CDC Gaming contributors look again at 2025 — CDC Gaming

Any evaluate of 2025 within the gaming trade is sure to be incomplete.

There have been massive tales – the rise of prediction markets, the waning of sweepstakes, the cut up between the American Gaming Association and DraftKings and Kalshi. There have been too many sports activities betting scandals to say. The lack of Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. despatched shock waves by tribal gaming.

And there have been lots of, if not hundreds, of smaller tales that have been necessary to these affected.

I’ve chosen 5 moments, admittedly all private, which have stayed with me all year long. I’ve additionally requested my CDC Gaming colleagues to weigh in on what struck them as necessary in 2025.

Rege Behe’s 5 memorable tales from 2025

Sara Slane joins Kalshi

Slane, a revered determine within the gaming trade, joined the prediction market firm as head of company improvement in April. Slane, who previously labored for the American Gaming Association, is a savvy and clever determine. By becoming a member of Kalshi, she indicated the corporate is a critical participant.

The Indian Gaming Association convention panel “Emerging Trends in Interactive Wagering: Opportunities or Threats”

A sturdy dialogue in April hosted by the IGA’s Victor Rocha, with panelists together with Howard Glaser, Light & Wonder’s Head of Government Affair; Steven Bodmer, Pechanga Band of Indians General Counsel; Tres York, American Gaming Association’s Vice President, Government Relations, and Stephen Hart, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson.  It was the primary dialogue of sweepstakes and prediction markets I attended, however not the final.

The SBC Americas panel “Trading on the Future: Prediction Markets Are Here to Stay”

In May, nobody anticipated this good dialogue of prediction markets to supply fireworks and leisure.  Attorney Daniel Wallach and Alex Kane, CEO of Sporttrade, traded jabs like Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier. My favourite panel of 2025.

Kendall Toole and Meghan Speranzo talk about psychological well being at G2E

Toole, a health teacher, psychological well being advocate and the founding father of the NKO Club informed a crowded auditorium on the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas that she’d “been through very difficult mental chapters at 11 with OCD. And I was close to taking my own life my senior year of college.” What adopted was a frank and sincere dialogue with Speranzo, Global Gaming Women’s Sip & Social Chair, on the significance of addressing psychological well being.

CDC Gaming’s Day Zero Party

The October gathering, the day earlier than G2E started, was ostensibly to award “10 Women Rising in Gaming,” honors. But the occasion, sponsored by Global Gaming Women and CDC Gaming, additionally turned a celebration of the gaming trade generally, notably all the ladies who’ve made singular contributions. The venue, Alle on 66 at Resorts World Las Vegas, is breathtaking, actually one of many metropolis’s gems.

CDC Gaming contributors memorable 2025 tales:

David McKee

A late entrant into the New York City on line casino derby, Bally’s New York has had a wild trip. It has gone from extreme-long-shot standing to the verge of a on line casino license. The $4 billion undertaking has but to discover a financier however is on the verge of state approval. That is largely as a result of not one Manhattan-based undertaking survived the Community Advisory Committee course of. In even bigger half, the last-minute retreat of MGM Empire City pushed Bally’s to the entrance of the queue.

Bally’s could possibly be one in all solely two megaresort initiatives to realize remaining consideration. Resorts World New York City was rumored to be faltering on its tax and license-fee commitments. Hard Rock-powered Metropolitan Park got here inside a short lived restraining order of lacking the brass ring. Compared to these thoroughbreds, Bally’s is shallow-pocketed and carries an chubby jockey within the type of a $115 million obligation to Donald Trump.

Company Chairman Soo Kim has struggled to fund the proposal, Bally’s Chicago and Bally’s Las Vegas. He’s additionally making an attempt to soak up Australia’s Star Entertainment. Gaming & Leisure Properties.

Kelly Koffler

One of the most important tales in 2025 was the wave of crackdowns on sweepstakes casinos. I’ve adopted these websites for years, and seeing states like California, New Jersey, and Montana transfer to ban or limit the “dual-currency” mannequin actually felt like a turning level. Overnight, gamers needed to verify whether or not their favourite platforms have been nonetheless authorized, and plenty of YouTube creators who have been highlighting these platforms discovered themselves in a little bit of a predicament. It might be fascinating to see how this story unfolds transferring ahead – will laws discover a means for these platforms to exist in a regulated market, or will they be proven their means out the door within the U.S. altogether?

Buddy Frank

I consider Artificial Intelligence was essentially the most impactful improvement.

AI has confirmed to be an distinctive device for areas like slot evaluation and content material creation. My robust perception is that proactive adoption and clever utilization of this expertise are essential. Ignoring its potential or failing to adapt may considerably drawback these in our discipline.

Buck Wargo

The most necessary tales I’ve finished or come throughout this yr are Las Vegas tourism taking successful; prediction markets impression on tribal and industrial gaming trade; and 4 main properties getting fined tens of tens of millions of {dollars} by Nevada Gaming Commission.

Scott Messinger, Complete Media Group (CDC Gaming’s mother or father firm) Chief of Staff

Few matters these days elicit such robust views on either side of the talk because the legalization of on line casino gaming (Integrated Resorts). Not so remarkably to veteran observers the pluses middle on financial diversification and development, bringing extra tourism, jobs, and extra. The different facet are the same old lethal sins of crime, prostitution, substance abuse and never gaming responsibly.

The coverage debate surrounding Thailand’s renewed flirtation with IRs known as “Entertainment Complexes”, elicited consideration, pleasure and optimism centered on prospects of a extremely enticing market and the pace of which prognosticators mentioned it may occur when the Cabinet accredited the Draft Entertainment Complex Act, signaling a daring imaginative and prescient to remodel Thailand right into a regional gaming hub. The proposal promised world-class resorts in Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Chonburi, projecting billions in tax income and a 5–10% enhance in international arrivals. Global operators corresponding to Melco, MGM, and Galaxy Entertainment introduced their curiosity, desperate to faucet what analysts known as Asia’s most promising untapped market.

Yet, inside months, the balloon popped. Mounting public opposition—rooted in cultural and social considerations—mixed with political turmoil derailed the draft invoice. The suspension and eventual removing of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in July induced coalition fractures, whereas her successor, Anutin Charnvirakul, declared playing off the nationwide agenda, insisting Thailand would “wait for another prime minister” earlier than revisiting casinos. By September, the Senate delivered the ultimate blow, killed the invoice outright and calling for any future legalization to require a nationwide referendum, citing dangers of habit, corruption, and erosion of cultural values.

For the IR trade the collapse signaled that Entertainment Complex liberalization could stay out of attain for an additional technology regardless of the proof of the gold customary of Singapore almost twenty years earlier.