A Conversation on Security, Regulation, and the Future of Gaming

How Academia Is Tracking the Rapid Evolution of Sports Betting

This week Secure Stakes is back with its interview series, and I am happy to have Dr. Brett Abarbanel join us today. Brett is the Executive Director of the International Gaming Institute and Associate Professor in the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her academic work covers gambling, video games, esports, sports betting, technology and more. I find it very helpful talking with academics about security and gambling issues because they often provide a more objective view and are less likely to caught up in the hype of the day to day news. With that introduction, let’s jump right to our conversation.

Matthew Wein: Brett, you are the Executive Director of UNLV’s International Gaming Institute. Can you tell me a little bit about your mission there, the work that you do, and who you work with?

Brett Abarbanel: The International Gaming Institute (IGI) was founded in 1993 and for over 30 years, we’ve been dedicated to research, education, and innovation in the global gambling and gaming industry. We take a holistic approach to this subject, working in areas from business operations to game development to regulation to problem gambling-- and almost everything in between. IGI is an interdisciplinary ecosystem with faculty, staff, and students from all sorts of different perspectives and educational training. It’s part of our secret sauce – we’re a collaborative group with no singular train of thought here, other than to do good work that drives sustainable growth for this space.

We have a variety of programs that support these goals. For example, our International Center for Gaming Regulation offers education programs on a variety of gaming regulation and industry subjects. Our Center for Gaming Innovation is a thriving hub for gaming and sport tech IP development. And in partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno, we are home to the annual Executive Development Program, an 8-day bootcamp for global gaming leaders who grapple with important strategic issues common to this industry.

We work with all the different stakeholders in the gambling and gaming industries as well as peripheral sectors. This includes payments, sports, media, government, non-profits, clinicians, academics, and anyone else who is interested in this area.

MW: IGI’s focus is on both research and applied knowledge. How do you approach pairing those two across the spectrum of gaming-related topics?

BA: When it comes to the gambling and gaming space, I view research and applied knowledge as inextricably linked. IGI is a “walls-outward” facing institute and one of our goals is to ensure research is translated into useful, evidence-based insights. A great example of this is IGI’s AiR Hub, which focuses on AI ethics, gaming industry adoption, and emerging regulatory frameworks. In addition to numerous academic papers, the IGI research team is working on the very first State of AI in Gaming Report, to be released this Spring.

More broadly, we distribute our research through a variety of outlets, such as publications, social media posts, media interviews, conference presentations, and networking with industry leaders at global conventions.

And one of the key ways we tap into the important subjects in gaming is through our Advisory Board. They’re a diverse group and an incredible font of knowledge for gaming issues in many different stakeholder verticals and in a variety of jurisdictions.

MW: Change in the gaming industry is nothing new, but at least for me the moment right now feels like a lot is changing and the pace feels very quick. Academia is not known as a fast-paced industry so from a research standpoint, how do you keep up with all of the new developments, whether policy, technology, or entirely new types of gaming like prediction markets?

BA: It feels like more has changed in the gaming industry in the most recent 3-5 years of my career than in the 15 years prior, combined. From an academic’s standpoint, every day is a goldmine of new information to process. At the same time, you’ve nailed it! Academia is infamously slow. While this can be frustrating, the many bureaucratic steps in the process are part of what allows us to complete objective, reliable work. While we go through the research process, we are also spending our time learning about future trends and processing ways in which our work can support the response to these changes.

We consume news from numerous resources (and not to be a total brown-noser but we’re huge fans of Secure Stakes) and we meet with different stakeholders in industry and regulation. We also learn by doing. We test out new products and technologies, to the extent we’re able in Nevada, and those who work with our Center for Gaming Innovation are learning firsthand the trials and tribulations of new IP development.

MW: The focus area for Secure Stakes is obviously security. How have you seen the element of security in gaming—particularly sports gambling—change over the years? Have stakeholders ever felt outside pressure to better incorporate security into the sports gambling ecosystem?

