It was yet another sweltering mid-July day in Las Vegas, and Alan Feldman was (wisely) inside his home enjoying two things: the wonders of air-conditioning and playing with his young granddaughter.
Then the phone rang.
Feldman would have been forgiven, of course, had he ignored the call and continued entertaining his granddaughter. But the caller ID showed it was longtime friend Bill Miller, president of the . He figured it might be something important.
So the director of strategic initiatives at UNLV's International Gaming Institute picked up. The news Miller delivered: Feldman had been elected to the American Gaming Association’s Hall of Fame.
Feldman — a former public relations executive who spent three decades promoting not only numerous now-iconic Las Vegas resorts but also responsible gaming practices — was floored by the news.
“It was stunning and didn’t register at all,” says Feldman, who pivoted to the International Gaming Institute at UNLV five years ago after retiring from MGM Resorts International. “I’m still a little bit speechless.”
Feldman expresses this sentiment a full month after he was officially enshrined in the American Gaming Association Hall of Fame in early October. And in a way, one can understand his genuine feelings of disbelief.
After all, the AGA established its hall in 1989 with an inaugural class that included industry legends William Harrah (of Harrah’s fame); Jay Sarno (the visionary behind Caesars Palace and Circus Circus); and E. Parry Thomas (a banker who financed several Las Vegas casinos and whose name adorns UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center).
Throw in the names of subsequent inductees — among them, Benny Binion, Jackie Gaugahn, Barron Hilton, Frank Sinatra, Siegfried & Roy, and several of Feldman's former bosses, including Steve Wynn, Terry Lanni, and Kirk Kerkorian — and his “I’m not worthy” reaction makes sense.
It’s even more understandable when you realize that Feldman never intended to work in the casino industry. Heck, he never even aspired to work in public relations.
A career that begins with a mirage
He stumbled into the field after realizing that his dream job — lighting designer in the performing arts world — was beyond the scope of his skills.
Thanks to support from some mentors, Feldman quickly developed an aptitude for PR. In fact, less than a decade into his career, he was working in Los Angeles for Hill & Knowlton, one of the world’s most respected public relations firms.
In the late 1980s, that firm was hired to spread the word about a massive, $630 million hotel-casino that would forever change the landscape of the famed Las Vegas Strip: The Mirage.
After Hill & Knowlton landed the account, Feldman’s boss handpicked him to be part of the Las Vegas-based team that was tasked with promoting the state-of-the-art resort ahead of its November 1989 opening.
It was a plum assignment to be sure — but one Feldman wasn’t exactly thrilled about.
“I had visited Las Vegas in the 1970s and early 1980s with my parents,” Feldman says. “At that time, there was virtually nothing for kids to do other than swim in the motel pool or go to Circus Circus.
“So I had a somewhat negative view of Las Vegas and arrived not certain that I would enjoy the experience.”
It didn’t take long for that uncertainty to vanish. Nor did it take long for Feldman to impress Mirage owners Steve and Elaine Wynn, who offered Feldman an in-house public relations job less than a year after the game-changing resort opened.
He accepted and spent the next 30 years working for the various corporations that owned and operated The Mirage, including Mirage Resorts, MGM Mirage, and finally MGM Resorts International.
Feldman’s primary task during those three decades: introduce national and international audiences to the wondrous megaresorts that popped up on The Strip — The Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, MGM Grand, etc. — as well as properties in Mississippi, Michigan and as far away as Macau.
He accomplished this by leveraging various corporate communications strategies, from serving as the company’s chief spokesperson to working with journalists who penned articles showcasing the jaw-dropping resorts.
Those articles, of course, were consumed by intrigued travelers around the globe.
Which is why it’s not an exaggeration to say that through his work and the work of the teams he led, Feldman was — both directly and indirectly — responsible for millions of tourists choosing to visit Las Vegas throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century.
For that reason alone, he indeed is worthy of his recent Hall of Fame enshrinement.
It’s not the only reason, though.
Taking a responsible approach to gaming
Problem gambling was a thing long before Feldman began to earn a living promoting integrated resorts anchored by casinos.
Responsible gambling discussions within the casino industry? Those happened infrequently during most of the 20th century. And industry-funded research initiatives related to responsible gambling were even less prevalent.
That was something Feldman found troubling as far back as his early days at The Mirage. Not because he had family members or close friends who were compulsive gamblers (at the time, he did not). Rather, because he learned at a young age about the importance of supporting important societal causes and lending an empathetic hand to those who need one.
