Alan Feldman
5 QUESTIONS
Alan Feldman spent years in the public affairs sector of the gaming industry , first with Mirage Resorts and later with MGM Resorts International . In October , he was inducted into the American Gaming Association ’ s Gaming Hall of Fame . In his dual roles at the International Center for Responsible Gaming and the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada , Las Vegas , he continues to influence policy and operations in the gaming industry . He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros in the boardroom of the IGI at UNLV in November . To hear a full podcast of this interview , visit GGBMagazine . com .
1
GGB : Congratulations on being inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame . That ’ s some accomplishment for a PR guy . Feldman : Thank you so much . It was both awkward and humbling for me . I feel as though I ’ ve had a frontrow seat to these last 35 years , and have had the privilege of meeting and working with , or at least getting to know , quite a few members of the Hall of Fame — never once in my wildest dreams thinking that I ’ d be part of that group .
2
Tell us how you got involved in gaming .
Completely by accident ! I worked for a PR firm in Los Angeles , and it turns out that Steve Wynn had hired a PR firm , was dissatisfied with them and terminated them , and then went asking for another recommendation . So one day the boss comes out of his office , and says , “ Feldman , we ’ re going to Las Vegas .” A few days later we arrived in Las Vegas in late September 1989 , and we met with Steve and Elaine Wynn . For six hours we talked . I still hadn ’ t seen the plans for the Mirage . But I can tell you that the city they were describing was completely different than what was here at that time . They knew that it appealed to only a sliver of the traveling public . Even on opening day of the Mirage , Steve said , if this business model works , a whole bunch of other folks are going to come to town , and look what happened . We ended up completely transforming the town .
3
The Mirage closed earlier this year , and there was a lot of people citing the memories they had of the property . What ’ s your special memory ? For me , it will always come back to the people , the employees who were there . Being physically at the Mirage every day , I ’ d never worked with people who were that consistently interested in helping and being supportive and wanting to raise the bar on the quality of what they were doing . The disparity between Las Vegas hospitality and any other city in the world came absolutely ringing through . I love the people of the Mirage .
4
When MGM bought Mirage it was a shock , and you became the head of public affairs for the combined companies . Was that the time you first became involved with responsible gaming ? That started pretty early on , in part because development was becoming more and more important in the early ’ 90s . It was an amazing time with the rapid growth of the industry . For Mirage , we were looking at other opportunities . We were in Mississippi , Connecticut , Florida , Vancouver , British Columbia , trying to work on various opportunities . But it didn ’ t matter where we were , problem gambling came up at every meeting , and it usually came up first . At that time there was very little known about it . And even within the psychological community , there was pretty strong disagreement about what exactly this was . But the federal government still doesn ’ t acknowledge it . So we were on our own as an industry , and the only way to do this was to find a way for the industry to pull some resources and then step back from it and not be engaged . That became the National Center for Responsible Gaming , now the International Center .
5
Alan Feldman
Chairman Emeritus , International Center for Responsible Gaming and Distinguished
Fellow , International Gaming Institute , University of Nevada , Las Vegas
How do you think the ICRG is contributing to the cause of responsible gaming ?
From day one , the message was clear . You ’ re going to put the money into a pot , and then scientists will take over from there , and we ’ ll see you later and tell you how it turned out . The thing that I find the most interesting is that no one has been able to point to any work that ICRG has ever done that has been influenced by the industry , despite the fact it was done with industry money . And the results of work that we ’ ve been doing in the U . S ., through ICRG and other means of doing research , have turned out to match the results that we ’ re seeing in other parts of the world .
“ They Said It ”
“( This news ) should be rocketing through the inbox or chat app of every analyst , every C-suite , every investor , and every stakeholder with an interest in the U . S . regulated online betting market .”
— Chris Grove , partner emeritus at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming , in a LinkedIn post reacting to the news that the cryptocurrency trading platform crypto . com has launched a sports betting prediction market nationwide .
CALENDAR
February 23-25 : SiGMA Eurasia , Dubai Festival City , Dubai , United Arab Emirates . Produced by SiGMA Group . For more information , visit sigma . world / eurasia .
February 25-27 : SBC Summit Rio , Riocentro , Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . Produced by SBC Events . For more information , visit sbcevents . com / sbc-summit-rio .
February 25-27 : Africa Gaming Expo , Eko Hotels and Suites , Victoria Island , Lagos , Nigeria . Produced by Africa Gaming Expo Ltd . For more information , visit AGELagos . com
March 11-13 : World Game Protection
Conference , the Rio Casino Hotel , Las Vegas . Produced by Willy & Jo Allison . For more information visit WorldGameProtection . com .
March 10-12 : SiGMA Africa , GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World , Cape Town , South Africa . Produced by SiGMA Group . For more information , visit sigma . world / africa .
March 12-13 : NEXT Summit New York 2025 , Convene , New York City , New York . Produced by NEXT . io . For more information , visit next . io / summits / newyork .
March 19-20 : SAGSE LATAM 2025 , Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel and Convention Center , Argentina . Produced by Monographie . For more information , visit sagselatam . com .
March 31-April 3 : Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention , San Diego Convention Center , San Diego , California . Produced by the Indian Gaming Association . For more information , visit indiangamingtradeshow . com .
April 15-16 : East Coast Gaming Congress , Hard Rock Hotel & Casino , Atlantic City , New Jersey . Produced by Cooper Levenson , Evolution , Sightline , and PlayDoIt . Mx . For more information , visit EastCoastGamingCongress . com .
May 7-9 : Global Gaming Expo ( G2E ) Asia , the Venetian Macao , Macau , China . Produced by RX . For more information , visit g2easia . com .
8 Global Gaming Business FEBRUARY 2025