Gaming industry veteran Jonathan Michaels announced the creation of Michaels Strategies, a boutique consulting firm focused on the U.S. gaming industry. Michaels will draw from his decade of experience leading development and regulatory affairs for Sightline Payments and the American Gaming Association to help global companies achieve new growth and innovation opportunities in the U.S. market.
Michaels said he plans to leverage his experience leading sophisticated public affairs campaigns surrounding the expansion of cashless gaming, sports betting, payments and responsible gambling to help new and existing companies innovate and grow.
Michaels Strategies will focus on assisting companies across five channels: government and regulatory affairs, strategic communications, business development, payments, and responsible gambling. This will include helping to modify regulations and legislation, building campaigns to shift public perception, and educating key audiences on new technologies and their role in the gaming space.
“The U.S. gaming industry’s innovation has often lagged behind our peers in the entertainment industry because we haven’t done enough to educate regulators and policymakers about new technologies,” said Michaels. “I’m excited to launch Michaels Strategies to help unlock real growth opportunities by solving those issues and helping end the punchline of gaming being decades behind other industries in areas like payments and technology.”
Michaels has helped to fuel many of the groundbreaking innovations and changes seen in the market today. While at AGA, he led efforts to expand AGA’s membership, which included the additions of the first tribal gaming operators and new verticals including sports betting and payments companies, resulting in a 400 percent increase in AGA membership.
Michaels also led AGA’s payments modernization efforts, which laid the groundwork for more than 20 commercial gaming jurisdictions to allow digital payment options. He also worked extensively on the AGA’s efforts around sports betting, which included the creation of AGA’s Sports Betting Executive Summit.
During his tenure at Sightline, Michaels revamped Sightline’s public relations and social media strategy, enabling the company to better tell the investment community the story of the company which led to Sightline becoming Nevada’s first fintech unicorn. Jonathan also led efforts surrounding the change in Nevada regulations to allow remote identity verification for cashless wagering accounts.
Michaels has been recognized through several awards, including the American Business Awards Silver Stevie for Communications Professional of the Year and the Global Gaming Business 40 Under 40. Michaels was also instrumental in Sightline being awarded the 2021 and 2022 Global Gaming Awards’ Payments Solution of the Year, the American Gambling Awards’ Payments Solution of the Year, and the Financial Times’ list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies.
Michaels Strategies will be based in Bethesda, Maryland, and will serve clients worldwide. The firm’s first clients include AXES.ai, a cloud-based information management system that provides real-time actionable intelligence, cashless, and enhanced player engagement solutions to the land-based casino and amusement industry in more than 40 countries; and Sightline, the U.S. sports betting and casino gaming market’s leading digital payments provider and mobile app developer. Prior to founding Michaels Strategies, Michaels served as Sightline’s senior vice president, strategic development & government affairs.
For more information on the firm, visit michaelsstrategies.com.