“My parents believed very strongly in the broad ideas of social justice. I don’t recall that it was actually called that at the time, but that’s what it was,” Feldman says. “So as I began to learn about the phenomenon of problem gambling, I wanted to do more in the responsible gaming space.”
With complete support from Steve Wynn — whose father was a compulsive gambler — Feldman put his PR skills to work. First, he began raising awareness about responsible gaming both inside and outside the gaming industry. That in turn led to raising money that funded the National Center for Responsible Gambling, which opened in 1996 and is now known as the International Center for Responsible Gaming.
Since its inception, the center has received more than $40 million in grants and donations. That money has been used to conduct independent, peer-reviewed scientific research and create educational programming focused on problem gambling.
This work has subsequently informed responsible gaming initiatives, impacted public policy, and helped improve the health and well-being of everyone who chooses to gamble — but especially the 6% of people who suffer from gambling harm.
“To this day, it is so remarkable to hear [a compulsive gambler] in recovery tell their story. Because it is as raw and exposed as you can be about your life,” Feldman says. “Unfortunately, most of these stories are really awful. So the idea fascinated me that maybe there was something we could do to make things better — if not prevent [problem gambling] in its entirety, at least guide someone off that path before they get to the point of a real loss of control and their lives unraveling. Which is ultimately what happens to some.”
Welcome to the world of academia
Feldman served for many years on the board of directors of the International Center for Responsible Gaming, including a decade as chairman. And he continues to be involved as a board officer in his current role as chair emeritus.
Additionally, Feldman serves as chair of the Nevada Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling and is a member of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling’s board of advisors.
However, the bulk of his work in the responsible gaming space these days is with the International Gaming Institute at UNLV.
Following his retirement from MGM Resorts in 2019, Feldman joined IGI as the Distinguished Fellow in Responsible Gaming. He has since added the title of director of strategic initiatives.
Since arriving on campus, Feldman has lent his expertise to IGI researchers who study all facets of gaming, and he is a co-author on multiple research articles. He has taught journalism and marketing classes in the Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, and given lectures on responsible gaming and problem gambling to students in the and the Harrah College of Hospitality.
Those lectures also have extended to industry executives and regulators taking continuing education courses through both the International Center for Gaming Regulation and Hospitality’s Sands Center for Professional Development.
“I had a bit of a romantic notion about what it would be like to be on campus,” Feldman says of his decision to join the International Gaming Institute. “It sounded like fun, and it has turned out to be fun. It’s been a terrific experience.”
Specifically with regard to the IGI, Feldman has been tasked with identifying the strategic initiatives that the institute should pursue to maintain its standing as a leader in gaming research.
Most recently, that has included studying the growing popularity of esports and other interactive games within the broader gaming ecosystem.
Another critical area of interest: how artificial intelligence is increasingly penetrating all aspects of the casino industry, from human resources departments to consumer behaviors to responsible gaming policies and practices.
“It’s such a wide area of interest,” Feldman says of AI’s influence in the casino-resort space. “And we would love for UNLV and the institute to take center stage on studying it.”
Just as important is continuing to build on IGI’s reputation as an academic leader in all aspects of gaming research. As Feldman notes, many universities around the world have established gambling-related institutes in recent years — but much of their research focuses on the harmful elements of gambling.
IGI, on the other hand, is committed to an all-encompassing, 365-degree approach to its studies.
“I’m not dismissing gambling-in-harm,” Feldman says. “That’s my area of interest, so I’m the last person who is going to say, ‘That’s nuts; you shouldn’t [study] that’. At the same time, if you were to only look at harmful outcomes of human activities, you wouldn’t let people drive, snow ski, climb mountains, skateboard, or do anything that involves risk.
“The reality is there is a lot more to the modern gaming industry — and a lot that needs to be studied — beyond the harm. There are objective sociological, physical, and economic impacts that affect employees, customers, and communities. Then there’s the unbelievably interesting study — and it’s way over my head — of the mathematics of gambling.”
Feldman is quick to point out that he is not qualified to conduct any of this important academic research (nor does he expect to gain those qualifications).
Instead, he’s more like an experienced assistant coach, ready and willing to offer advice when needed, provide input where appropriate, and ask questions from a different point of view.
And, of course, he now gets to do all this with the added clout of being among just 122 members of the gaming industry’s most prominent Hall of Fame — and the only inductee whose background is in public relations and corporate communications.
“It’s a very select group of people, many of whom I’ve been privileged to have known, worked with, or met,” Feldman says of his fellow AGA Hall of Famers. “It’s crazy to be included with them, because when I got here, all I wanted to be was a good PR person. That’s what I was shooting for. So to now be part of that group — it was and continues to be a complete shock.”
