How US Casino Entertainment Is Going Digital

US casinos are tying player accounts to payments and games. This article takes a closer look at the implications of this development for dealers and game inventors.

IGT and Everi's latest release contains one notable line, tucked into a footnote about payments: Apple Pay and Venmo will now work with Everi funding products. These products control how quickly a player can access a game, which gives dealers and inventors a stake in the outcome.

What Connected Casino Entertainment Includes

The 2026 Global Gaming Expo took place September 28 through October 1 at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas. There will be a Business Solutions & Tech Zone for IT and operations executives, featuring CRM to cybersecurity solutions. Another attraction is a dealer championship, returning on the second year, which will have blackjack and roulette challenges.

Connected casino entertainment refers to software that connects players’ accounts to their content, with operations and other elements tied to the connection. A roulette wheel can function the same with or without the application. Its use is for identifying the player and tracking their activities.

According to IGT and Everi's G2E announcement, the pairing includes IGT ADVANTAGE X, a casino management system built around real-time data, next to Everi FinTech tools for funding and loyalty. Also previewed is a first live dealer iGaming experience. Everi Vi, called the industry's first turnkey Class II real-money mobile product, takes play off the property.

A Website Represents a Small Part of the System

People credit apps for a smoothness that mostly comes from software they have no reason to open (PitXpress, for one, is a real product name). IGT and Everi name five such pieces.

System	Function	Named in the release
Casino management	Real-time floor and player data	IGT ADVANTAGE X
Funding	Moves deposits closer to the player	Apple Pay and Venmo integration
Table tracking	Paperless bet tracking and markers	PitXpress
Mobile play	Real-money Class II gaming on a phone	Everi Vi
Game content	Omnichannel titles plus a live dealer preview	Wheel of Fortune Frenzy

Dealers will be most interested in the table tracking row. These products, when used together, can automatically register markers and bets into the casino's management system such that a task performed manually at one table might already be recorded as a database entry at another casino. How much this speeds the process up depends entirely on how quickly a dealer can complete the procedure.

Unfamiliar digital formats deserve questions before enthusiasm. How does one work? What does it connect to? Casino.org, an independent guide that has published gambling information since 1995 and uses a 25-step casino review process, keeps a state-by-state list of regulated online casinos that helps readers identify which online casino options are legally available in their state, alongside guides to those formats. Their news roundup adds a recent data point of its own, dated September 18. August online casino revenue reached $245.7 million in Pennsylvania and $259.3 million in New Jersey, up 6.25% and 4.4% from a year earlier.

One month proves little, so the trend across several matters more. Nevada table hold, tracked on that same page and refreshed in August, speaks to table games directly. For a starting point, UNLV's gaming reports page offers an online gaming report updated in August 2026 with monthly statewide and national revenue, plus monthly casino reports for states such as New York and Pennsylvania updated in September.

Questions Table Game Teams Can Ask Their Own Floors

Dealer speed is something that can be measured. One rule of thumb for hands-per-hour has been that surveillance watches the speed, and that casinos audit dealers on full or nearly full tables and blackjacks run approximately 300 to 450 hands per hour, depending on the casino. New dealers at break-in houses are expected to be up to approximately 300. A continuous shuffler will add approximately 10%. Side bets and complex payouts slow down the count.

Ceiling cameras record video with no useful audio, according to a guide on dealer hand signals, so each gesture becomes the evidence. Clapping out helps surveillance find a moment later, as does a paddle laid over the drop box slot to mark a dispute.

Questions for a team meeting:

1. Which steps at your table need a person? Which ones need software?

2. Would the rules read clearly on a phone screen or a live stream?

3. Who reads the numbers tracked for this game?

4. Does a player's account play a part in the game?

Following the conclusion of the 2026 Global Gaming Expo, players will have plenty of new platforms to explore. But at the felt, it's about a procedure that a dealer can execute plus a record that surveillance can read. Set a budget before you ever sit down to play. Check that the operator is licensed in your state first. In states where real-money online poker is legally available, players may also have the option to enjoy poker online without traveling to a physical casino.