Journal Article
26 September 2025
Latest Research Articles
Journal Article
19 September 2025
‘High-Stakes’ Security: Current and Emerging Trends in Casino Gaming Cybersecurity
Alongside the digital evolution of the casino gaming industry, cybercrimes have emerged as a prominent threat to gaming businesses across the entire world. With the growing frequency of high-profile cyberattacks against major casino resorts and casino operators, the gaming industry has responded by implementing innovative cybersecurity strategies and resources to prevent and mitigate potential future assaults. This paper aims to examine cyber events in the gaming industry, how the industry has responded by enhancing its security posture, and what experts in the industry prioritize as security topics for future research. To accomplish this, a literature review was first performed to establish a foundation of literature on cybersecurity in the hospitality industry. Following this, secondary data analysis was conducted to identify gaming companies that have previously fallen victim to cybercrimes, the manner of intrusion, and the common security exploits used. Interviews with gaming industry experts were then conducted to determine which cybersecurity topics were perceived as especially salient to the current and future developments to gaming cybersecurity technologies and processes.Current Issue
Journal Article5 February 2025
Examining Factors Affecting Consumers’ Daily Fantasy Sports and Sports Betting Participation: Comparing Motivation and Perception of Skill Versus Luck
With the Supreme Court lifting the federal ban on sports betting, dominant Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operators including DraftKings and FanDuel have entered the sports gambling market and operate in legalized states in the United States. These providers of both DFS and sports betting are making efforts to better understand the characteristics of both DFS and sports betting consumers and develop effective marketing strategies to target each consumer segment. This research investigates the differences in motivation to participate and perception of skill vs. luck between DFS and sports betting participants. 934 adults (sports betting = 434, DFS = 500) were recruited from CloudResearch. The results from this study indicate that DFS and sports betting participants exhibited differences in their level of motivation with respect to entertainment and social interaction whereas they did not differ in terms of the motivation for financial gain and perception of skill vs. luck. The findings from this research provide meaningful insights that DFS and sports betting participants may be regarded as two independent consumer segments.Journal Article11 February 2025
Examining the relationship between casino employee gambling involvement, demographic characteristics, and responsible gambling program perceptions
This study investigated past-year gambling involvement (i.e., frequency and breadth) among employees at MGM Resorts International (MGM) and their views on the effectiveness of MGM’s responsible gambling (RG) program (i.e., GameSense). It also examined associations between these views and employees’ gambling behavior, as well as their demographic and work-related characteristics. We used cross-sectional data drawn from a broader research project, which surveyed a large sample of MGM employees (n = 814) in 2020. Our analysis revealed that gambling frequency varied by ethnicity, department affiliations, and property location, while gambling breadth differed based on gender and department affiliations. We employed hierarchical multiple regression analysis to identify the factors that predicted perceived RG program effectiveness. This study identified four significant predictors of employees’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of RG programs: (1) Asian ethnicity, (2) department affiliation (high or low contact with gamblers), (3) the location of their workplace (Las Vegas or elsewhere), and (4) tenure in the gaming industry in years. Employees identifying as Asian, those with longer industry tenure, or those working in high-contact departments or at non-Las Vegas properties tended to view the RG programs as more effective. These findings highlight the importance of developing RG training strategies tailored to the diverse backgrounds of employees and can be applied to enhance RG programming at land-based casinos.Journal Article24 March 2025
Slot floor layout strategy: Optimizing revenues vis-à-vis game location and popularity
Slot revenues are critical to the success of many of the world’s casinos. The rising cost of slot machines has often resulted in fewer games on the floor and fewer purchases of new games. Such conditions create choices for operators seeking to optimize slot revenues with their existing game mix, which invariably includes both high- and low-performing titles. Like game titles, the quality of all bank locations on the slot floor is not the same. Thus, operators must decide whether it is better to place the popular titles in the best locations and the less popular titles in the challenging locations, or the converse. The results of our paired-samples t test suggested it is the converse, as that combination produced a statistically and economically significant increase in daily t-win, over the course of a 120-day sample. Alternatively stated, the combination of high-performing titles in the bad location and low-performing titles in the good location outperformed the opposite combination. The observed increase in the mean daily t-win for the prevailing configuration was 21%, dropping to 18% with a single outlier omitted. The research design and method advanced herein offers a simple, rigorous, and objective means of examining this important question. Academically, this work extended research in the areas of both the servicescape and performance-potential studies aimed at the evaluation of individual slot machines.Journal Article9 May 2025
