Research is one of the key pillars of the International Center for Gaming Regulation. The Center facilitates independent, nonpartisan, evidence-based research on issues that cover the wide-ranging topics surrounding regulated gaming.
We encourage scholarship in gaming regulation through fellowships targeting key areas including gaming policy, gaming law, licensing, compliance, and/or gaming operations.
Fellowship Research
White Paper: Regulating Sports Gaming Data - FR 1.0
The ICGR thanks the author, Ryan Rodenberg, JD/PhD, for his work on regulating sports gaming data. The ICGR sponsored this research in our 2019 fellowship program.
Micro-Research Projects
The ICGR provides brief research based projects that help to turn topical data into information; we call these Micro-Research Projects. Many of our stakeholders are individuals, smaller companies, and regulatory bodies that do not always have the staff, time, or resources to compile data on certain topics that may impact day to day operations or strategy. Often, it is the higher level summary information that helps to prompt a deeper dive. The intent of our Micro-Research Projects is to offer that primer. These can be used to quickly locate information about specific aspects of gaming operations and regulations. More Micro-Research projects will be added in the near future as they become available, specifically relating to cashless wagering and regulatory structures across states. As an academic institution, the ICGR supports student involvement with these projects and we are pleased to present undergraduate and graduate student work in this section. All student-produced work is reviewed by ICGR executive staff for accuracy and completeness prior to inclusion.
iGaming by Jurisdiction - MR 1.0
This Micro-Research Project compiles the current legality of iGaming in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alderney, and the United Kingdom into a comparative table. This table can be used to quickly compare specific aspects of iGaming - such as licensing costs, permitted games, taxation, and more - in each listed jurisdiction. Information is presented in a succinct manner for ease of viewing.
UNLV Graduate Assistant and Student Papers
Paper: Driving Artificial Intelligence Use in Responsible Gambling Practices - GAS 1.0
Gambling operators have incorporated specific responsible gambling (RG) measures as a unique approach to enhance their corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, staff accuracy in problem gambling identification, one important RG measure, remains low: venue staff can identify only 36% of patrons experiencing gambling problems. Artificial intelligence (AI)’s integration with responsible gambling (RG) practices has gained increasing attention in the gaming industry. The technological mechanisms set by AI can exploit the correlation and interaction between variables in a multivariate way, an utmost difficult task for humans, to identify risky patterns and determine which player attributes correlate with positive behavioral changes. The result helps to develop better RG strategies and safe play guidelines for players.
However, AI technologies encountered a low degree of acceptance and adoption in the industry because of technical, ethical, regulatory issues regarding AI applications for gambling and the way of data collection from gamblers. The extensive literature review on both AI and RG aims to recommend best practices for the use of AI in a way in which the gaming industry can comply with responsible gambling guidelines, while also ensuring they adhere to local law and best practice in data privacy. The recommendations cover four aspects of AI implementation: data privacy, security and governance; ethical consideration in deployment and design; data quality; and, transparency, interpretability, and accountability of AI systems. As there are almost no regulations designed for AI, this paper proposed the first set of solutions that can help gambling regulators, operators, and players better understand AI systems, thus using them more effectively and responsibly.
The ICGR thanks the author, Qing "Tiffany" Huang , for graciously allowing her work to be included on our website.
Paper: "Hoagies & Hot Slots" How Convenience Store Slot Parlors Could Revive Atlantic City - GAS 2.0
Once lauded as “America’s Playground,” Atlantic City today is a shadow of the lavish and debaucherous seaside resort mecca it was in the early 20th century. Although the legalization of casino gaming in Atlantic City in 1976 and the subsequent opening of its first casino two years later ushered in a new Golden Age for the city throughout the 1980s and early ‘90s, the Great Economic Recession of the late 2000s hit Atlantic City hard, shuttered many of its casinos, and crippled its gaming industry such that revenues still have not recovered to their pre-Recession highs. Most noticeably, however, the economic toll of the Great Recession has virtually precluded the construction of a true integrated resort that might thrust Atlantic City to the forefront of the national – or even international – gaming market.
This treatise analyzes to what degree convenience gaming can benefit New Jersey’s gaming industry and, if embraced to its fullest, present convenience gaming state-wide in the form of convenience store slot parlors – the “hoagies and hot slots” methodology – as an attractive and profitable alternative to the state’s stalling casino-based methodology, anachronistically limited to Atlantic City alone. Aiding in this analysis, we look to other jurisdictions which have successfully implemented convenience gaming and explore a jurisdiction which has successfully utilized gaming revenue as the primary means of urban revitalization and redevelopment. Of course, this analysis also examines the economic benefits derived there an expansion of convenience gaming, weighing them against the socioeconomic burdens imposed by the emergence of potential externalities. Finally, we conclude by laying out a plan of implementation for convenience gaming in the state of New Jersey, identifying the steps necessary to utilize its short-term deployment as a vehicle to drive the development of the infrastructure requisite to facilitate construction of a high-caliber integrated resort. As this treatise will show, to revive the faltering gaming industry in Atlantic City, the gaming nucleus must first move beyond Atlantic City’s bounds and into convenience store slot parlors statewide.
The ICGR thanks the author, Joseph Cannizzo Jr., J.D., for graciously allowing his work to be included on our website.
Report: Current Overview of Sports Betting Legalization in California - GAS 3.0
The ICGR thanks the author, Noah Ahmed, for allowing his work to be included on our website.
Directed Readings on Sports Betting - GAS 4.0
This document provides an extensive list resources for learning about sports wagering, as written by experts in the field.
2021 Call for Research Fellowship Applications
The UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation is now accepting applications for 2021 Research Fellows. Up to two (2) six (6) month non-resident fellows will be selected to conduct impactful research on important gambling issues. These fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis via a peer-review process.
Invitation For Research Topic Submissions
We wish to invite interested parties (eg. regulators, gaming operators, gaming suppliers and the public) to suggest research topics in which to guide prospective fellowship applicants with regard to topical areas for research. Please view the pdf for additional details.
Commissioning Research
We offer custom research services and provide knowledge and expertise in all aspects of gaming regulation:
- Gaming policy and law
- Licensing and registration
- Regulatory compliance
- Corporate governance
- Enforcement
- Best practices in areas such as player protection, game fairness and AML/ CFT
If you would like to commission us to conduct specific regulatory research and analysis, please contact us.