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IAG EXPO 2026 - elevating the discussion. The 2026 IAG EXPO was a week of celebration and intense discussion, with the common theme being that this is an industry in transition. There was no exhibition floor at this year's IAG EXPO, yet there was certainly no shortage of topics, trials and tribulations for Asia's gaming industry to talk about. The 2026 edition, held at Newport World Resorts in Manila from 14 to 17 September, brought together leading operators, regulators, suppliers, lawyers and other industry stakeholders for three days of summits, networking and debate, culminating in the invitation-only The Regulators Forum. With the exhibition component taking a one-year hiatus due to the timing of key ASEAN meetings, the focus shifted squarely onto the issues shaping the industry, with many of those discussions reflecting an Asian gaming sector undergoing significant change. The inaugural CiG iDEA Summit, hosted by IAG's sister brand Complete iGaming, provided perhaps the clearest example, with the Philippines' rapidly evolving online gaming market taking center stage. PAGCOR Assistant Vice President Jessa Mariz R. Fernandez used her keynote to argue that the recent slowdown in Philippine igaming should be viewed not simply as a decline but as an opportunity to build a more sustainable market, while warning that technology and the black market remain major challenges. However, the day also produced a frank debate over whether PAGCOR's regulatory framework has become too complicated for international operators. During a panel session moderated by Complete iGaming's CEO, Andrew W Scott, veteran igaming executive Harmen Brenninkmeijer argued that the Philippines' requirements around partnerships, certifications and platform approvals were deterring major international players. Fernandez defended the framework, pointing to the Philippines' willingness to engage with stakeholders and improve its regulation. The exchange captured one of the central questions facing the market: how to maintain strong regulatory controls without making the legal market unnecessarily difficult to enter. That question carried into the IAG Academy Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco opened the IAG Academy Summit with a significant update on the regulator's proposed "decoupling" from Casino Filipino, revealing that the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations was expected to endorse the proposal imminently before it is sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for consideration. Tengco also announced plans for PAGCOR to launch an official app in the fourth quarter that would help players identify legitimate online gaming platforms - a move that reflects the regulator's increasing focus on channeling players towards licensed operators rather than simply licensing them. He added that PAGCOR's self-exclusion list had grown from around 1,500 people a year earlier to more than 26,000. But it wasn't all about the Philippines. In a special fireside chat, Crown Resorts CEO David Tsai revealed that Crown had resumed international marketing, after abandoning the activity following the regulatory inquiries into its historical operations. The company is now active in several Asian markets and sees international play as a potentially significant source of future growth. "We are back and we are now hiring," Tsai told IAG Vice Chairman and CEO Andrew W Scott, describing Crown's renewed international push and the enthusiasm he had encountered among former and prospective customers in Asia. That discussion offered a counterpoint to the regulatory themes dominating the rest of the week. Crown's experience illustrated just how dramatically the operating environment can change when regulatory expectations, corporate governance and customer relationships are rebuilt. The final session of the IAG Academy Summit looked further ahead, examining the evolution of the integrated resort beyond the casino floor. The message from executives including MGM China's Iwan Dietschi, Crown's Harold Tsakmaklis and Newport World Resorts' John Lucas was that Asia's IRs are increasingly competing on the broader leisure experience - from concerts and entertainment to golf, hospitality and other non-gaming attractions. Across the four days, the industry repeatedly touched on the underlying theme that gaming is changing, as are the regulatory rules, business models and customer expectations surrounding it. This was also a week of celebration, with the 2026 IAG Academy IR Awards bringing together a record 355 guests for a spectacular black-tie gala dinner. Among the many notable winners, Galaxy Macau retained the Best Integrated Resort title for a fourth consecutive year, while Ken Jolly of Light & Wonder was named Industry Legend. The awards also included five online gaming categories, reflecting the increasingly blurred boundaries between land-based and digital gaming in Asia, particularly in the Philippines. The exhibition will return to the IAG EXPO in 2027, with the dates already locked in for 13 to 16 September. By then, many of the questions debated in Manila in 2026 around regulation, online gaming, technology, international expansion and the future of the integrated resort - may have some clearer answers.

