UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

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Editor's Introduction

Once again, we start with the world, and then we dig right in.

As we have often noted in these pages, “globalization” is one of those words that is so often uttered it seems to lose its meaning sometimes. And this is perhaps especially true in academic circles, where our buzzphrases take on a discursive life of their own.

Here at the UNLV International Gaming Institute, globalization is implied in our very name, and it helps define our mission. It also, too often, seems to define our professional lives, as we hit the road on a seemingly constant journey that resides in rolling suitcases and at podiums worldwide.

We began 2014 in Hainan. As many readers know, Hainan is the “Hawaii of China” – and like many places on earth, this is a jurisdiction that seems to have a love-hate relationship with gambling. The slightly-underground gambling economy flourishes here, while the developing hotel and hospitality industries struggle to root themselves in a regional Chinese tourism market that remains largely uncertain outside of Macao.

We trekked early and often to Massachusetts, where we were fortunate to contribute research perspectives to the policy debates that dominated 2014. And for often-parallel reasons, we journeyed to Japan on multiple occasions, providing summaries of both business sciences and social sciences research – emphasizing the peer-reviewed, bridge- building spirit embodied in this very journal.

In 2014, our team members flew to Macao on two occasions, providing educational programs to stakeholders in an industry that is still (despite its recent slowdown) growing as fast as land and infrastructure can be added to accommodate it. During one of those visits, we had the pleasure of touring the gorgeous new USD$10 billion University of Macao campus – whose size, scope, and ambition impresses even the most jaded of academic minds. Best of luck to our friends Dr. Davis Fong and his team there – we look forward to continued collaboration.

We also “visited” Singapore for a few 2014 IGI programs – though our UNLV Singapore academic campus community makes it feels more like a return home than a visit to a foreign jurisdiction. While the growth gurus lament Singapore’s revenue stabilization, those of us who were working with the government and other key stakeholders ten years ago can hardly believe the longer-term change that dominates the skyline there.

In the fall, we saw almost all of our European friends at the 2014 EASG conference – a “sister conference” to our very own International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking. And just one month later, we returned to Europe to visit with impressive political leadership of a jurisdiction (one that currently wishes to remain nameless) that seeks to add integrated resorts to its coastline – but wants to thoroughly evaluate the socio-economic impacts first.

Back in North America, we delivered presentations at the annual conferences of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (highlight: Pete Rose defends his gambling! Again!) and then the joint conferences of the International Association of Gaming Advisors and the International Association of Gaming Regulators in Philadelphia, where the presentations often invoked references to founding fathers who walked the streets there. And oh, what one would give for a “review” article summarizing these figures’ thoughts on the gambling goings-on today in Pennsylvania!

In this issue, you’ll find globalization’s refractions on virtually every page, as we take our readers along for a global ride. In this issue, we have a total of five peer- reviewed “research” articles and two non-peer reviewed “review” articles, representing several diverse geographic regions.

The issue opens with an article from three authors new to the GRRJ – Charlie Chi Cong Mai, Chad Perry, and Erwin Loh. Drs. Mai, Perry, and Loh explore how integration of organizational change management and customer relationship management initiatives in casinos might work. Using two stages of qualitative methodology, the authors establish the core elements of a successful integration model.

We follow with an article from one of our publishing veterans, Toni Repetti, and her co-author SoYeon Jung. Dr. Repetti and Ms. Jung investigate the impact of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania on slot coin-in in Atlantic City casinos. The authors attempt to separate the effects of the new PA casinos from the effects of the Great Recession in order to assist casino operators in determining how much gaming volume is lost to competitors -- rather than the broader economic headwinds that so many businesses have faced of late.

The next two articles address a massive part of the North American gambling market that still gets overlooked too often – tribal and First Nations gaming. First, Randall Akee, Katherine Spilde, and Jonathan Taylor explore the economic and social impacts of tribal gaming on American Indian Reservations in California in the past 20 years. Their work here provides an important foundation of longitudinal knowledge on tribal gaming that can only be developed by careful analysis of data that is gathered over extended periods of time.

Next, Yale Belanger examines a different segment of the tribal gaming market, comparing the provincial revenue-generating models and corresponding socio- economic impacts of these models across the Canadian provinces. Dr. Belanger encourages these provinces to reconsider their need to claim substantial portions of First Nations casino revenues, and to allow these funds to be redirected back into First Nations’ development.

The research section concludes with another of Anthony Lucas’s top-flight insights into the indirect effect of certain gaming amenities on slot coin-in and table games drop. In the latest of what we here at the have dubbed the “Lucasian” inquiry, Dr. Lucas uses his Full Service Theory to investigate the relationship between race and sports wagering activity and slot and table game play.

The first of our two review section articles in this issue comes from Changbin Wang, who provides us with an extensive background and understanding of Macao’s VIP rooms and the contractors who make it run. In doing so, Dr. Wang explains the licensing procedure and provides recommendations for ways to streamline and improve the efficacy of the process, all while recognizing the difficulty of implementing any changes. Whether you know nothing about Macao or are a seasoned expert, this article is a must read – especially as the unique dynamics in that jurisdiction are faced with increasing global scrutiny.

Our review section then wraps up with a true gem. Every year now, we co-host the Executive Development Program (EDP), carrying on the legacy built by Dr. Bill Eadington. During the Fall 2014 EDP, Eugene Christensen and Kimberly Copp, true experts in the world of gambling license applications, created a “Do’s and Don’ts” list for potential applicants and presented it to the eager attendees (who were engaging in a class exercise requiring a submission to a foreign government). Put simply, we had never seen anything like this document – and it immediately became clear that this was of vital importance to the industry. Christensen and Copp’s list is chock full of specific advice and provides concrete examples for often desperate RFP applicants (many of whom are forced to learn on the fly). We are thrilled to include this incredibly useful document in the Fall 2014 issue for our readers.

Until next time: bon voyage, and hope to see you on the road!