#71 - Interview with Brian Christner - From Las Vegas to Switzerland: Brian Christner on the Future of Online Gaming

00:00:05:

00:00:09: Today we have a very special guest, Brian Kristner.

00:00:13: He's the chief online gaming at the Casino Baden in Switzerland.

00:00:19: We will talk about gambling addiction, the transition and transformation from offline gambling into the online gambling industry.

00:00:28: Brian Kristner, welcome to the Cafricorn Connect podcast.

00:00:31: How are you today?

00:00:32: Doing very well.

00:00:33: Thank you, Jacob.

00:00:34: Brian, I would like to ask you a question.

00:00:37: What was your motivation?

00:00:39: I mean, you're originally from Arizona.

00:00:41: So what was your motivation entering the gaming industry?

00:00:44: Maybe you can elaborate on that one.

00:00:46: Yeah, I think my entrance into the gaming industry has to go back a couple steps because I grew up in Arizona.

00:00:53: And basically, I joined the US Air Force because I want to go see the world.

00:00:57: And then I landed in Vegas five hours away from my house, so I didn't see much of the world, but I landed in Vegas.

00:01:04: And that's when it really introduced me to the gaming world.

00:01:06: And I spent my time in the Air Force, went to college and everything in the Air Force, start studying IT.

00:01:11: And I start realizing already in the Air Force that IT was becoming a thing.

00:01:16: And I really started getting into it, had some startup jobs around some customer service jobs, and then After enough IT knowledge, I then joined the gambling industry.

00:01:27: And that's really my start into gambling was in Vegas, directly after the military.

00:01:31: Was it a strategic decision for you or you just maybe transitioned into it by coincidence?

00:01:38: I think it's totally by coincidence because I was obviously located in Vegas and Vegas is the capital of gambling in the world.

00:01:45: And obviously, most employers in Vegas are somewhere gambling related or supporting gambling.

00:01:51: So it was basically a no brainer that I was going to end up in Vegas or end up in gambling in Vegas.

00:01:57: And you also have a bit of a entrepreneurial streak.

00:02:00: You also set up your own company.

00:02:01: Maybe you can tell us about that a little bit.

00:02:04: Sure thing.

00:02:04: So I mean, I start my own company back in twenty eighteen, I believe it is, where we realized there was a gap in the Swiss market.

00:02:11: And I was working for Swisscom for a long time, building the Swiss cloud.

00:02:15: And I was going all around Switzerland, realizing there's a lot of gaps around knowledge.

00:02:21: as far as how companies get to A to B with cloud.

00:02:25: Then I start realizing that maybe I should start consulting in this area.

00:02:30: We started building up our business around it, became one of the first DevOps consultancies in Switzerland.

00:02:35: We also became one of the first Amazon consultants in Switzerland.

00:02:39: and positioning wise or location wise we actually open our office in the same building as Amazon so it was very location relevant because we were meeting him at the coffee machine and and getting to know the whole Amazon staff which helped.

00:02:52: and that's how We really got our foot in the door with Amazon and became one of the first partners, one of the biggest partners at the very beginning in Switzerland.

00:02:59: And then you exited your company.

00:03:01: I did.

00:03:02: So then in twenty twenty, I, after traveling a long time, because we were going to all the conferences, all the tech conferences in San Francisco and Barcelona, we're traveling a lot, doing lots and lots of customer trainings.

00:03:15: And it was just a lot of impact to me.

00:03:17: And I had a young son at home and I was like, okay, enough with the traveling.

00:03:22: really enjoyed it but it was time to transition to something else and actually the company was great.

00:03:28: I really enjoyed it but it was something I wanted to do myself and I decided to sell my share of the company to my partner.

00:03:35: and I exited a company and I wanted to go travel the world and I was like okay now's the perfect time.

00:03:39: take my family before my son starts school we're going to go travel the world.

00:03:43: And we start traveling in two weeks in COVID hits, and then we're on the plane back to Switzerland and game over.

00:03:51: What happened then?

00:03:52: So then I started to do some soul searching and try to figure out, okay, what do I want to do now?

00:03:58: Do I want to revitalize my entrepreneurial spirit and start another company?

