Benefits of Having Gaming Commission IT

1. Benefits of Having Gaming Commission IT

2. Who is Thorsten? • 23 Years in IT: • 7 at DECC (Automotive) • 7 at Steelcase (Office Furniture) • 7 at 20-20 (Software) • 2 at GLTGC (Gaming)

3. Who is Thorsten? Before that 4 years in navy.

4. Where is Gun Lake Casino?

5. How big is the casino? 1571 No Hotel (yet)

6. GLTGC Org Chart 37+4

7. Art of War It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. -Sun Tzu

8. The power of four: Know yourself Know your friends Know your enemies Lead the way http://www.josephmarshall.com/leadership_01.html

9. Know your friends Thorsten Toms IT Manager Gun Lake Tribal Gaming Commission

10. Know your friends: Your turn • What’s your name? • What’s your title? • What’s your property? • Where is it? • How big? • What do hope to learn from this presentation?

11. Other friends?

12. Know Yourself: Benchmarking Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other industries.

13. Know Yourself: Benchmarking Benchmarking is much easier to apply in a commercial enterprise as almost every issue can be resolved by asking: “Will this help the stakeholders?”

14. Know Yourself: Philosophy Benchmarking is much more difficult in a Gaming Commission. The invisible hand of the market is not the guiding force. Rather, it’s the Philosophy of the tribe and the Commission. If the philosophy of the commission is unspoken, it’s even more difficult.

15. Know Yourself: IT My Philosophy IT is a supporting department. The purpose of IT is to make other departments more efficient. IT strives to create a Robust, Secure and Well Designed infrastructure.

16. Benchmarking vs. Philosophy You hire an IT manager. He discovers this:

17. Benchmarking vs. Philosophy In the corporate world, good IT means eliminating jobs.

18. Benchmarking vs. Philosophy In the commission world, good IT could mean eliminating jobs. Or it could mean freeing people for other tasks. But remember…

19. Know Yourself: Philosophy Why is there such variation in Commissions? Commission Surveillance/Casino Surveillance Full Time Commissioners/Part Time Commissioners Elected Commissioners/Appointed Commissioners Vendors Licensed/Vendors not Licensed 1 year licenses/2 year licenses/3 year license Other variations?

20. Know Yourself: Philosophy Why is there such variation in Commissions? Your thoughts? Casinos vary. Resources vary. Politics vary. I submit that it’s mostly because they can. There is no “invisible hand of the market” to drive Commissions to a common look. As long as you meet the minimum requirements of the NIGC and your compact and keep your tribal council happy, you can have whatever commission your philosophy dictates.

21. What’s this got to do with IT? I’m here to talk about the pros and cons of having an IT department. Having IT works well at GLTGC. I suspect it will work well for you, but much depends on your philosophy.

22. Know Yourself What kind of Gaming Commission are you? What kind do you want to be?

23. Know Yourself -- 1 The Gaming Commission… …directly regulates the casino. …ensures that the casino properly regulates itself.

24. Know Yourself -- 2 The Gaming Commission… …provides employment for maximum possible number of tribal members, regardless of efficiency. …operates as efficiently as possible, regardless of tribal employment.

25. Know Yourself -- 3 The Gaming Commission… …relies on reports from the casino. …generates its own reports with raw data from casino.

26. Know Yourself -- 4 The Gaming Commission… …regulates only activities directly related to gaming. …regulates all activities involving tribal assets at the casino.

27. Know Yourself -- 5 The Gaming Commission… …Commissioners are full-time employees. …Commissioners are part-time or stipend employees.

28. Know Yourself -- 6 The Gaming Commission… …Licensing department has in-house staff conduct background checks. … Licensing department uses external vendor(s) to conduct background checks.

29. Know Yourself -- 7 The Gaming Commission… …Licensing department is proactive in informing licensees about renewals. …Licensing department places the burden of renewal upon the licensee.

30. Know Yourself -- 8 The Gaming Commission… …senior staff are assigned administrative assistants. …senior staff are expected to answer their own phones and email.

31. Know Yourself -- 9 The Gaming Commission… …includes the surveillance department. …does not include the surveillance department.

32. Know Yourself -- 10 The Gaming Commission… …does not license vendors. …licenses vendors.

33. Know Yourself -- 11 The Gaming Commission… …supports its own test lab. …relies on GLI and BMM for testing.

34. Know Yourself -- 12 The Gaming Commission… …regulates a casino operated by the tribe. …regulates a casino operated by a management company.

35. Know Yourself -- 13 The Gaming Commission… …must have a separate network from the casino and the tribe. …can share a physical network, but must have logical separation.

36. Know Yourself -- 14 The Gaming Commission… …has a computer literate staff. …has a gaming literate staff.

37. Know Yourself -- 15 The Gaming Commission… …is near an area where IT professionals are reasonable plentiful. …is far from any technology hub.

38. Know Yourself -- 16 The Gaming Commission… …regulates a single casino location. …regulates multiple casino locations.

39. Know Yourself -- 17 The Gaming Commission… …regulates in a resource plentiful environment. … regulates in a resource limited environment.

40. Know Your Enemy Anyone who conducts or attempts malfeasance against the assets of the tribe is the enemy of the Commission.

41. Know Your Enemy -- 1 The Gaming Commission… …must have expertise to conduct forensic investigations of confiscated computers. …does not require staff forensic IT expertise.

42. Know Your Enemy-- 2 The Gaming Commission… …needs an IT expert to audit the casino IT department. …replies on compliance/audit to conduct the NIGC MICS IT audit using the provided check list.

43. Know Your Enemy-- 3 The Gaming Commission… …conducts regular penetration testing of the casino IT department. …does not conduct penetration testing.

44. Know Your Enemy-- 4 The Gaming Commission… …requires read-only access of the casino systems from their desktops. …does not require read-only access of the casino systems from their desktops.

45. Know Your Enemy-- 5 “If you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you." Truth: If you have an internet connection, everyone on earth with an internet connection is a potential enemy. Is your Commission and more importantly, your casino as safe as possible against all the IT threats that are out there? How are you fulfilling your fiduciary responsibilities to protect the assets of the tribe in regards to computer safety against external and internal threats?

46. Lead the Way Some example of what IT can do for you. Depending on your Philosophy, you may want them too!

47. Licensing Database

48. Licensing Database

49. Licensing Database

50. Licensing Database Send these via encrypted email? Of course not. We are ready the NIGC is not!