Global Wizards’ CEO, Fernando Polti, was invited to G2E 2022 in Las Vegas, where he guided operators from Latin America and Europe through the region’s leading casinos and spoke on a panel about building a casino brand for the US Hispanic and Latino audience. This is what the four days involved.
What G2E 2022 was
The Global Gaming Expo ran from 10 to 13 October 2022 at the Venetian Convention and Expo Center in Las Vegas, and drew nearly 25,000 gaming professionals — suppliers, operators and media — across four days of product exhibitions and debuts, networking events, keynotes and education sessions.
G2E has more than 20 years of history as the largest gathering of commercial and tribal gaming professionals, and it is where the industry goes to see what is coming next, from education sessions to product launches. In a field that changes as fast as this one, that matters more than the floor space.
The casino tour Fernando Polti co-guided
Global Wizards’ presence began with a tour of the city’s major casinos, organised by G2E itself. Fernando Polti and Alan Burak, Vice President of SAGSE, took operators from Latin America and Europe through Resort World Casino, Circa Resort & Casino, and Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, sharing their own experience of the industry as they went.
The panel on building a casino brand for Hispanic and Latino players
Fernando Polti spoke as a Latino cultural expert on a G2E session about reaching the US Hispanic and Latino audience. The session slide gives the full title as “Building a Casino Brand for the US-Based Hispanic and Latino Audience”; the shorter form, “Building a Latino Casino Brand”, is how this article referred to it at the time.
Seth Schorr, CEO of Fifth Street Gaming, moderated. The other speakers were Kyle Piasecki, VP Partnerships at Playline and FSG Digital, and Peter Guzman, President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, Nevada. Each panelist opened with their own background as it related to the Latino community.
What Fernando Polti told the room
His argument was that a translated sign is not a strategy. As a recent transplant from Latin America he gave an overview of the current US Hispanic population and its importance, noting that Hispanics account for a small proportion of overall advertising spending and cannot be described by a single archetype, given the community’s cultural, financial and social range.
Most of the time Brands ignore this, and just think se habla español is enough to get Latinos to their Salas, missing out on opportunities to build relationships with this diverse set of consumers. But this is not enough.
On the size of the opportunity he told attendees:
“Between 2010 and 2020 the buying power of Latinos rose a stunning 87%, outpacing 51% of the non-Hispanic purchasing power. That’s why, operators and their marketers must work to understand Hispanics’ spending patterns to improve their chances of reaching this growing market.”
Those figures are quoted as he gave them on the panel and are not independently verified here.
The JefeBet work behind the argument
JefeBet is the example Fernando drew on, and the work there is website design and development plus guidance on marketing its services online. Global Wizards was brought on board in the year before this article, and the collaboration extends into podcast production and virtual community building for a sports-focused Latin American audience.
What we took away from G2E 2022
Reaching an audience that traditional media does not reach is the problem most entertainment companies at G2E were trying to solve, and it is the one we have worked on from both ends — general-audience B2C and ultra-segmented B2B. That is why Fernando was asked to speak rather than to exhibit.
We came away with a wider network and a set of strategies that transfer between markets. If you are working on the same problem for a casino business, talk to us about what you are trying to reach.
Frequently asked questions
When and where was G2E 2022 held?
G2E 2022 ran from 10 to 13 October 2022 at the Venetian Convention and Expo Center in Las Vegas. Nearly 25,000 gaming professionals — suppliers, operators and media — attended across four days of product exhibitions and debuts, networking events, keynotes and education sessions.
What did Global Wizards do at G2E 2022?
Global Wizards’ CEO Fernando Polti was invited to G2E 2022. He co-guided a tour of Las Vegas casinos for operators from Latin America and Europe, and he spoke on the panel about building a casino brand for the US Hispanic and Latino audience.
Who was on the panel with Fernando Polti at G2E 2022?
The session slide lists Seth Schorr, CEO of Fifth Street Gaming, as moderator, with Kyle Piasecki, VP Partnerships at Playline and FSG Digital, Fernando Polti, CEO of Wizards Global, and Peter Guzmen, President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, NV, as speakers.
Which casinos did the G2E 2022 tour visit?
The tour, organised by the Global Gaming Expo, took operators from Latin America and Europe through Resort World Casino, Circa Resort & Casino, and Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa. Fernando Polti guided it with Alan Burak, Vice President of SAGSE.
What did Fernando Polti say about marketing casinos to Latino players?
He told the panel that brands too often assume “se habla español” is enough to bring Latino players into their salas, and that this misses the chance to build relationships with a diverse set of consumers. He also said that between 2010 and 2020 the buying power of Latinos rose 87%, outpacing 51% of non-Hispanic purchasing power, and that operators and marketers therefore need to understand Hispanic spending patterns.
What work has Global Wizards done for JefeBet?
Global Wizards was brought on board in the year before this article to work on JefeBet’s website design and development, and to advise on how the company could better market its services online. The work extends to podcast production and virtual community building.