00:04:04: And I already had a company running, doing training and things like.

00:04:06: this was running in the background.

00:04:08: and I was looking around and then I found this job at Bodin and actually my wife found the job and she she's like oh you know I think this passed perfectly to your background because you have the tech background you have the casino background and it's actually online gaming.

00:04:23: So I have, you know, a lot of experience in casinos, a lot of experience in tech.

00:04:28: So it was actually the match made in heaven because I knew exactly how it was.

00:04:32: And Switzerland at the moment was a very fairly new market in online gambling.

00:04:37: So it was still at the very renaissance of online gaming at Switzerland.

00:04:41: So, you know, basically the offline game gaming or gambling industry and the online, where do you see the gambling industry going to the future?

00:04:52: You know, that's a great question because, you know, online gambling is going to continue growing just because the market or the demographics really enjoy online consumption.

00:05:02: Is that Netflix or YouTube or actually online casinos?

00:05:06: And that's part of the demographic.

00:05:07: But I see over the long term that players will have a kind of affinity back to land-based casinos or physical traditional casinos because they want to disconnect from maybe being online all the time, and they want to go talk to a person.

00:05:22: So

00:05:22: there's a need, again, the human need to go offline again.

00:05:26: The

00:05:26: physical contact, the talking to other people, and I really find this balance, it's going to be important going forward, and I find companies that can leverage both online and traditional gaming, those are the ones that are going to win.

00:05:39: So really omnichannel type of casinos, offering both.

00:05:44: Now with your experience in Las Vegas, the mecca of gambling and now also the online experience building online casinos, what is your experience with gambling addiction?

00:05:56: So I'm sure you had some experiences maybe with cases.

00:05:59: Can you maybe name some examples?

00:06:03: Sure, I mean... you know gambling addiction is near to my heart because obviously I care very much about people and people are important to me.

00:06:12: so it's actually something where you know we have a lot of protection mechanisms in place.

00:06:17: we're audited by the federal government.

00:06:19: we give our responsible gaming policies and procedures to the federal government to check and My job is to make sure that we provide players with education, we provide them with the tools and the free resources that they need for them or their families to utilize.

00:06:35: So I mean, for me, it's important that I just, I'm there for the players.

00:06:39: I can help them if they have an issue.

00:06:42: And like if a player, for example, has an addiction, I mean, is it curable?

00:06:47: Are there programs for those kind of?

00:06:49: People

00:06:50: absolutely.

00:06:50: There's.

00:06:51: there's different programs within Switzerland free resources.

00:06:54: We have it all lists on our website.

00:06:55: We have an entire department.

00:06:58: It's our compliance our responsible gaming department that really focuses on this and it's really you know We're trying to identify.

00:07:05: you know where it's fun and where it becomes a problem and trying to find that line is very important And that's when our department becomes involved and really tries to help people.

00:07:14: So you have a certain awareness also inside the company that you also communicate to your employees and players as well?

00:07:21: Absolutely.

00:07:21: And we build our product that way as well.

00:07:23: So we have limits.

00:07:24: players can set, you know, how much they can play a day, how much they can deposit, what games they can play, and they can also take cool offs.

00:07:32: They can also take a break for a week, two weeks a month, whatever they feel.

00:07:36: Additionally, we have self assessment tests.

00:07:38: We have all these different features.

00:07:40: And of course, we have AI in the back end, helping us identify patterns that are not visually cued by their play patterns.

00:07:48: And that's really important because I think in the future we can start identifying these patterns before they realize they're having an issue and already intervene and provide the resources they're needed.

00:07:58: So

00:07:58: AI could be a helpful tool also in preventing those kind of addictions.

00:08:03: AI

00:08:03: will be a tool for the future for responsible gaming for sure.

00:08:07: Can you also maybe elaborate a little bit about the influence of AI into the gaming industry?

00:08:13: Sure.

00:08:14: I mean, I'm a huge fan of AI myself and I believe AI is, you know, already quite embedded into gaming.

00:08:22: as far as responsible gaming, like I mentioned, but also game design.

00:08:26: We have a game design studio in-house and the studio previously would take about six weeks to develop a game.

