Las Vegas — The Global Gaming Expo, also known as G2E, returned to the Venetian Expo earlier this week in Las Vegas. Artwork. Blackjack. Keno. Roulette. Slot machines. Sports betting. Ticket redemption machines. Giant wheels. It was all on display at the Global Gaming Expo.
IGT debuted their new Tiger & Dragon multi progressive slot machines. It won the “Best Slot Product” category in the 2025 GGB Gaming & Technology Awards.
Chris Campbell from Inspired Entertainment introduced me to their new Hybrid Dealer platform for mobile devices. It was nominated for product innovation of the year at the Global Gaming Awards.
“Hybrid Dealer is a combination of RNG, CGI and real dealers,” Campbell said. “We combine them together to produce a product that is almost impossible to do in real life. We’ve got something called four-ball extra bet roulette. We’ve got a roulette wheel with a mini wheel on the inside that creates this extra bet facility. We’ve got three separate side bets: red, black or green. We worked with BetMGM and the MGM brand people to create bonus games that represent their properties. We’re using the iconic New York-New York, the Bellagio Fountains. Same scenario where we filmed hosts with a real wheel but it was all painted green, everything else on screen is CGI. The attention to detail that the guys put into that is second-to-none.“
Playtech told me about their Advanced AI behavioral analysis tool for Safer Gambling called BetBuddy. It is designed to protect your players and support responsible player engagement and operations.
“BetBuddy is built on several indicators, we’re looking at the type of payment methods for a player, fluctuation in those, size of the deposits, type of attitude towards customer service, time of play, deeper into the night, if they are switching between different games,“ said Charmaine Hogan, head of regulatory affairs at Playtech. “It’s never just one indicator—it’s a number of those and they will vary from player to another player. That allows the operator to have the interaction with the player based on that data.“
Everi unveiled their new Powerball® Power Play™ slot machine, a brand-new take on the iconic lottery game. Powerball Wild Jackpots presents simple gameplay that builds anticipation with the lottery game’s recognizable red and white balls.
Ray Lee from TaDa Gaming told me about how the online gaming company is entering the United States market. The company with its headquarters in Malta has created over 100 HTML games using 100 different currencies around the world.
“U.S. is a very potential market,“ Lee explained. “I think it is very educated market where people already know about slot games, gambling and table games so I think it’s a very great and very good market. G2E is more land-based but we are doing iGaming. Hopefully, we can see a lot of operators that come to the G2E also and see our games.“
Meanwhile, Aristrocrat showed off its all new House of the Dragon slot game, anticipated to light up casino floors before the end of the calendar year. Ahead of the show’s Season 2 finale, the game will be on the eye-catching King Max™ cabinet, offering fans of the show a new way to experience the action and excitement of the HBO Original drama series.
Tara Sue Clark, CEO of the Gaming Benefits Corporation explained their Blockchain Reg Tech System. GBC’s solution for monitoring charitable gaming activities moves regulatory oversight to the blockchain capturing certified charitable gaming data generated from the Raffle Platform and converts it into a notarized, tamper-proof log on a blockchain ledger directly accessible by regulators and the public.
“Charitable gaming has been in our marketplace in most states in the union where non-profits can raise money using games of chance,” Clark said. “Our mission is to elevate that to online spaces so that charities can take advantage of the same things that casinos and iGaming marketplace does and we all need that.“
U.S. Crypto Cop Thomas Alber added: “As you see blockchain technology used as a ledger in tracking transactions in the charitable gaming side, I think you’re going to see that move to the larger, general gaming industry.”
IGT also premiered new Wheel of Fortune-branded video poker, electronic table games (ETG), video lottery terminal (VLT) and slots content in their “Wheel of Fortune Zone” at G2E.
I also attended a panel discussion called “Predictions 2025” on a stage called The Lab. Two experts talked about the future of the iGaming industry.
“The generation that grew up with TikTok and other forms of instant gratification in their hands…they have not aged into their purchasing power yet,” said Lloyd Danzig with Sharp Alpha Advisors.
“We really need to be forward thinking as we work with regulators and lawmakers on this issue to make sure we’re doing the proper education,” said Brandt Iden with Fanatics Betting & Gaming.
That’s a wrap for the 2024 Global Gaming Expo. The annual event will return to the Venetian Expo, Oct. 6 – 9, 2025!
For more info about G2E, go to: www.globalgamingexpo.com.
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