BA: Well, we’ve officially reached the day where I’m the “back in my day” person. I think we’re seeing something that’s been on repeat for much of modern gambling history: something grows, a scandal occurs, there’s backlash (usually legal or regulatory), and eventually, we hit a period of normalization. Then as we start to see growth again, the cycle repeats.

I’ve never seen so much pressure on both the gambling and sports industries. While we’ve seen scandals in the past, now that gambling on sports is legal, gambling companies, leagues and teams have the responsibility to uncover any wrong-doing and report it. As a result, it’s splashed across the front page and often reported as if these problems are caused by legalization as opposed to understanding that we’re seeing a more convoluted nexus of new products, access, and communication, while also uncovering long-standing issues. And social media means access to public figures has never been easier, so threats and abuse toward athletes following losing wagers are even more rampant these days. I agree with something you mentioned in your newsletter the other month, that these reports may also be increasing because athletes are getting more comfortable reporting threats.

MW: We talked earlier about the applied knowledge and executive education component of IGI. What is a topic area where executives are consistently trying to improve knowledge or skills through your training and how do you try to keep executives on top of the issue?

BA: The biggest area of inquiry we get is compliance. The industry is changing rapidly, and while we love to talk about how regulation struggles to keep up, it’s still changing at a pretty fast pace. The main way we try to keep executives, and anyone else trying to learn more about this area, educated is through our Regulatory Center’s classes, as well as through our Executive Development Program.

I would love to see more inquiry in areas like gamification and/or gamblifiction, as well as crypto and other digital currencies. Both of these are complex areas that are constantly evolving. They’re also areas where we see a lot of fear and concern around youth & problem gambling and illegal actors, all of which are major security concerns, too. These areas aren’t limited to sports and betting verticals, they’re areas of opportunity and potential threats across the gambling spectrum.

Maintaining knowledge and education in this space requires regular upkeep and that can be difficult for anyone with busy jobs, which likely includes pretty much everyone who might be reading this.

MW: What is one problem area or threat area in sports gaming that seems to be the toughest to tackle? Where strategists and practitioners keep trying new things but the adversary can continually stay a step ahead?

BA: Oh gosh, if I only get one, I’ll go with something in esports and video games. First, on an AML front: with so much existing in a digital space, it’s easy to find ways to move money around. Something as simple as video game skins, for example, facilitate easy fiat currency movement through a centralized digital asset market. And those systems don’t have guaranteed stability, as Valve demonstrated with its CS2 economy a few months ago. A small change to Valve’s skins exchange rules indirectly wiped nearly 30% off the CS2 skins market cap, overnight.

Second, just as in sport and other forms of competition, the means of cheating in esports are multifold and often unique to the particular game and/or event. And in some cases, cheating is part of the culture of the game and some participants won’t classify it as cheating (e.g., finding a loophole).

And finally, esports has a very different oversight structure than most traditional sports. This still-nascent space is figuring out what works best for its needs while also going through geopolitical transformation. Between these and other facets of esports and video games, it’s incredibly difficult to find a good line to draw on the regulatory front, that fosters innovation while supporting evidence-based consumer protection.

MW: Lately I’ve enjoyed ending on a positive note so I will ask you what is one thing you are excited about or looking forward to in the sports gambling industry in the coming year?

BA:I have two answers for you here. The quick answer is, I’m always excited to see what new innovations are coming out of this space. New games, new platforms, new payment methods, new harm prevention ideas.

And I’ve saved the best for last. big thank you to Matthew for giving me the opportunity to shamelessly promote our biggest, most collaborative event: our triennial conference, the International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking, next happening 26-28 May, 2026, at Bellagio Las Vegas. Dating back to 1974, this is the oldest and biggest gambling research conference in our field.

We only host it every three years to make sure the research world is bringing the best, most interesting gambling & risk-taking research and subjects to share. In 2023, we hosted 500+ attendees from 25 countries and 6 continents. The attendees include all the stakeholders we’ve talked about today. It’s a critical opportunity for knowledge exchange. At this conference, you’ll get to learn all about the current research in the space, and contribute your own experiences as context to what researchers are putting out there.

And finally, a massive thank you to you, Matthew, for the opportunity to share so much about UNLV IGI with your subscribers!

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