Participants at next month’s Nevada Economic Development Conference might be forgiven for tossing in some high-fives along with their handshakes.

A UNLV student has created a variation on blackjack that's now being played on the Strip. Matt Stream invented Easy Jack, a simplified version of the popular table game.

Blackjack is the most popular table game in American casinos, due at least in part to its basic structure of trying to beat the dealer’s hand without going over 21, and because of its low house edge. But a student at UNLV’s Center for Gaming Innovation (CGI) is trying to disrupt how the card game is played by offering a new version called Easy Jack.

If slow and steady wins the race to the future, UNLV is gaining on the competition. Here are three ways the university’s tech-savvy students and faculty are making a difference.

Matthew Stream dealt hand after hand of blackjack at a Northern California casino and seemed to run into a similar problem for players. In the quickness of the game, they had a difficult time tallying the cards.

The tribe isn’t required to publicly disclose revenue at each casino, but the checks it sends to the state are public knowledge. Using effective revenue sharing rates and reviewing payments received, the Miami-Herald has assembled estimated data on the seven gambling venues.

Will northern New Jersey casinos bankrupt Atlantic City? The casino industry's largest lobbying group in the U.S. on Thursday rolled out a new code of conduct with consumer protection measures that it says are meant to promote responsible gambling. The code of the American Gaming Association (AGA) calls on casino operators to be more transparent with patrons and provide training to employees. Its announcement in Las Vegas came within months of two high-profile criminal cases that drew attention to the effects of compulsive gambling as authorities believe the perpetrators were problem gamblers.

The American Gaming Association on Thursday brought its new code of conduct for responsible casino play to the West Coast with a panel of industry representatives explaining how they want customers to have fun without falling into a compulsive gambling trap.

The casino industry's largest lobbying group in the U.S. on Thursday rolled out a new code of conduct with consumer protection measures that it says are meant to promote responsible gambling. The code of the American Gaming Association calls on casino operators to be more transparent with patrons and provide training to employees. Its announcement in Las Vegas came within months of two high-profile criminal cases that drew attention to the effects of compulsive gambling as authorities believe the perpetrators were problem gamblers.

Gardner Co. along with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas are moving forward with the Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, a 122-acre master-planned research and technology community in Las Vegas. Gardner Co. has been retained by UNLV Research Foundation as master developer of the tech park.

On July 19, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson was at Nellis Air Force Base preparing to share information about a new program in the pipeline called AFwerX. The program will test collaborating with UNLV and the public to innovate ideas and for problem-solving.

The stabbing death of a 4-year-old child is shedding light on the larger issue of domestic violence in the Las Vegas valley.