Gaming industry conferences are a dime a dozen these days. GIGSE, IGNA, ICE, NIGA, NIGC … Barcelona, Amsterdam … G2E Vegas, G2E Macau … It’s often many of the same people talking about the same topics related to gaming — forward thinking statements, sure — but all the different wonk-fabs have their own unique flavor and some stand out as a bigger deal than others.

Coming up next week, at Caesars Palace, just across the highway from the 2013 WSOP: the 15th annual International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking.

This one is a symposium with roots going all the way back to the ‘70s. ICGRT is put on by UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and UNR’s (University of Nevada, Reno) Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming — yeow, that’s a lotta capital letters! But no wonder, as presumably ICGRT is how UNLV (and the entire University of Nevada system) cements its status as an THE academic authority for a global industry meriting full-scale study not just by huckster entrepreneurs and casino big bosses, but by doctors of philosophy and unencumbered statisticians.

This gathering of gaming intelligentsia will feature some 300 presenters over five days. I’m part of the Corporate Communication and Social Responsibility panel, where I’ll be presenting industry leaders, regulators, and policy researchers my study on:

Publish or perish, yo … good times ahead, for sure. Conference starts Monday. My group goes last on Friday… so that makes us the headliner! after five days of intensive powerpointing just steps away from high-dollar blackjack and the Pussycat Dolls, I’m sure the crowds will be all warmed up for that serious learnin’ we’re ready to drop.

It’s not too late to get tickets here!

Badge of Dishonor? Once upon a time the idea of Russ Hamilton wearing the scarlet triangle of Full Tilt Poker seemed laughable.

There seems to be a big gaming conference somewhere in the world every other week. iGaming, iPoker, internet gambling, eGaming … whatever you call it, lots of people seem to want to know how this real-money internet gaming thing is gonna work, or should work — and they apparently have specific questions about online poker.

Thus, a handful of policy-minded pokeraticos are headed to Washington DC next week for the Digital Gaming and Lottery Policy Summit. I’ll be speaking on a panel with Dan Cypra from Pocket 5s and Stephen Davis, CEO of IT GlobalSecure. Our topic (moderated by eGaming broker Sue Schneider):

Cheating:
Assessing and Addressing the Danger

As interactive gaming and gambling products become more sophisticated, so do fraudsters. Here panelists look at cheating in poker (particularly player collusion and the use of poker “bots”), the danger to players and the potential devastation of operators; how fraud is being effectively dealt with; examples of attempts to cheat (both successful and unsuccessful) and how they were detected/why they were not detected.

The basic premise I’ll be addressing is that not all cheating in online poker is the same. Ghosting, multi-accounting, soft-play, superusering, collusion, etc. are all different offenses, and a one-size-fits-all-but-friends approach to bankroll seizure and account suspension probably ain’t gonna cut it moving forward. (At least that’s what I’ll be pushing for various regulator and lawmaker types in attendance to consider.)

Our ole pal Tom Schneider introduced me to the idea back in 2007, when we left the recorder running for a Beyond the Table aftershow. Sorrel Mizzi was the hot name in cheating at the time … but Tom didn’t think his MAing with Chris Vaughan FTW was too terrible a crime, and certainly not the worst of all shenanigans beginning to emerge in online poker. This was shortly before Russ Hamilton had been discovered and subsequently vilified without getting any days in court, and LOL some of the things I say revealing that I still clearly subscribed to the soon-to-be dated belief that online poker could do no wrong.

Beyond the Table (Extra)
December 9, 2007
[audio:http://pokerati.com/podcast/beyond-the-table/12-9-07-cheatingdiscussion2.mp3]