Licensing expands across casino gambling formats. By Mark Seavy Amid growing demand for gambling formats and titles, licensing is coming into play across slot machines, table games, iGaming, lotteries, and online social casinos. And in an industry that cycles frequently between licensed games and internally developed titles, a number of IPs (including those across entertainment, celebrity, and board games) appeared to gain favor this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. While the gambling landscape was heavy with licensed titles a decade ago, the industry shifted its emphasis to internally developed games for several years before returning more recently to third party IP-based offerings, said Andrea Cortez, Senior Director for Portfolio Strategy and Licensing at gambling supplier Light & Wonder (formerly Scientific Games). Light & Wonder unveiled a Back to the Future slot machine at the show, having taken over a license previously held by International Gaming Technology (IGT), which first introduced the film IP to video slot machines in 2006. Light & Wonder, which also licenses across properties like Willy Wonka, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wizard of Oz, and other Warner Bros. IPs, balanced branded titles with the latest version of its proprietary Huff N Puff game across slot machines and iGaming. "There has been an uptick again in licensed IP and a lot of it has to do with many manufacturers making the same variations of a popular internally developed game, which means you need licenses to differentiate yourself," Cortez said. "It is all about having the right mix [between licensed and internally developed titles] in your portfolio so that you get that pop from a license rather than everything being the same." Evidence of a surge in licensed interest was easy to find across the Global Gaming Expo show floor. TCSJohnHuxley, a supplier of casino equipment like roulette wheels, blackjack and craps tables, and poker chip sorting machines, is launching a standardized table (blackjack, craps) version of the three-dice street game Cee-Lo featuring official dealers, standard betting structures, and published payouts. In doing so, TCSJohnHuxley partnered with rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in developing "Head Crack" for a market more accustomed to films and videogames. In following a more traditional route to casinos, Galaxy Gaming is launching table game titles (blackjack, craps, baccarat) with Hasbro's Monopoly, Battleship, and Yahtzee IPs, the latter having been installed at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. Evolution (iGaming, including internet-based and live casino) and Aristocrat Technologies (slot machines) also partnered with Hasbro when the company expanded the number of its licensees to focus on different areas of expertise, said Claire Hunter Gregson, Senior Director of Business Development (Mobile & Casino) at Hasbro. Light & Wonder was previously the Monopoly licensee across multiple platforms for 27 years. Many licensees attach brands to new hardware like slot machines to build a base of players, gaming industry executives said. A beloved brand could be the difference maker for a player in deciding whether or not they want to try an unfamiliar format. While the industry's focus has shifted to licensing for the time being, suppliers of these gaming machines also continue to work with design studios on proprietary titles such as Buffalo, Dragon Link, and Reign (Aristocrat); Huff N Puff (Light & Wonder); or 21+3 and Lucky Ladies (Galaxy Gaming). And though some gaming executives argue that proprietary titles are a better bet given that they don't require royalty payments and thus potentially can be developed at a lower cost, casino players are "more likely to play those games they are comfortable with" and spend 25% more on games whose brand they recognize, said Todd Haushalter, Chief Product Officer at Evolution Gaming. Sometimes suppliers also turn to outbound licensing, such as Aristocrat partnering with Gaming Realms for the slingo (combination slots and bingo) version of its Buffalo and Mo Mummy titles. Galaxy Gaming licensed Ruby Seven Studios for social casinos (which do not offer betting with real money directly) for its 21+3 and Lucky Ladies titles. And Evolution licensed its Starburst online slots game to Gaming Arts for land-based casinos. Evolution also has an agreement with Galaxy Gaming for those titles in iGaming. "We moved into the licensing space when the right title [Monopoly] became available and we never wanted to do it unless there was something that made sense for our customer base and had broad appeal," said Phylicia Middleton, VP of Marketing at Galaxy Gaming, which deployed Monopoly Table Games Progressive at the Metropolitan Casino in London earlier this year. "It is balance of building our own content with our own brands and that is our bread and butter. Technology has allowed us to enhance visual experience. We have done that with in-house titles. But there are some brands like Monopoly that you can't beat as far visual appeal and gaining attention. In-house titles and IP licenses have different enough lanes that we have not found a conflict."

New blackjack tech debuts at G2E Las Vegas. * Amusnet debuted Blackjack Live, a new live-dealer blackjack table with a promotional feature the company calls Free Golden Chips. * Light & Wonder introduced the Multideck Ultra shuffler, adding AI card recognition to its flagship shoe-game shuffler. * AGS is showing its MAX 8 shuffler, which the company says can shuffle up to eight decks for blackjack and baccarat. * None of the exhibitors published the deck count or payout rules that actually set a blackjack table's house edge. LAS VEGAS - G2E Las Vegas, the casino industry's annual trade show, opened Monday at The Venetian Expo, with an exhibit floor opening Tuesday where Amusnet is showing a new live-dealer blackjack table and Light & Wonder an AI-equipped shuffler built for the multi-deck shoes blackjack and baccarat tables deal from. A new live table, A faster shuffle. Amusnet's new table, Blackjack Live, layers a bonus-chip promotion on top of standard live-dealer blackjack. "The Blackjack Live puts this approach into practice, with Free Golden Chips adding a targeted promotional layer to the live gaming experience," Yordan Georgiev, Amusnet's chief product officer, said of the release. The company is also showing Virtual Multiplayer Blackjack, a scaled-up, multi-seat version of the game, at its G2E booth. Light & Wonder, a longtime supplier of automatic shufflers to casino pits, is showing its newest model at booth 1116. The company says Multideck Ultra "advances the company's flagship shuffler with proprietary AI card recognition, a True RNG, a modernized multilingual interface and modular internals for faster service." The shuffler handles the multi-deck shoes that blackjack and baccarat tables deal from between hands. A familiar shuffler returns to the floor. AGS is also at G2E, booth 1150, with its MAX 8 shuffler, which the company called, in a Sept. 22 release, "a new high-speed multi-deck shuffler designed for high-volume tables." AGS first previewed MAX 8 at G2E in 2024, when the company said the unit handles as many as eight decks for blackjack and baccarat shoes and fits both sit-down and standard-height tables. Galaxy Gaming, the supplier behind blackjack side bets like 21+3 and Perfect Pairs, is at booth 4452 with the new casino jackpot technology it announced last week. What the releases don't say. None of this week's announcements said what any of the new hardware or software does to a blackjack table's actual odds. Play with good rules - six decks, dealer stands on soft 17, blackjack paying 3:2 - and the house edge on legal online blackjack runs about 0.34%, cheap by casino standards. Switch that same table to a 6:5 payout on blackjacks, common on lower-limit games, and the edge jumps 1.39 percentage points to 1.73%, turning a $25 bettor's expected loss from $6.80 an hour to $34.60 across 80 hands. AGS describes MAX 8 as built for "high-volume tables"; a faster shuffle simply puts more hands in front of a player each hour, and every one of them carries whatever edge the table's own rules set, unchanged by any AI in the shuffler that deals them. G2E continues through Thursday, Oct. 1, before any of this week's debuts reach a casino floor.