16 COVER STORY
Konami ’ s New Era
FEATURES
SPOTLIGHT
CONTENTS
COLUMNS
DEPARTMENTS
Global Gaming Business Magazine
16 COVER STORY
Konami ’ s New Era
Konami Gaming , Inc . expands as it taps into the entertainment legacy of its Japanese parent company to create great game content and hardware .
By Frank Legato
On the Cover : Konami Gaming executives ( L to R ) Top Row : Randy Caron , Vice President of Systems Sales ; Eduardo Aching , Vice President of International Gaming Operations ; Tashina Lazcano , Director of Marketing & Communications ; Bottom Row ( L to R ): Stephanie Lau , Vice President of Sales Enablement ; Jay Bertsch , Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer
FEATURES
Security and Surveillance
SPOTLIGHT
Our annual World Game Protection report examines the evolving discipline of securing the games .
22 The Insider Threat In surveying potential security threats to casino operations , officials will be wise to keep an eye trained on their own employees as well as outside .
By Willy Allison
CONTENTS
34 The Case for Free Play With its low cost and tax benefits , free play has become the reward of choice for marketing departments across the industry .
By Jess Marquez
38 Smoking Hypocrisy The fact that casinos still allow indoor smoking is the subject of weak arguments on revenue that put employee health at risk .
By Richard Schuetz
COLUMNS
10 AGA Maintaining Momentum
Bill Miller
12 Fantini ’ s Finance Show Me the Money
Frank Fantini
4 The Agenda 6 By the Numbers
8 5 Questions
With NJDGE ’ s David Rebuck
13 AGEM
Vol . 23 • No . 2 february
DEPARTMENTS
40 Emerging Leaders
With Aristocrat ’ s Stephanie Barrett , SciPlay ’ s Kelly Trask , and Tuolumne Me-Wuk ’ s Jose Gonzalez
42 Cutting Edge 52 New Game Review 54 Frankly Speaking 56 Goods & Services
26 Battling Violent Crime Casinos should have a layered “ deter , detect , and deny ” security plan in effect to minimize and prevent the occurrence of violent crimes .
By Alan W . Zajic
30 The AI Factor Security and surveillance efforts face new challenges in the era of artificial intelligence .
By Earle G . Hall
44 Sports Betting and Advertising As debate continues on sports betting and advertising continues , a look at several worldwide jurisdictions demonstrates the benefits and risks .
By Alan Campbell
48 Battling Cyberattacks The recent rise in cyberattacks has casinos looking for new tools available to counter the threat .
By Dave Bontempo
57 People
58 Casino Communications
With Mor Weizer , Chief Executive Officer , Playtech
FEBRUARY 2024 www . ggbmagazine . com 3