May 16, 2005 Big players lured by chance of a gaming windfallA new course has been designed to cash in on liberalised
poker gamble laws, says Joshua Jampol
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THE first MBA to focus on the management of Europe’s casino and gambling industries is being launched in November.
The Excellence in Gaming Management Masters in Business Administration (EGM MBA) is a response to forecasts that the leisure sector will grow more competitive in the coming years. Observers are predicting large-scale diversification.
The €60,000 (£41,400) English-language degree, which takes two and a half years to complete, will incorporate standard MBA fare, such as marketing, operations management and finance, but will also include gaming management, casino marketing, social and economic aspects of gambling and the changing environment of leisure businesses.
Designed for executives, the EGM MBA is a joint effort between the University of Nevada, Reno, and the faculty of economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
But Cass Business School in London may also get in on the deal. The City campus is discussing its involvement with the university at Reno.
“We’re open for collaboration,†says Professor Chris Brady, the associate dean and head of external relations, who is also a consultant to online gambling firms.
Cass specialises in finance and the creative industries. If it gets involved, it will be the latest British business school to enter the gaming stakes. The University of Salford already offers a postgraduate certificate in gambling industry management. Other institutions are bound to join the party because the Gambling Act 2005, which was passed in April, is expected to transform the industry in Britain.
The Budd report on gambling made nearly 200 recommendations on liberalising gaming nationwide. The Bill, to take effect at a date yet to be announced, will ensure change but not as radical as foreseen. But Blackpool remains a good bet to become the new Atlantic City.
Another sure thing is US investment. Advantage seems to tilt toward the big American corporations, and MGM, Harrah’s and others are eyeing the kitty. More people bet now than at the time of the Royal Commission gambling review in 1978. The creation of the MBA indicates an industry in full sail and executives will need technical, IT and marketing skills not required before.
“Casinos are turning into leisure supermarkets and will need managers who can envision and provide the new services that customers want,†says Steve Donoughue, an MBA from Durham University Business School and a consultant to the betting industry.
The MBA will target executives seeking to change career and enter the industry, as well as those wanting to accelerate their paths within the sector.
Educators and professionals agree its time has come. “You are going to see massive new employment and investment and you will need people trained for it,†Brady predicts.
Britain’s gaming industry will also benefit from relaxed restrictions on advertising and promotion, which will give it greater accessibility.
Anticipation of a liberalised industry has professionals salivating. It is expected to constitute an immense revenue base. “The genie is clearly out of the bottle,†Brady says.
H. L. Mencken, the American journalist once wrote: “The gambling that is known as business looks disparagingly on the business that is gambling.†That now looks set to change.