Hello viewers, Tim Pool here, editor of Gambling Insider and I'm with Brett of Arbonnell, newly appointed executive director of the I at UNLV. Brett, thank you for joining us. Thanks Tim, it's great to be here.
You mentioned you've been to a few ices before and we were briefly talking off-camera about just how busy it is here. How is this ice so far? comparing to previous renditions?
I think you can really feel that it's bigger in years past. We've clearly come out of the COVID area in many ways and the attendance here is really reflective of the entirety of the gambling world, not just perhaps on the... line or just land-based and and you really get the full gamut of different ways in which you can place a bet yeah uh something that's notable about this interview is we've got operators at the stand here this week suppliers consultants but uh you are from the academic background at unlv and it's it's really good to get that kind of point of view can you tell us about the the international gaming institute and what you guys do absolutely so international gaming institute or igi we're actually celebrating our 30th anniversary this year So when it comes to gambling research, we are positively ancient in many ways. And we will do research, education, and innovation in anything that falls underneath the gambling and risk-taking umbrella. So this includes everything from problem gambling and addiction to finance and operations type analyses for operators.
We do regulatory and policy work. We look at macro socioeconomic impact studies of how gambling exists in different spaces. And we do this all the time.
with a variety of different sub-centres, different initiatives and programmes that we work on. And again, all falling underneath those research, education and innovation pillars. Turning 30 this year, that's actually...
I turned 30 this year, so pretty much my age. Very happy birthday. Thank you very much.
In terms of how you work with... Maybe not necessarily with the industry, but how you operate in general, a question I want to ask is, would you consider yourselves to be gambling neutral? Objectively.
in that sense? We don't necessarily have a particular opinion on neutral, pro, anti. We study gambling, all of us. And one of the benefits of being at an academic institution is that we all get to have our own personal views and opinions. And then when it comes to our research work, when it comes to our education, it's all about promoting evidence-based best practices.
So if we have an interesting theory or an interesting background on whatever it is that we're working in, that's what we tend to work through. and answer the questions regarding those areas. And when it comes to, I mentioned earlier, working with the industry, what kind of inroads do you have?
How do you work? Do you work with operators and suppliers and regulators? How do you kind of, you know, not join forces but work with them? I fully understand.
So one of the wonderful things about I is that we work with every stakeholder in the gambling world. So that includes everyone from industry, gambling operators, to policy. Policymakers, regulators, we work with problem gambling clinicians, we work with public health groups, we work with lawyers, we work with everybody who's in peripheral industries, right? Data, different payment providers. Those are groups with whom we're happy to work.
This includes everything from contracted research projects. We like to say, if you have a question, come ask it, because we love to find answers to those sorts of questions. To education programs, we have all of these different stakeholders who are part of the part of different education programs that we have, as well as innovation.
Our Center for Gaming Innovation, one of our sub-centers, does a lot of game development. So they'll even sell games or sell app ideas, sell different products out into the industry, or other, again, peripheral worlds in which gambling touches. Going back to you personally, you've had the appointment to executive director. Can you walk us through kind of your experience, because you've been very involved in gambling previously, and the years that you've had. had with the industry?
Sure. So I grew up in a very small city on the coast of Southern California called Del Mar, in which about a quarter of the land that the city sits on is actually made up of a horse race track. So all growing up, this was in my backyard.
And for a while, it was just the cause of a lot of traffic every summer. But once I got old enough, I'd say mid to late teens, it really piqued my interest. I started going to the track in earnest, probably around 17 or 18. I did a couple of different internships during my university years at the racetrack. So I did everything from running stats in the press box to getting up at 4 a.m. to go to the backside of the track, take entries for the races to come, watch the horses work out, etc.
It was a great time. I think now perhaps I'm a little old to be getting up at 4 a.m. ...in the morning, but eventually I'll be old enough that that's the only time I'll be getting up in the morning. And from there it just continued. I had a keen interest in math and statistics.
And when I went off to university, I majored in statistics. And I actually ended up doing a senior thesis. that attempted to predict the results of horse races.
Since I am now a professor working at a university clearly it was not a very successful program. If only we had the answer to that one right? If only I had the answer to that one. In fact you and I wouldn't even be chatting.
or if we would, it would be via, you know, a virtual Zoom chat from my private yacht. So clearly it was only okay. And from there I knew I wanted to keep doing this.
I was studying statistics right when the poker boom hit. And so I had a friend who reached out and said, look, you know, you're doing statistics. Can I bankroll you in my poker game?
And I said, oh, that sounds like a great idea. I would love to find out more about how I could do that. And it just went from there.
I actually ended up meeting my now. husband at that poker game. We moved to Las Vegas after we finished school. Who won the game? You or him or someone else?
I did. I did. Yes, I definitely did.
I bluffed him out of the pot. I wouldn't call it a sore spot anymore, but it is a point of pride for me. Absolutely. Las Vegas from there, he actually ended up playing professionally for many years and I stumbled upon International Gaming Institute and I thought this was a really neat thing. Education has always been a huge thing in my family and I thought it would be really neat to continue my math.
statistics background into the gambling world and it's just continued from there. I've gone then down the kind of more academic track of studying this space and eventually getting into this position today. Sure well I've got a final question for you and because we've talked about your journey to this point.
Given the appointment, looking forward, what are your kind of biggest goals? What do you really want to try and achieve in terms of leaving an impact on? Yeah.
Well, first, I'm extremely lucky because there's a great foundation already in place for I. A lot of what I get to do is continue the incredible work that everybody at I is already doing, whether that's through our Center for Gaming Innovation, our International Center for Gaming Regulation, which works with many regulators all over the globe. some of our other programs in responsible and safer gambling, our programs in DEI and other workforce development and leadership development, as well as my own pet interests.
It's one of the benefits of the academic world that you get to bring all your cool stuff wherever you go. It doesn't matter what job you do. So I have, for example, my own interests in things like video games and e-sports. It's a major area of my own interests.
So I'm hopeful to continue the work that I does spreading out into those spaces some of which we already do and other areas in which we can continue to grow. As well as other areas, too, we have a very recently announced MOU with a company called Gaming Society. It's a media company in the United States whose big focus is on educating sports bettors.
If you're going to place a bet, well, gosh, at least know what the words are that you're saying when you place the bet. As well as an initiative they have called Bet on Women. So two areas here.
One is looking at who... who the female sports better is. We have a bit of a stereotype in sports betting that clearly not everybody fits, as well as looking at the different ways we can leverage the betting industry to support the growth of women's sports, which for such a long time has struggled to really get a strong hold in the media and broadcasting world.
And one of my favorite things about talking about this here in London is actually that the women's football team here is currently spectacular, and it's really popular. And I believe the Lionesses might be one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to win the World Cup later this year. Yeah.
Well, they did what the men just haven't been able to do for so long. Yes. I'm well aware of the song that follows. Yes.
And I think perhaps the women will be bringing it home perhaps before the men do. More than likely. But, Brett, very interesting to hear about kind of all your different interests and congratulations on the appointment.
And thank you very much for joining us here at ICE for the G.I. Huddle. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tim.
Thank you.