able to capture detailed customer behavior digitally. Over the past 10 years in Europe, regulated online gaming has grown rapidly and governments and regulators are now requiring operators to place an increased focus on using customer data to understand patterns of play in the context of gaming risk. Continuously improving and enhancing responsible gaming measures will become increasingly important and expected. In this session, BetBuddy, Playtech’s responsible gaming analytics company, will explain how data and artificial intelligence can be integrated into day-to-day gaming operations to better understand and interact with your customer and, ultimately, build trust in your online gaming brand.

• 2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. – Augmented Analytics and Business Innovation (NEC)
  Speaker: Dr. Aaron Cheng, vice president of data science and solutions at dotData

  As more companies look to expedite their digital transformation, there is a shortage of skilled data scientists. Augmented analytics that focus on developing automatic solutions to data exploration and insight discovery has been identified as the ultimate solution to this problem. Augmented analytical platforms automate advanced analytics and data science processes, and deliver analytical insights with speed and at scale, completely disrupting the traditional data and analytics market. This presentation aims to discuss dotData’s product offering in the augmented analytics space and demonstrate how one can use dotData’s products to develop new marketing strategies for the gaming industry quickly.

• 4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. – Big Data, Big Problem (NRT)
  Speaker: Kiran Brahmandam, chief executive officer, Gaming Analytics

  Data and Analytics have made our world a more productive place, but we have yet to realize its full potential in the casino gaming industry. In this session, Kiran Brahmandam, CEO of Gaming Analytics, will talk about the potential of big data, its problems and its future in the gaming industry.

Wednesday, October 10 – New Terrain & Emerging Markets

• 10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Esports Gaming Converging with Casino Gaming (Allied Esports)
  Speaker: Edgar Pastrana, vice president of commercial strategy at Allied Esports

  Earlier this year, Allied Esports became the first company to open a competitive video game destination on The Strip when it debuted Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Resort & Casino. Allied Esports Vice President of Commercial Strategy Edgar Pastrana will explore learnings and successes from opening a state-of-the-art esports venue in a casino, and how the video game industry and casino-gaming industry can successfully continue to converge in the future.

• 11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. – The Engaged Customer Across a Connected Resort (ConverageOne)
  Speaker: Dan Burgin, customer experience solutions architect, ConvergeOne
  
  What does it mean to be a “connected resort”? We believe the best definition is to bring your Casino’s data to bear, just at the right moment, to engage customers, to enhance their experience at your resort and or casino all while providing a platform that is user friendly. The examples are endless for how this can enhance customer engagement, up sell resort services; dining experiences; offer discounts, point out advantages, remind the customers of their reservations and itineraries. Come learn how ConvergeOne has built an AI-driven chatbot platform that is cross functional making this easy to build, deploy, and maintain so you can start engaging your customers in exactly the way they want, and delight turning a onetime customer into a loyal customer.
• 11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – Never Bet Alone (BetBull)
  Speaker: Sadok Kohen, Founder, BetBull

  In this session BetBull Founder Sadok Kohen will discuss how to bring the social element back to betting successfully and how to attract a new generation by doing so.

• 12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Defining a Digital and Data Strategy in an Evolving Betting Landscape (Capco)
  Speaker: Peter Dugas, Managing Principal, Capco

  What does your digital and data architecture look like across your customer lifecycle and integrated resort experience? Revenue from non-gaming operations and an expanded sports betting market are giving casino operators the opportunity to think strategically across their data landscape. This session will cover approaches to maximize digital and data impacts, manage integration risks and accelerate the digitization of gaming and non-gaming operations.

• 1:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. – Engagement Redefined: Capturing Attention in Our Voice-First, Audio-Led World (Pandora)
  Speaker: Laura Fernandez, director of travel, tourism + casinos, Pandora

  We live in a world where voice is the new touch, thanks to advancements in technology such as smartphones, smart speakers, smart TVs and connected cars. Seventy-nine percent of audio consumption now takes place where visuals cannot reach consumers. Laura Fernandez, director of travel, tourism + casinos at Pandora, will discuss what this means for marketers and why casinos need to embrace new technologies to drive visitation.

• 1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. – Secrets of A Social Influencer: Bringing Slot Machines to Millennials (BC Slots)
  Speaker: Brian Christopher, social media influencer for casinos and slot machines

  How can casinos attract millennial players? Here from Brian Christopher, the world’s largest social media influencer for casinos and slot machines, on how he attracts the hard to reach millennials as he shares his analytics and insights on what he believes can keep casinos thriving amongst this growing market.

• 3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. – Save Money and Delight Your Guests with Parlay Solutions (Caesars Entertainment)
  Speaker: Mike McLellan, senior VP, Parlay Solutions

  Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO’s) help companies turn their supply chain into a source of strategic advantage, but there are three ways GPO’s have come up short for gaming operators. In this session Mike McLellan of Parlay Solutions will talk about why Parlay Solutions is different.

Thursday, October 11 – Innovation Incubator (9:00 a.m.)

During this first-of-its-kind industry event, start-ups and students will take the main stage at G2E to pitch their greatest innovations in gaming and hospitality to a live audience and two of the most dynamic investors in the business world –FUBU CEO and Founder Daymond John and The Pink Ceiling and Sprout CEO Cindy Eckert (Whitehead).

Four finalists, chosen by a panel of gaming industry experts, will present their concepts to John and Eckert, followed by a fast-paced Q&A where the headlining guests will examine the potential business opportunity of each presentation. Six runners-up proposals will have their own dedicated time at the Innovation Lab to present their ideas.

For more information on the Innovation Lab including additional details regarding sessions and speakers, click here.