A Healthy Tribal Gaming Market
A Vital Sector Supporting Tribes and Local Communities
The tribal gaming industry has grown from the small bingo halls of the late 1970s to global event destinations. Nearly 250 tribes operate more than 500 tribal casinos or other gaming locations across the country and generate 38 percent of all annual gaming revenue in the U.S.
This tremendous growth has enabled tribal gaming operators to invest directly back into tribal communities, providing diverse career opportunities, supporting local businesses, and funding critical tribal government programs and initiatives. The AGA is committed to partnering with our member tribes as they continue to provide key economic benefits and jobs to their communities.
Responsible Gaming: A Year-Round Commitment
The AGA-developed materials can assist with increasing education and awareness of the important issue of responsible gaming. Materials are available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Spanish and are available for order online.
The Responsible Gaming Committee provides a forum for industry leaders to discuss and develop industry practices and strategies around responsible gaming, corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and related topics. The group elevates these issues as a key priority for the industry; solidifying AGA and its members as the leading advocate; and shaping policies that are more favorable to innovation and consumer protection.
The Responsible Gaming Committee provides a forum for industry leaders to discuss and develop industry practices and strategies around responsible gaming, corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and related topics. The group elevates these issues as a key priority for the industry; solidifying AGA and its members as the leading advocate; and shaping policies that are more favorable to innovation and consumer protection.
This September, join the American Gaming Association and our members as we highlight the industry’s responsible gaming education efforts. Together, we can promote gaming literacy and consumer education, elevate employee training, and work with partners to advance our understanding of responsible gambling.
Get a head start on your #RGEM2024 plans by downloading the full RGEM 2024 toolkit.
Join us as GeoComply’s John Pappas and American Gaming Association’s Cait DeBaun dive deep into the heart of the NFL’s 2023 regulated betting landscape, examining intriguing data and insights from the initial weeks. We will also feature new research and information about responsible gaming and consumer demand for legal betting options as part of Responsible Gaming Education Month.
Featured AGA Speaker
Cait DeBaun
Vice President, Strategic Communications & Responsibility
Recent research released shows that the gaming industry supports 350,000 small business jobs and is responsible for $52 billion in small business revenues. The report, The Gaming Industry’s Impact on Small Business Development in the United States, was completed by Spectrum Gaming Group and commissioned by AGA.
To highlight the report’s findings, AGA launched its nationwide American Gaming Small Business Jobs Tour. The tour will scan the country to showcase gaming’s strong, positive impacts on local, small businesses that are driving Main Street’s success and American employment. AGA plans to work with a wide range of member companies to showcase their strong partnership with small businesses all around the country.
Resources
Press Coverage Summary
Las Vegas Review-Journal – Road trip by AGA slated to explain how casinos help small businesses
Providence Business News – Report: Casinos in R.I. contribute $1B in economic activity
Politico – Influence
CDC Gaming Reports – AGA: Maryland Casinos Drive Opportunity and Growth for Small Businesses
Casino City Times – Gaming industry important for small businesses, says AGA
CDC Gaming Reports – AGA highlights gaming industry’s positive impacts on small business
Casino.org News – Gaming Industry’s Positive Economic Impact Theme of AGA Small Business Jobs Tour
CDC Gaming Reports – New Study: Casino Industry is Essential to Small Business Growth
AGA Speakers
Bill Miller
President and CEO
CEO Roundtable: a fireside chat with the AGA and the CGA
The IAGA CEO Roundtable brings the leading executives of North America’s three largest gaming organizations together to discuss their opinions on the hot topics facing the industry within their respective markets. Covering a wide range of issues including what can and should be done to stop the proliferation of unregulated and unlawful gaming including grey machine proliferation, the lessons learned from the pandemic and their predictions for the year ahead, this is unique opportunity to hear from the leaders who help shape public policy and perception about gaming in all its forms.
Moderated by Daron Dorsey, the Executive Director for the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), the panelists include:
- Paul Burns, President and CEO, Canadian Gaming Association
- Bill Miller, President and CEO, American Gaming Association
Gambling advertising’s race to acquire customers: are we heading for a crash?
