We chose to skip the ‘boot camp’ portion on Sunday morning, as we are already very familiar with the iGaming space.  Instead, we attended Sunday’s welcome reception and spent most of the time talking to an organization that had contacted us prior to the conference about some information security concerns.  Hopefully, this contact will lead to some future work.  Moving on to Monday morning and the keynote address, after an entertaining but not very informative speech from former mayor Oscar Goodman, Jonathan Halkyard (CFO of Caesars Entertainment) gave a planned talk that primarily focused on Caesar’s role in the iGaming space.  What I found interesting and something that I had not heard before from someone at Mr. Halkyard’s level was the statement that “current regulations are unacceptable.”  He also mentioned how Caesars was initially against iGaming because they felt the technology was not in place to adequately protect the integrity of the game.  I think we all know that this is not the complete truth, and that Caesars and others opposed regulation only until they could position themselves to be leaders when regulation was passed in the United States.  Because of the events and the outcome of “Black Friday” last April, they have proceeded to do just that.

After the keynote, there was a panel discussion focusing on what the future of iGaming would look like.  I found this to be an interesting talk, even though much of it was based on speculation.  One of the presenters had a short video focused on the time frame from now until 2020.  It was not until 2019 that the video stated “cyber security – most important item.”  I disagreed with this statement and during the question-and-answer period, I asked them about it and also asked if they foresee another major security issue like the UB/AP scandal.  This question sparked a lively discussion between the panelists on security in iGaming.

The other big ‘takeaway’ that I had from this panel (and one that has been reinforced in other talks) was that mobile gaming is going to be big.  This is not surprising, because we are seeing it in other sectors. Of course, the security risks only increase when moving to mobile.  On Tueday’s “Emerging Platforms for Gaming on the Go” panel discussion I asked another security question and the moderator, Roger Gros the publisher Global Gaming Business Magazine, mentioned that he just had an expert in the field write an article for his magazine.  He did not realize it was me and I introduced myself to him at the break.  There were several other good talks and panel discussions ranging from the media perception of iGaming, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) new interpretation of the Wire Act, and lessons learned from other countries where iGaming is regulated.  Not all of the talks were relevant to what PokerSec does, and I was somewhat disappointed that there were no talks focusing on security in iGaming.  However, it looks like some of the talks at upcoming conferences will be more technical and will have some of this content.  Also, there was no vendor exhibit space that I thought was useful.  I understand that this conference is planning to include this topic next time.  Overall, the iGaming North America conference was a great experience. I made several contacts and learned some valuable information.  PokerSec is already looking forward to next year!

Online gaming has been around for over a decade enjoying growing popularity worldwide. Over this time, there have been a number of security issues from misconfigurations, cheating, backdoors, and other scandals that have seriously threatened the integrity of these games. With state and Federal regulation of online gaming on the horizon, PokerSec.org is proud to formally offer our online gaming security services.

PokerSec.org has been started by Kader Belbina and Michael Weber, both of whom have performed extensive research in online gaming security and have publicized some ground-breaking security vulnerabilities in production-level poker sites. Previously the duo has run one of leading companies performing data mining in the online gaming arena. Data mining requires intricate knowledge of gaming software and protocols. Because of their expertise, the team is perfectly positioned to investigate the security of many different online poker sites and infrastructures.

In this endeavor, the team is joining efforts with SeNet to provide a unified team that is unique in the industry. SeNet has been providing security services to both commercial and federal customers for over a decade and is the perfect partner for online gaming companies operating in the United States and worldwide.  SeNet’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Mr. Gus Fritschie, has performed extensive research in online gaming security and has presented at computer industry conferences, such as Defcon, on this subject.

Please check out our services page to understand more about what PokerSec.org offers.