Alan Feldman has been honored as a member of the Gaming Hall of Fame 2024. Enjoy this profile and look for upcoming features on Jim Allen and Debi Nutton.

When Alan Feldman got the call from American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller, he thought it might be about a project he’d been working on with AGA team members.

He was wrong.

AGA President and CEO Bill Miller was calling to inform Feldman he was new member of the Gaming Hall of Fame.

“We talked for 10 minutes, just catching up on things,” Feldman says. “And then he said, by now you must know why I’m calling. Nothing came to mind.”

Feldman, who initially carved a career in corporate communications before focusing on responsible gaming initiatives, is currently the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Distinguished Fellow in Responsible Gaming at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute. He has been instrumental in developing responsible gaming initiatives and policies that have been adopted by numerous companies. While at MGM, he helped develop GameSense, a responsible gaming tool, and also serves as chairman emeritus of the International Center for Responsible Gaming.

Feldman downplays his contributions to the gaming industry.

“It’s not brain surgery, I get that,” he says. “But the work that I do connects directly to the health and well-being, the security, the stability, of tens of thousands of families, maybe hundreds of thousands. You know, industry-wide, there are people who are trying to make their way in life and provide for themselves and their families. … It’s certainly important and meaningful and impactful, and I’ve carried that with me.

“This isn’t something I just thought of this week. This was a regular part of conversation with colleagues throughout my 30 years in the industry.”

Feldman started his career at Mirage Resorts in Las Vegas, where he worked for a decade. He then worked for MGM Resorts, where he eventually became a senior advisor.

Throughout his career, he made sure to maintain contact with the businesses, shop owners, and others invested in gaming coming to their area. It was in these meetings and conversations that his focus on problem gambling was forged. He traveled across the continent, from British Columbia to Connecticut, and listened.

“In every meeting that I had in those places, and in every meeting that others in the industry had up and down the Mississippi, in small towns and large ones, the first topic that came up was problem gambling, as it was called at the time,” Feldman says. “

“Once a while, it was even referred to as either compulsive gambling or pathological gambling. But it kept coming up in the industry. Any of us who have been in a casino for any length of time, were there people who probably had some issues? Absolutely. Were there way more who did not? Absolutely. But the way it was being presented, you bring a casino to town, and everyone is a problem gambler.”

Feldman said at the time, the gaming industry lacked empirical evidence about the issue. So, along with Judy Patterson, who at the time was secretary and treasurer for the AGA, and a few others, he founded the International Center for Responsible Gaming. Monies were raised, studies were conducted at universities including Harvard.

“That began to get us a much greater understanding, empirically, on figuring out in an evidence-based manner of what this was, and it’s led to all kinds of insights,” Feldman says. “… We began to get a real understanding of what it was, how it worked, and we’re still learning.”

In his career, one thing has remained constant: Feldman’s admiration for the gambling industry. He notes that he fell in love with the gaming industry the first week he was hired.

Specifically, Feldman found the people involved to be fascinating.

“This isn’t a Las Vegas thing,” he says. “It’s an Atlantic City thing, it’s a Detroit thing. It’s Biloxi, it’s Springfield, Massachusetts. Everywhere you go, the people who work in this industry are naturally inclined to be empathetic and kind.

“What they want to do is to help people have good experiences, and that, I think, creates a community of men and women who are, among other things, fun to be around, fun to get to know. I find their efforts, both large and small, to be very important and very moving.”

Feldman also says his work at UNLV has been very satisfying, albeit in different ways than when he was a part of the gaming industry. He particularly misses interacting daily with colleagues he’s met through the years.

“However, now in a sense, I’m working for all of them,” Feldman says. “It doesn’t matter what company it is. In some respects, the mission has to change. We were trying to find ways to assist the industry in becoming better, more efficient, and ultimately, more successful, but doing it in a way that is very careful to support the best practices in society around the world.”

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