Services
Led by gaming industry veteran Jonathan Michaels, Michaels Strategies specializes in consulting to companies and associations in the global gaming industry across four areas of expertise
Government and Regulatory Affairs
With nearly 300 different regulators in the North American gaming industry, understanding the policy environment can be challenging for current and new companies looking to enter the space. Our services help clients understand the patchwork quilt of regulations to better identify market strategies to drive innovation and new products.
Prior to founding Michaels Strategies, Jonathan spent nearly ten years driving innovation through regulatory modernization and legislative efforts during his time at the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Sightline Payments.
Strategic Communications
Perception is reality as an organization seeks to grow its business, enter new markets, and drive policy change. Crafting narratives with key audiences to help enable these new opportunities is critical to achieving success – be it with new clients, new policies or new markets.
Jonathan led Sightline Payments’ public relations and thought leadership activities, which included interviews with CNBC, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, American Banker, Bloomberg, VIXIO, CDC Gaming Reports, TechCrunch, and other key outlets, grew Sightline’s social media presence 6x via LinkedIn and Twitter, and arranged for more than 100 thought leadership speaking opportunities at conferences worldwide.
Business Development
The North American gaming industry consists of a diverse group of companies with a variety of needs. From commercial to tribal gaming operators, sports betting companies, slot manufacturers, payments providers, and everything in between – understanding how to appeal to and how to approach the right companies with the right message is key to growing your business.
During his tenure at the AGA, Jonathan helped grow AGA membership and revenue more than 400%, engaging with executives at a wide range of companies to help secure commitments to join the association.
The role of digital payments has helped fuel the growth of the $12+ billion North American online sports betting and online casino markets. Further, digital payments has the potential to revolutionize the guest experience in casinos by providing the same digital payment options that customers are used to everywhere else in their daily lives. We help companies understand the complex nature of payments, alternative payment methods, and regulations at both the state, federal and tribal level to enable those payment options.
Jonathan led efforts at the AGA surrounding their payments modernization efforts and furthered that by working with gaming regulators nationwide at Sightline to unlock cashless gaming opportunities. Educating regulators, operators and the industry alike on payment trends, technologies and opportunities has been a focus for many years.