The Nexus of Sports Fandom and Sports Wagering: A Scoping Review
This scoping review examines the intersection of sports fandom and sports betting, with a particular focus on the marketing considerations involved in this relationship. Sports fandom, driven by strong emotional investments and team identification, plays a critical role in shaping betting behaviors. As this relationship becomes increasingly complex, it is essential to explore the underlying motivations and behaviors of sports fans who engage in betting, the ethical implications of marketing practices targeting this group, and the methodologies used to study this intersection. To address these relationships, this review examines four key areas: motivations for sports fans to engage in betting, responsible marketing practices, the methodological approaches used in current studies, and future research directions. This review highlights that fans are motivated to bet not only by potential financial gain but also by socialization, excitement, and loyalty to their teams. However, this emotional engagement raises ethical concerns about the normalization of betting in marketing, especially in targeting vulnerable populations. The review also identifies a reliance on quantitative methods in the existing literature and calls for more qualitative and longitudinal research. Finally, the study highlights the need for further exploration of diverse demographics and the impact of new technologies on the relationship between fandom and betting. This review offers insights for researchers, marketers, and policymakers to better understand and navigate the evolving landscape of sports betting and sports fan behavior.Journal Article20 May 2025
Leveraging College Men’s Sports Betting Experiences to Inform Responsible Gambling: A Focus Group Study
College students are especially vulnerable to the harms associated with sports betting. Responsible Gambling (RG) strategies aim to mitigate these harms. However, research on the relevance and adoption of RG strategies among college students is limited and lacks insight from consumer experiences. The current study conducted a qualitative investigation to examine the experiences of college men who sports bet to provide guidance on how these experiences can subsequently inform RG. Three online focus groups with college men who sports bet (n = 12) were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an open coding Thematic Analysis approach. Codes were independently identified and analyzed, resulting in 12 sub-themes that were consolidated into 5 primary themes. Themes included 1) gambling-related language, 2) motivational factors such as promotions and live games, 3) engagement through types of bets and features such as parlays, 4) emotional factors such as negative feelings from losses, and 5) social factors including betting with friends and its cultural significance. Insights from the lived experiences of participants will expand the knowledge base on sports betting among college men and guide efforts to develop more informed and consumer-driven strategies for promoting safe and responsible betting practices.Journal Article18 July 2025
Breaking the Odds: A Gendered Analysis of Women and Gambling Behaviors
Gambling is increasingly recognized as a complex public health issue with wide-ranging implications for individuals, families, and communities. While traditionally male-dominated, recent shifts reveal a growing participation among women, facilitated by gender-specific gambling products, targeted marketing, and evolving societal norms. This paper critically examines the prevalence, motivations, and harms associated with gambling among women, drawing on theoretical perspectives such as social capital theory, cultural geography, and gender role theory. By synthesizing existing literature, this review highlights distinct gendered patterns in gambling behaviors, including the use of gambling as a coping mechanism for stress, isolation, and caregiving burdens, and the role of gendered spaces and marketing strategies in shaping women’s engagement. While much of the literature focuses on risks and harms, gaps remain in understanding protective factors, intersectional influences, and the implications of emerging gambling formats such as cryptocurrency betting and gamified platforms. The article provides a foundation for advancing public health strategies and fostering a more comprehensive understanding of women’s gambling behaviors and their broader societal implications.Journal Article19 September 2025
‘High-Stakes’ Security: Current and Emerging Trends in Casino Gaming Cybersecurity
Alongside the digital evolution of the casino gaming industry, cybercrimes have emerged as a prominent threat to gaming businesses across the entire world. With the growing frequency of high-profile cyberattacks against major casino resorts and casino operators, the gaming industry has responded by implementing innovative cybersecurity strategies and resources to prevent and mitigate potential future assaults. This paper aims to examine cyber events in the gaming industry, how the industry has responded by enhancing its security posture, and what experts in the industry prioritize as security topics for future research. To accomplish this, a literature review was first performed to establish a foundation of literature on cybersecurity in the hospitality industry. Following this, secondary data analysis was conducted to identify gaming companies that have previously fallen victim to cybercrimes, the manner of intrusion, and the common security exploits used. Interviews with gaming industry experts were then conducted to determine which cybersecurity topics were perceived as especially salient to the current and future developments to gaming cybersecurity technologies and processes.Journal Article19 September 2025
