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The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) International Gaming Institute (IGI) has unveiled an inaugural advisory board to support its work across research, education, and innovation for the gaming sector.

For IGI executive director Brett Abarbanel, the new advisory board provides a direct channel for the more than 30-year-old academic institute to draw on their expertise to help with setting priorities. The IGI continues to have a wide range of connections with industry stakeholders such as regulators, legislators, and government departments.

The board will also share what they are facing as the most pressing issues within gaming at the moment, helping the IGI to extend its reach through members’ own industry connections, and assist with fundraising support.

In addition, the board members’ backgrounds lend themselves well to contributing to the IGI’s regulation classes offered through the UNLV’s International Center for Gaming Regulation (ICGR), which studies regulations and their development for the land-based and online casino gaming industries.

“We're looking for very niche subject expertise and often the people who work in this space are the ones who have the connections, whether it's somebody who works for their business or who they hired in the past to educate or train their staff in certain areas,” Abarbanel told 91����ԭ�� GamblingCompliance.

“We can then vet those folks and decide, is this the right person to be helping us teach and train in niche areas?”

Among the members of the inaugural IGI executive director’s advisory board are Daron Dorsey, president and CEO of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), Jessica Feil, vice-president of regulatory affairs and compliance for OpenBet, and Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings.

One of the prominent areas of discussion so far for the board has been on the challenges and opportunities around technological change. This is an area that Abarbanel said the sector has been “grappling with” for the last four or five decades.

“It’s been really interesting to see how some of these entities are further along the trajectory of tech adaptation than others and how some companies have pursued extensive opportunities in areas such as data, analytics, cybersecurity, and AI,” she added.

Abarbanel also highlighted the importance of consumer protection as a hot topic for the board, and she is confident that the members’ input will ensure the IGI’s work is “targeted and highly applicable.”

Circling back to the institute’s major educational pillars of research, education, and innovation, the board can also help communicate the research carried out by the IGI.

“For instance, if our research work has potential, suggested changes, or different opportunities that board member entities can capitalize on or put into practice to help support customers,” said Abarbanel.

On the innovation side, the IGI has a variety of global regulatory sandboxes, and the board is now directly exposed to that work.

“So, for those that operate in spaces that have sandboxes, they might be able to test out new opportunities within those regulations and policies that otherwise they might not know about,” Abarbanel told 91����ԭ��.

Through the ICGR, the academic organization can also facilitate communication between regulators and industry members on specific subjects. In turn, this also helps the university to choose which subjects to put into its executive education program. Abarbanel said this can help “better communicate to regulators what questions the industry has and better equip regulators to work with the industry.”

Abarbanel is very clear on the point that this is not a governance board but an advisory one and she expects over the next few years to add more members to the roster.