In late 2018, Italy’s advertising and communications regulator Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) introduced a blanket gambling advertising ban aimed at reducing rates of gambling addiction and ratcheting up player protection efforts. This quickly drew the attention of regulators and legislators elsewhere, resulting in tighter advertising restrictions or consideration of bans in other European countries. Given the exploding North American sports betting markets and the corresponding dramatic increase in player acquisition advertising, are we perilously heading toward a similar fate? This panel will take a deep dive into gambling advertising bans, debating issues like whether the European experience could be replicated in the US, whether bans or tighter restrictions have an impact on problem gambling, whether they represent a perceived or real failure of the industry to implement appropriate controls and safeguards, and what effect a bombardment of gambling advertising has on the industry’s reputation. Is gambling advertising a regulatory issue? A responsibility issue? Our panel will aim to answer these questions and more.
Moderated by Cait DeBaun, Vice President – Strategic Communications and Responsibility for the American Gaming Association (AGA), the panelists include:
- Chris Hebert, Gaming Division Director, Louisiana Attorney General’s Office
- Louis Rogacki, Deputy Director, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement
WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association (AGA) Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Sara Slane issued the following statement regarding Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement on legalized sports betting.
“The casino gaming industry shares Senator Schumer’s goal in preserving the integrity of sporting events and providing consumer protections. Federal oversight of sports betting was an abject failure for 26 years only contributing to a thriving illegal market with no consumer protections and safeguards. New federal mandates are a nonstarter.
“The casino industry is working with stakeholders to ensure the proper protections for consumers, and the integrity of bets and sporting contests are included in state policy, universally implemented by all operators in those states, and overseen by effective state and tribal gaming regulators.”
About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $261 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.8 million jobs nationwide. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, gaming suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.
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WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association (AGA) Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Sara Slane issued the following statement regarding Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement on legalized sports betting.
“The casino gaming industry shares Senator Schumer’s goal in preserving the integrity of sporting events and providing consumer protections. Federal oversight of sports betting was an abject failure for 26 years only contributing to a thriving illegal market with no consumer protections and safeguards. New federal mandates are a nonstarter.
“The casino industry is working with stakeholders to ensure the proper protections for consumers, and the integrity of bets and sporting contests are included in state policy, universally implemented by all operators in those states, and overseen by effective state and tribal gaming regulators.”
About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $261 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.8 million jobs nationwide. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, gaming suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic dealt the gaming industry its most difficult year ever, the industry rose to the challenge by coming to the aid of frontline workers, leading the way for businesses across the country to responsibly reopen, and doubling down on its commitment to supporting its communities.
Impact of COVID-19 on Gaming
These efforts began right away, with gaming companies helping solve the nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment and testing. Casino operators combined to donate hundreds of thousands of masks and additional protective gear, while also leveraging extensive supply chain resources to help procure and distribute COVID-19 tests. Some casinos were converted into COVID-19 testing facilities, and more recently, vaccination centers. As Scott Kerbs, public relations manager at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, attested, “These valuable testing resources have served to safeguard the health of community members and visitors while supporting the safe and measured reopening of our economy.”
When casino properties were forced to close their doors due to the pandemic, commercial and tribal gaming operators donated millions of meals to in-need families in gaming communities throughout the United States. Many casinos continued to pay and support their employees while casino floors stood dormant, while gaming operators and suppliers set up emergency relief funds to provide financial assistance to current and former employees.
From gaming suppliers to sportsbook operators, charitable donations from the gaming industry continued to support those in need throughout the pandemic, and when it became safe reopen businesses, the gaming industry once again took leadership. Implementing rigorous health and safety protocols with the help of innovative, contactless solutions, casinos helped write the playbook for businesses of all industries across the U.S. to effectively reopen while prioritizing the health of employees and customers.
“The best thing I can say about the gaming industry during the pandemic is that to them it wasn’t a competition to see who could reopen their properties first...They did everything they could to help each other with the safety and security measures that were put in place to protect people who came to town.” - Deputy Chief Andrew Walsh, Homeland Security Division, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Casinos & Communities: COVID-19 Response tells these stories and more, once again demonstrating that, when the chips are down, gaming is all-in on its commitment to its communities.