Financial inducements in gambling marketing: An information disclosure proposal to inform gamblers of their true economic value
Financial inducements such as free bets are frequently-used gambling marketing offers which temporarily improve a gambler’s usual pattern of risk and potential return. Previous research has shown that there are up to 15 distinct types of financial inducements in common use, and that gamblers frequently misunderstand inducements’ play-through requirements and other complex terms and conditions. The Australian government has therefore recently banned play-through requirements for inducements shown to new customers, and the Great British regulator the Gambling Commission has recently announced a maximum play-through requirement of 10 times. The present work describes an alternative and yet potentially complementary approach based on disclosing financial inducements’ true economic value to gamblers. This approach can be motivated by the fact that financial inducements are not intrinsically harmful, and an understanding of their value has been exploited for profit by some gamblers via techniques called “bonus hunting” and “matched betting”. Disclosure-based approaches can be designed to reflect the average losses implied by any play-through requirements, as well as any other terms and conditions which affect their economic value. Disclosure-based approaches for protecting consumers from the potential harms of financial inducements should be subject to further research and policy consideration.Journal Article26 September 2025
The Perceptions and Receptiveness to Responsible Gambling by College Men who Sports Bet: A Focus Group Study
Responsible Gambling (RG) includes prevention messages aimed at mitigating harms. Research examining the experiences of college students who sports bet is lacking, hindering efforts to tailor messaging to college students. This qualitative study explored how college men who sports bet perceive and respond to existing RG messages, gathering their feedback on the characteristics of messages they find effective. Online focus groups were conducted with college men who sports bet (N = 12) using a semi-structured interview guide. The discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an open coding Thematic Analysis approach. Codes were independently identified and analyzed resulting in 12 sub-themes that were consolidated into 4 primary themes. Themes included 1) stakeholder perspectives on RG such as their conceptualization of RG, 2) acknowledgment of RG including their awareness of RG, 3) reproval of operator practices and RG messaging through their negative perceptions and insufficient sentiments of existing RG, and 4) desired RG messaging improvements including through personalized feedback. The findings provide valuable insights into the views of college men who sports bet regarding RG messages, offering guidance for developing more effective and tailored RG strategies for this demographic.Most Popular Articles
Journal Article
3 November 2012
The Probability Distribution of the Sum of Several Dice: Slot Applications
The probability distribution of the sum of two fair dice is used to calculate the house advantage of various bets in craps, and is readily available in probability and statistics books and gaming literature. The probability distribution of the sum of A: dice (for k >= 3) is derived in this paper using the method of moment generating function. A recursion formula for deriving the probability distribution of the sum of k dice (for k >= 3) from the probability distribution of the stun of k-1 dice is also given. There are no gaming books or journal articles that demonstrate how a multi-reel slot game is developed. As an application of the probability distribution of the sum of k dice derived in this article, a slot game based on the sum of five dice is presented.Journal Article
17 December 2012
Casino Technology: Player Tracking and Slot Accounting Systems
The objective of this research is to provide the casino industry with an unbiased, independent study on the available technologies in its business. Both the software manufacturers and the casinos recognize that tracking systems are far from being anything close to perfect. Thus, gaming companies are continually trying to improve the systems that they have on the market. In this paper the authors analyze player tracking and slot accounting systems based on their costs, functions, sizes, hardware requirements, and software requirements respectively, which may help casino executives better understand the technologies available to them and make more prudent and cost-effective decisions on purchasing gaming hardware and software.Journal Article
17 December 2012
Journal Article
17 December 2012
Developing the Casino Marketing Plan
This article stresses the need to develop and implement structured marketing plans. He discusses the benefits of formal planning and the challenges of developing a researched, realistic plan. An outline or framework for a casino marketing plan appears at the end.Journal Article
3 May 2018
Golden Arm: A Probabilistic Study of Dice Control in Craps
This paper calculates how much control a craps shooter must possess on dice outcomes to eliminate the house advantage. A golden arm is someone who has dice control (or a rhythm roller or dice influencer). There are various strategies for dice control in craps. We discuss several possibilities of dice control that would result in several different mathematical models of control. We do not assert whether dice control is possible or not (there is a lack of published evidence). However, after studying casino-legal methods described by dice-control advocates, we can see only one realistic mathematical model that describes the resulting possible dice control, that in which the four faces on a rotating (horizontal) axis are favored. This is the model that we analyze in this paper.Journal Article
17 December 2012