“We are about to release a complete update to all our standards”

Why did you decide to change GSA’s membership structure?
GSA wanted to accomplish 2 objectives – 1. Create a sustainable equitable ­­funding model where the industry shares in supporting the organization and 2. Create a greater sense of ownership and responsibility that will ultimately lead to an increase in the quality of products.
 
GSA is a non-profit, member driven organization.  Since 1998 GSA's members have invested us$ 80+m in money, time, IP, knowledge transfer and effort to the development and creation of our standards. The board of directors of GSA has determined that access to our standards should be restricted to the members that support the continuing enhancement and creation of them.

What are the main improvements that you have achieved?
We streamlined and, at the same time, more clearly articulated the multiple benefits for our various membership levels. We created a new lower cost membership level allowing wider access to the standards and their updates while encouraging committed adopters. However, our standards, while still open, require companies to hold a minimum membership level to obtain copies, updates, and a manufacturers ID code – allowing members to implement the standards in products and get them certified.

Note that other standards setting organizations also charge fees for the use of their standards. To put things in perspective, for example, the USBIF charges us$ 4,000 per annum for the privilege of using the Vendor ID code to build USB enabled devices. USBIF has a membership base of 800+ members deriving more than us$ 3.2M in revenues to support the organization’s work. While the gaming industry has a lot less potential members, GSA still requires a sustainable funding model to continue its efforts in developing and promoting its standards.

What are the benefits for the members?
It is anticipated that the recent changes and decisions will enable GSA to continue operating in an efficient manner focusing on issues identified by our membership and the industry.

After these changes, how will you develop new protocols from now on?
There will be no change in how we develop our standards and serve the industry. Our mission is pretty broad. We have spent a lot of time and effort in the creation of various protocol standards and can now focus on creating more value wherever the industry needs it. For that reason operator participation in GSA is essential as it allows them to drive the industry toward creating the value they need.

Are you working on new standards? What can you tell us about it?
We are about to release a complete update to all our standards. We anticipate that the updates will be released in Q4/11. In addition the Operators Advisory Committee is working hard to get industry agreed upon guidelines related to the Player User Interface (PUI).  GSA, together with Oregon, is spearheading an initiative to discuss common technical and regulatory standards across multiple jurisdictions.

How are you following the evolution of online gaming? Does online gambling impetus and technological advances influence in GSA’s protocols in some way?
In 2010 GSA created the Internet Gaming Study Committee that presented a report to the GSA Board of Directors recommending standardization in 2 areas:

a. A communication link between Internet gaming and central monitoring and;
b. A communication link between Internet and land-based casinos allowing for the exchange of player tracking, wagering account and accounting information.
 
To date, the S2S committee has added player tracking capabilities for internet gaming to the S2S standard. This is part of the update to S2S that is scheduled to be released this year. Central monitoring, accounting, and wagering accounts are next on their agenda.