IGA 2025 panel: Mobile gaming can ‘create jobs’ and ‘support future generations’ for tribes
Gambling Insider was in attendance at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention in San Diego, where panellists spoke on the future of Class II: Leveraging mobile technology to stay competitive.
Speakers:
– Robert Burke, Editor of Indian Gaming Magazine moderated
– Thomas Castleberry, VP of Commercial iGaming & Sports, Aristocrat Interacative
– Richard Sagman, SVP – Product Management, Everi
– Gabriel Benedik, Senior Executive, Government Affairs, GLI
– Marcus Yoder, CCO, Playtech USA
Tribes have been urged to get “ahead of the curve” by embracing mobile gaming at an IGA 2025 panel involving some of the market’s big suppliers: Aristocrat Interactive, Everi, GLI and Playtech.
Naturally, a panel of suppliers’ natural stance would be to encourage a greater use of their product, but panellists Thomas Castleberry, Richard Sagman, Gabriel Benedik and Marcus Yoder put forward competitive advantages for tribes both from a legal and business perspective.
It may seem pertinent for tribes’ natural stance to be against mobile gaming for fear of cannibilisation of land-based revenues. However, with digital gaming being so prominent in today’s society – and commercial rivals offering such competitive products – tribes were urged to embrace a vertical that can both create jobs and drive revenue for future tribal generations.
Interestingly, Everi’s Sagman was supplier-agnostic early on, when he encouraged tribes to speak to everyone in the market before deciding on a solution. He even advised against letting consultants push a tribe in a certain direction towards their clients.
Meanwhile, Playtech’s Yoder and GLI’s Benedik agreed that Class II gaming and mobile can be a big ‘pro’ for tribes in that they will create jobs, as every tribe will need iGaming experts.
Digital revenue opportunities for tribes are not just now but for future generations, Sagman emphasised. Indeed, according to the Everi executive, tier-one commercial operators are capable of entering a state and taking up the majority of the market (in some cases, it has happened already).
Tribes can say ‘let us be the leader for iGaming – hey, we can be your source’ – Gabriel Benedik
In these states, tribes have ended up marginalised by commercial operators who can come in and done things better. Class II and mobile gaming can be a big help in tribes avoiding this scenario – if they are to act soon enough, according to Sagman.
Benedik then suggested Class II and mobile gaming can get tribes “ahead of the curve” and even serve as a bargaining chip for compact negotiations, while Castleberry added that it can help create a path for tribes to be self-sufficient.
He, too, suggested that Class II is a way to enter online gaming without altering existing tribal compacts, with California being a key example, where Class II sees higher foot traffic and may even persuade California Governor Gavin Newsom to trigger Class III gaming faster.
Elsewhere, Benedik said tribes can get players accustomed to playing on their app to, again, get “ahead of the curve” – and that Poarch Creek in Alabama and tribes in New York serve as interesting examples outside California.
At one point, a memeber of the audience asked where Class II technology can be applicable in the future, to which Aristocrat’s Castleberry replied that the Player Account Management system is central, with sports betting, Class II and Class III all being modules that come off of that.
Interestingly, Yoder even suggested a crash game could be made that counts as Class II.
Overall, this was a strong start to the conference panels at IGA 2025 – stay tuned to Gambling Insider and Gaming America for further coverage this week.
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