The World Game Protection Conference is set to hold its 2022 edition February 15-17 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas.
The three-day conference, hosted by husband-and-wife team Willy and Jo Allison, focuses on top threats to casino operations and their vulnerabilities, along with CORE Training for casino surveillance employees consisting of eight three-hour class sessions.
Speakers this year include ex-mob boss Michael Franzese, who will talk about fixing games; financial-crimes author Jeffrey Robinson, discussing money laundering; Hall of Fame blackjack player Arnold Snyder, talking about advantage play and how to beat Las Vegas casinos; and former Secret Service agent Evy Poumpourus. Buddy Frank, a slot consultant and CDC Gaming Reports contributor, will serve as master of ceremonies.
The WGPC is owned and organized by World Game Protection Inc., a company started by former casino surveillance professional Willy Allison in 2005. Since 2006, the conference has connected casino surveillance professionals, gaming managers and regulators from around the world.
The show was founded on the need for game protection information, but as the casino industry evolved the event has expanded its educational content to include awareness and protection strategies for overall casino operational risk.
The conference marks the return of the conference after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The March 2020 edition was canceled two weeks before it was to begin, and the 2021 edition was canceled as the pandemic continued to progress.
“We’re nervously excited,” Willy Allison told CDC Gaming Reports. “We’re jumping out of our skins waiting to get back. As the vaccination rates go up, it makes us more comfortable with putting on a show. I think there’s going to be renewed optimism in the new year with the governments around the world starting to loosen up their restrictions.”
Allison added that the scope of the conference has been expanded. “We’re called the Game Protection Conference,” he told CDC. “If I could change it, I’d call it the Operational Risk Conference, because we’re dealing with cyber-attacks, and money laundering is huge right now. Some big investigations around the world could lead to revocation of licenses. Everybody during Covid realized surveillance has the capability to be a lot more than it has been. That’s what our show is. We’re increasing our scope.”
For more information and to register, visit worldgameprotection.com.