00:08:32: Now with the introduction of AI, we're doing it in about two weeks.

00:08:35: So design, the mathematics, integrations, it's all done within about two weeks.

00:08:40: So from really idea to the game is done two weeks.

00:08:43: And that's incredible.

00:08:44: And my goal is to get it down to a week.

00:08:47: Wow.

00:08:47: Wow.

00:08:48: What is the most popular game?

00:08:51: in the market at the moment.

00:08:52: What would you say?

00:08:53: It really depends on your affinity because I mean you're, are you, do you like live games?

00:08:58: You like playing blackjack?

00:08:59: Do you play playing roulette?

00:09:00: What's more live type of casinos or their slot games?

00:09:03: A traditional book of raws and different things like this.

00:09:07: Fruit games.

00:09:08: What makes the most money?

00:09:10: What makes the most money?

00:09:10: yeah, that's a good question.

00:09:12: I mean it really depends on the game type and the month because you know players also win.

00:09:16: So it could be a game does well one month and the next month we have a giant win that way to pay.

00:09:21: So would Christmas time be a good month or a bad month?

00:09:25: Can you say that like?

00:09:26: is that can you make?

00:09:27: that?

00:09:27: I mean traditionally casinos.

00:09:29: they're more popular in Switzerland towards the end of the year where it's a bit darker outside.

00:09:37: you don't have much time to go out and have fun in the sun and it's more the online consuming potential.

00:09:43: so it's really uh I won't say it's it's a different demographic or anything.

00:09:47: but it's really the trends we see.

00:09:50: as well as retail shopping retail we follow like the retail trend.

00:09:53: we see Zolando and Ricardo all the shopping trends.

00:09:57: they pick up in Q for Right?

00:09:59: Right towards Christmas time and everything.

00:10:02: And it's basically online activity generally picks up in Q for.

00:10:05: So YouTube content, consumption, consuming, and these type of things.

00:10:10: So everything online starts tilting upwards, I would say around October.

00:10:15: Around the end of the year then, like fall.

00:10:18: Brian, I also would like to talk about talent management.

00:10:22: What are the challenges in maintaining talent and also corporate culture?

00:10:29: I think you also had some experiences now during COVID.

00:10:32: Maybe you can also talk about that a little bit.

00:10:34: I mean, talent management is very important for us because obviously it's the core of any team is the talent, the people.

00:10:42: The people is the bottom of the pyramid where they're supporting everything above it.

00:10:46: So I mean, people first for me.

00:10:48: And how do we maintain this culture?

00:10:51: And we built this during the COVID times.

00:10:54: So actually when I started, we didn't have in-person meetings.

00:10:58: So I started in twenty twenty one by in Bodin.

00:11:01: And then we were already in lockdown.

00:11:02: So it was a virtual get to know everyone.

00:11:06: So I implemented this thing called a coffee talk.

00:11:08: And it was all online.

00:11:10: And essentially every Wednesday we would meet online for fifteen minutes and bring our coffee or tea or whatever you want to bring.

00:11:17: And we discussed everything about the world except for work.

00:11:21: We wanted to understand online.

00:11:24: So we want to understand, Hey, what are you watching on Netflix?

00:11:26: What are you doing outside today?

00:11:28: What's going on?

00:11:28: Just generally with the people.

00:11:30: And I found this really brought the people together and it really formed a bond within our team that we still use today.

00:11:39: So we still have this coffee talk.

00:11:40: Now it's physical in our office, but now we're still like just catching up with everybody.

00:11:46: It's really, you know, how can we like bond the people together without forcing them to do it?

00:11:52: So it's kind of a free form coffee talk where people really get to know each other.

00:11:57: Brian, I also have a couple of personal questions towards you, some more self-reflective questions.

00:12:03: So our viewers also get to know you a little bit better.

00:12:07: What would you consider is your superpower, the area you're maybe a little bit better than others?

00:12:12: Sure.

00:12:13: I would consider myself an enabler.

00:12:15: I really believe I'm an enabler where I enable people, I enable technologies, I enable learning.

00:12:22: That's really my superpower.

00:12:24: And how do I do that?

