Exclusive interview with Ari Fox, Executive Producer of CEC

"The Casino Esports Conference strives to make casinos relevant to a younger demographic"

"The esports world is so massive that it won't be long until esports will have its own separate esports-book space in casinos, and there will be esports-exclusive betting sites with no conventional sports offered," Ari Fox said.
2020-03-09
Reading time 6:09 min
A few months ahead of the Casino Esports Conference (CEC) in Las Vegas, which is scheduled to take place on June 16-18, Yogonet spoke with Executive Producer Ari Fox about the novelties of the 2020 edition of the event. This year, CEC will see advancement from discussion of only esport and skill-based gaming, Fox explained and said it will also expand the conversation to more venues than just casinos.

What are your expectations for this year’s edition of the Casino Esports Conference in Las Vegas? What will be this year's edition's innovations, highlights and focus?

As with other years, the 2020 CEC will be addressing the core issue that, despite the fact that Esports and XR have been steadily gathering market share, venues and educational outlets continue to struggle to catch the wave. One obstacle standing in the way is that today's most compelling entertainment attractions are highly technical, with insular communities and it is difficult to know where to start. The CEC's mission is not only to provide the education for venues to learn everything needed to bring themselves up to speed on all aspects of new gaming, but also to provide the tools necessary to implement changes right away.

What is new this year, is that we are broadening our focus in very exciting ways. This year will see advancement from discussion of only esport and skill-based gaming. Esport, as important as it is, is only one of the rising technological attractions that can benefit entertainment venues. VR, MR, AR — these are all vastly appealing to the same demographic and just as challenging to understand and incorporate. We are proud to be hosting many experts and exhibitors in the world of XR this year.  

The 2020 CEC will also expand the conversation to more venues than just casinos. We intend to stand as the bridge connecting the worlds of esports and technological entertainment not only to casinos, but to all brick and mortar entertainment venues like Cinemas, Malls and Educational Institutions. In fact, we have started using the name CEC in place of Casino Esport Conference because we have augmented our focus to include those other markets. We are including an entire track on educational concerns for 2020, and are considering "Collegiate" to be another branch of the C in CEC.

The 2020 edition will feature so many exciting highlights. To name a few:

  • Expanded educational tracks including investment, collegiate education, XR technology, hospitality, esports and more
  • We are arranging for tours of UNLV's newly opened innovating gaming lab,  Black Fire.  Black Fire is a technology hub where new gaming and hospitality concepts will be created and tested in a 43,000 square-foot innovation space that includes elements of mock hotel rooms, a casino floor and sportsbook, an esports studio, and virtual reality facilities.
  • Our mixer this year will feature a holographic DJ provided by Holocryptics. 
  • There will be a display of innovative laser tag technology by Battle Co.  
  • The head of the UNLV Esports Team will be hosting a collegiate esports tournament in the HyperX Arena
  • Our exhibition floor will include many XR developers showing off cutting-edge technological attractions.

This will be the fourth edition of the event. Could you provide details on the evolution of the conference in terms of additions, changes, focus, etc., in these four years? Which are the key differences between the first edition and the 2020 conference?

During the first years of the Casino Esport Conference, we stated our mission was to bring together the casino and esport industries to the benefit of both by educating casino executives about the explosive rise of esports and how they could incorporate esports into their business models so as to capture a more modern demographic.  

The 2020 conference is expanding and diversifying this message. Technology moves at a breakneck pace, and the newer generation who currently believe that a casino is only for their parents need to be tempted to visit a casino venue. We strive to make casinos relevant to a younger demographic. How is this accomplished? By incorporating relevant attractions. 20 years ago Bellagio built its fountains and Treasure Island produced a pirate show to engage the masses. What pulls the younger generation is driven by technology. At the CEC we engage in the discussion of how to engage the casual gamer or younger person to understand that a casino is not for just for parents and grandparents anymore. At our core is esports, but this year we are building out from this epicenter. What attracts today's customer is a fully immersive experience. The only way to encourage people to put down their own devices and engage with the world is to offer something better - something more immersive than they have in their living rooms. For some, this pull can be created with esports. For others, it is immersive experience. We are using the term XR as an umbrella category that covers all the various forms of computer-altered reality including Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR).) XR has enormous attraction for consumers visiting entertainment venues and is so technologically advanced and quickly developing that education and exposure to companies designing, developing and selling XR will be key to catching this wave. At the CEC this year, we are hosting many companies and CEOs who design and implement Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality(AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) attractions.  

Casinos are not the only industry that can benefit from incorporating technology. Cinemas, malls — indeed any entertainment venue which is challenged by dropping patronage and evolving demographics — need the tools we provide at the CEC if they are going to be able to grow and prosper today. This year the CEC is proud to be offering tracks on collegiate matters as well. When entertainment venues finally begin this inevitable incorporation of the highly technological attractions, they are going to need personnel who can design, operate and deploy these programs. Universities and colleges must begin to craft curricula and degrees that prepare their students for these emerging job markets.

Could you share your views on the current state as well as the evolution since the inception of both the global and U.S. Esports industry in general terms and also, more specifically, the esports betting presence in land-based and online casinos? 

The esports industry continues to grow at a very fast pace. The numbers are real and, as the engagement grows, so will the wagering. Last year's LCS (League of Legends Championship Series) had 100 million viewers compared with the Superbowl of 2019 at 100.7 million viewers. So we can see in only a short period, the volume of people watching and engaging in esports is enormous. People convert to fans, and fans turn into punters, so for just this one game, League of Legends (LOL), there is a massive opportunity for wagering to happen.

There are more and more esport betting apps launching, and they will inevitably be bought out by more prominent betting companies such as Draftkings or William Hill. Last year we saw one bet made on the LCS at the Borgata in Atlantic City. As I see it, the esports world is so massive that it won't be long until esports will have its own separate esports-book space in casinos, and there will be esports-exclusive betting sites with no conventional sports offered. Esports is still evolving, and in the future, there will be a cross over between computer games and physical ability so as esports expands so will the fans and the gambling industry that wagers on it.

What can you tell us about the panelists that will be present this year? Which specific topics are they going to address?

We are very proud of the expert panelists we have gathered to speak at the 2020 CEC. We have lawyers from top firms and government representatives to speak about regulatory matters regarding esports and wagering. We have members of investment firms to discuss funding issues. We have the head of a video gaming company and the first esport player to go professional. We have a futurist from a movie company, XR development CEOs, UNLV academics, equipment providers, back-end security providers, college and career pathway advisors. We have experts who can educate on such a nuanced level, it is perhaps best to just list institutions they represent: 

Esport College and Career Pathway • Global Market Advisors • ECAC Sports • Esport Academics • Museum of Future Sports • Dreamland • Flote • Next Gaming, LLC • Hologate • Avantage Entertainment • Gameco • UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation • Spectrum Gaming Capital • Sponsor Burst • Arcturus • Esport Entertainment • Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law • Dickinson-Wright PLLC • GRID esports GmbH • Microsoft • Panasonic System Solutions Company • Take-Two Interactive • Allied Esports • Nohr Sports Risk Management • Edwards Technologies, Inc. • Fortress Capital • Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP • Technomedia • Unikrn • Sun Gaming and Hospitality • Full Engagement Sports • Paramount Pictures • WEBE Worldwide •b spot • Columbia Business School • American Esports • Button Smasher • VRLEO • Carr McClellen P.C. • Princeton Public Affairs Group • Holocryptics • OKLetsPlay • Raven Sun Creative • UNLV Institute for Gaming Regulation • UNLV Center for Gaming Innovation

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