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Industry experts argue customers want marriage of gaming and marijuana

Casino companies should be allowed to offer marijuana on their premises, although doing so would require a change in state gaming regulations and laws, some experts argued on Friday.

During the third annual Cannabis and Gaming policy discussion — jointly sponsored by the UNLV International Gaming Institute and the Cannabis Policy Institute — state lawmakers and gaming industry experts discussed changes to current state policy.

Seth Schorr, CEO of Fifth Street Gaming, says not every casino would offer marijuana to customers, but that those that want to should be able.

“This is a tool in the toolbox. I don’t believe in silver bullets,” he said. “I don’t think there’s one solution that’s going to put Las Vegas and Nevada back on the trajectory.”

Added Schorr: “I heard Robin just describe a lot of reasons why there should be a marriage between the gaming and cannabis industry. I’ve yet to hear anybody say why there shouldn’t be.”

Read the full article at KTNV

By Steve Sebelius, KTNV — May 2, 2025

3rd Annual Gaming & Cannabis Policy Discussion May 1

UNLV’s Cannabis Policy Institute (CPI) and International Gaming Institute (IGI) will host the 3rd Annual Gaming & Cannabis Policy Discussion on Friday, May 1 at 1:30 p.m. in the William S. Boyd School of Law’s Moot Courtroom as well as via Zoom.

The panel event, moderated by CPI Director Riana Durrett, will feature panelists Nevada Senator Rochelle Nguyen, Nevada Assemblyman Max Carter, Seth Schorr (CEO of Fifth Street Gaming), and Alan Feldman (IGI Director of Strategic Initiatives). The discussion will focus on the policy status quo and the future potential of the intersection between cannabis and gaming.

Read the full announcement at UNLV Today →

Group wants Las Vegas to be major player in esports

On Feb. 19, an international athletic showdown took over the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was the culmination of a five-day tournament that had teams from Denmark, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Brazil and the U.S. competing for $450,000 and priceless bragging rights.

As the last two squads battled under the lights during the final evening, analysts tracked the action, fans roared over particularly brilliant play, reporters watched for pivotal moments and confetti was readied for the victors.

An expanding footprint: How downtown Las Vegas continues to evolve

When Marc Abelman spotted a Jaguar and Rolls-Royce parked outside an Arts District coffee shop recently, he shuddered a bit on the inside.

“There goes the neighborhood,” he told his wife.

He was mostly kidding, but the sight was more proof of change sweeping across the downtown blocks dedicated to the community’s arts scene. These days construction equipment whirs, groans and beeps in the area bounded roughly by Hoover Avenue to the north, Colorado Avenue to the south, Commerce Street to the west and 4th Street to the east. The activity is giving way to new coffee shops, restaurants, a hair salon and even a marijuana dispensary — some within refurbished buildings and others in new builds.

Abelman and his wife, Jill, own InsideStyle, an interior design firm on South Main Street. They chose the location based on its proximity to artists, but when they moved in six years ago, the foot and vehicle traffic was significantly smaller. Now, it’s not uncommon to find people browsing Arts District shops on a Sunday evening. The area even played host to a group of Centennial High School students earlier this week who were touring art galleries and viewing outdoor sculptures.

“Is it the Arts District’s time?” Abelman pondered aloud, while bicycling through the neighborhood recently. “It is.”

Casinos Get Into the Esports Game

U.S. casinos are turning to videogame competitions to attract younger visitors and turn around years of subdued growth.

MGM Resorts International plans to convert a former nightclub at its Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas into a permanent venue for hosting esports contests starting next year, the company said Tuesday.

Other gambling properties already have built or are leasing space for such events, including Downtown Grand Las Vegas and Caesars in Atlantic City, N.J.

Casinos are looking for ways to jump-start growth, which has slowed since the recession. From 2001 to 2007, gambling revenue for casinos across the U.S. rose by more than 38%; since then, it has risen 8%, according to data from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Many casinos, particularly on the Las Vegas Strip, have sought growth through other revenue streams, such as restaurants and entertainment. Last year, 34% of casino revenue on the Strip came from gambling, down from 41% in 2007, according to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Casinos view esports as a way to attract younger new patrons who aren’t gambling as much as baby boomers or interested in existing forms of entertainment there. The average esports fan is between 21 and 35 years old, according to research firm Newzoo BV.

“This is really about creating another amenity on the property,” said Nik Rytterstrom, general manager of the Luxor.

Interactive experiences seen as big part of casinos’ futures

ATLANTIC CITY — Getting new customers involved in more interactive experiences is going to be a big part of the future for casinos in the United States and around the world, participants in a major gambling conference predicted Wednesday.

Casino executives, digital experts and payment processors at the conference in Atlantic City agreed casinos need to offer new experiences that directly involve the next generation. This involves new, non-traditional products such as competitive video game contests, skill-based slots, and daily fantasy sports and sports betting in states that allow it.

These would allow casinos to bring in new customers and revenue, the executives and experts said.

“I think all casinos, 10 years from now, will evolve and offer some sort of interactive experiences,” said Seth Schorr, chairman of Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas may be ‘something special’ for esports industry

It’s an industry that does not yet completely exist but is expected to generate millions of dollars.

“Las Vegas is going to be something special for esports,” said Carson Knuth, co-founder of LEET, a startup that has been operating esports tournaments at Downtown Grand since January 2016. “We’re all just finding where we fit into that ecosystem.”

The emerging global esports industry generated $352 million in revenue in 2015 and is slated to generate $1.1 billion in 2019, according to a 2016 report by Newzoo, a provider of market intelligence covering the global games, esports and mobile markets.

Knuth was one of about 30 people representing a variety of possible esports industry stakeholders, including Caesars Entertainment Corp., the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Nevada Film Office, who attended the first meeting of its kind the evening of June 27, hosted by the Nevada Esports Alliance.