00:12:25: I break down barriers for people, I enable them to progress in their jobs, I enable them to keep growing as people.

00:12:33: And it gives me great pride that I can do that because... It comes from my software background, open source, you're always giving back and I believe giving back also to the team, to people helps also.

00:12:44: not only the team but also you as a person feel good that you're giving back.

00:12:48: So being an enabler is very important for me.

00:12:51: So being an enabler and giving back.

00:12:54: Yeah, giving back to people in projects.

00:12:57: Is there a famous person that everybody knows you particularly admire?

00:13:03: and why?

00:13:05: Yes, so I have a couple different people I admire.

00:13:09: First is David Goggins.

00:13:10: He's probably just the guy that gets things done.

00:13:14: He's the one that runs a hundred twenty miles, you know with a broken leg and he's just yelling at the camera like oh you guys can you can still do this you can still do this.

00:13:24: I mean if you want motivation you just watch one of his videos and you're like wow, okay I need to go run a couple kilometers today.

00:13:30: I mean he's really all about not giving up.

00:13:33: just keep on going and really go the distance.

00:13:37: And he's just proving to people that your mental limits can also be kind of adjusted.

00:13:44: Yeah, push the boundaries there.

00:13:46: Exactly.

00:13:46: Do you have like a mission statement and motto credo that you live by?

00:13:52: I would say it'd be first mover.

00:13:55: I like to be first mover in our company, so Grand Casino Bottom.

00:14:00: I like to be really at the cutting edge or bleeding edge of technology, and I always want to be trying things first.

00:14:06: So if it's a new AI tool, if it's a new product, I want to see it, I want to test it, I want to be involved in it, maybe even a beta version of it, and really be understanding how it works.

00:14:17: because I find if we can be first to a product and then grain it into our culture.

00:14:22: Maybe it brings us value.

00:14:24: It could be all sorts of different tools, social media tools or new social media platform or AI.

00:14:29: And I find that being first allows us to, you know, remove all these things about being cautious about moving and really go forward, try something.

00:14:40: Maybe it doesn't work.

00:14:41: Maybe it does.

00:14:42: And then we'll learn from this process and decide.

00:14:45: left or right going forward.

00:14:46: So being at the forefront of tech and being a first mover in the new development.

00:14:51: Absolutely and this has helped me both in my entrepreneurial career as well as casinos really being at the forefront of technology and pushing the entire industry forward.

00:15:01: and that's where I want to be.

00:15:02: I want to be the one leading the pack as far as technology goes.

00:15:06: Final question Brian, how will AI change your life in two years?

00:15:12: That's a great question.

00:15:13: I mean seeing two years ago LMS were just introduced and now we're you know Completely overwhelmed with all the agents in AI.

00:15:21: I really think it's gonna be part of our Processes.

00:15:24: it's gonna be.

00:15:26: I believe the human operating system is where we're going and what do I mean by that?

00:15:30: is we're gonna use AI tailored to our specific use case.

00:15:34: for example I want to connect my my watch with AI, with mountain biking, and it tells me exactly when I should go mountain biking to get the best performance.

00:15:45: You know, and that's the type of things, bringing all these data sources together and really harnessing AI for my specific use case.

00:15:53: And then expand that to the business, right?

00:15:55: How do I use that same type of principle and start using it for companies?

00:16:00: So I think in two years when we start using more data points, within AI, it's gonna unlock all sorts of use cases we don't even see yet.

00:16:08: So in two years, it's a long time away in AI world, because I think if we look at it like in dog years, it's an eternity away, but it's a way it's progressing at the moment.

00:16:20: It's moving that direction where AI is gonna be more personalized to the person or the company.

00:16:24: It will be a different world, definitely.

00:16:27: Oh, definitely, definitely.

00:16:29: Brian Cristina.

00:16:30: Chief Online Gaming at Kazinoban.

00:16:32: It was a pleasure talking with you.

00:16:35: I really look forward to our next meeting, next get-together and next conversation.

00:16:40: All the best to you.

00:16:41: Thank you very much.

00:16:41: And the Kazinoban.

00:16:42: Thank you.

00:16:43: Thank you very much.