GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 19 - February 2012

overall online gaming income. Experience has shown that the real money is in casino games. Take the U.K., for example. Online operators added casino games and imme- diately site revenues from casino games exceeded poker. And casino games don’t come with the headache of liquidity, man- aging the network, etc. Today’s partner is tomorrow’s com- petitor. Another thought to ponder: don’t overlook the possibility that the operator that you partner with today could become your competition tomorrow. Do you real- ize that in order to fully leverage your ca- sino brand, the online operator needs to have access to your patron database? As of today in the U.S., online gaming sites can only be “operated” by owners of exist- ing brick-and-mortar casinos. As a result of the economic downturn in the U.S. over the last two years, there are a number of distressed casino properties ripe for take- over. How difficult would it be then for an online operator in Europe to purchase the assets of a casino operator in the U.S.? They would be able to begin offering on- line gaming immediately, once it is legal to do so. A word of caution: be careful whom you select as your partner. Problem gaming and the underage patron. I very quickly learned online gaming critics believed Internet gaming would open up a “Pandora’s box,” mak- ing it easier for problem and underage gamblers. What these critics don’t know is that online gaming is much more easily regulated, controlled and monitored than the brick-and-mortar casinos through the use of technology. In the online gaming world specialized technology allows for monitoring every bet placed, who won and who lost each individual wager. In the brick-and-mor- tar world of gaming, unless that casino is utilizing chip tracking technology such as radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, the floor person is only estimating the patron’s buy in, how long the patron played and how much the patron won or lost. With online sites, you now have the ability to post in real time how long a pa- tron has played, how much money has been wagered and how much the patron either won or lost. Limits can be preset for individual patron loss, maximum time limits for play, etc. – none of which can be easily controlled at your local casino. If someone wants to self-exclude (prevent oneself from playing on a particular gam- ing site), the process can be automated for the player. This is not an easy task at a brick-and-mortar property, where you have to visit either that casino’s gaming commission or other regulatory depart- ment. This process can be embarrassing or intimidating but is not the case online. You can easily exclude yourself for a day, week, month, year or permanently. I would have thought that after two years I’d have a grasp on the ins and outs of online gaming. Well, two years have passed and I am still learning. And one point is very clear: my education is only just beginning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Pracukowski is the director of administration for Foxwoods Development Company (FDC), where he is responsible for coordinating the daily activities and operational support for various FDC projects. He also serves as the primary liaison between FDC and essential Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation departments. Foxwoods is the world’s second-largest casino. Frank has nearly 20 years of development, management and operations experience in the IT arena, and currently co-leads the strategic effort for Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s online gaming operations initiative. Frank Pracukowski may be reached at fpracukowski@foxwoods.com “ There is a strong push to launch Internet gaming by offering poker only. Why? Is it easier politically, because it is a game of skill? Poker will only make up a small portion of your overall online gaming income.” Foxwoods Resort Casino 23