The head of the American Gaming Association says the industry’s future growth will rely on gaming-friendly government policy more than physical expansion, according to an exclusive report on the AGA’s Strategic Plan by CDC Gaming Reports.
“The simple truth is that geographic expansion, while opportunities do exist, simply isn’t capable of driving growth for the next 10-20 years,” Geoff Freeman, AGA president and chief executive officer, told the news outlet.
“The most obvious way to drive growth is to take a hard look at the polices that guided our expansion around the country and to ask, ‘Are those policies conducive to reinvestment? Are they conducive to innovation? Or are they conducive to providing our grandfather’s image of what a casino product once was? In many instances, I think it’s the latter.”
Freeman said the AGA’s plan is to move away from a Washington-centric focus to promoting industry-friendly policies at the state and local levels. “What the industry needs to do is get out ahead and create an environment where we can innovate and reinvest, and so much of that will happen not in Washington but at the state level,” Freeman told CDC Gaming Reports. “That’s where those changes are taking place and that’s where the AGA needs to be more proactive.
“This organization when it first started had a very simple goal which was to keep Washington out of our business—and that succeeded for many, many years. With gaming’s expansion and the inconsistencies across state lines, it has created an obligation on our part to come in and try to be a resource.”
