Robin Villareal: Opening pandora’s box

What are the latest digital or technological innovations Tribal operators are adapting in properties, and at Gila River specifically?

Obviously cashless was a big one, the evolution of the TITO ticket was a really major milestone in gaming not just for commercial, but also Tribal gaming. It really opened up everyone to think outside the box. Since that has happened, you look at efficiencies for departments, continuously looking for ways we can improve our employees’ conduct, their work, what helps them and what are the biggest pain points. I sit with a lot of team members throughout the casino and just ask them: what would be something you’d like implemented in your daily work that would help you conduct work more efficiently?

Smart rooms for your hotel also, where you can utilize an app to open your door, use voice commands to open up the curtains, turn on the music and turn on the TV. So, looking at that aspect, I think it’s becoming more what I would call AI-driven. Even though a lot of places don’t want to consider that, it’s definitely moving in that direction.

Is it always important for Tribal gaming leaders to be open to these new opportunities, even while sovereignty and tradition remain at the forefront?

It’s business. If you’re not on the train, then you’re not going anywhere. I know some Tribes like to be status quo; I think it’s the fear of evolving and changing. Maybe, for Tribes, it’s stepping away from who they are, their culture, tradition and identity, and as more Tribes are becoming successful in the commercial world, you have to take on that corporate mentality to some effect.

For me, that’s one of the biggest things a lot of Tribes face as an internal challenge: how do you maintain competitiveness yet still keep that identity of culture and community?

And is staying up to date with this technology something Gila River sees as a necessity to remain prominent in the Arizona market?

Absolutely. When I first got into this role, I sat with our CEO and asked him ‘what’s the expectation of me in this role?’ He told me he wants me to be innovative and put myself out there. Those two items, at the time, made my knees shake a little because, being in IT originally, you’re not someone who goes outside and puts yourself out there. The idea of meeting people was really scary, but for the innovation part of it, I was definitely super excited.

When you’re in IT, you see all the new technology, you hear about it, talk to your colleagues and you wonder how that technology will go about being implemented. If you’re not innovative, you’re not going to be successful in this day and age.

Is finding ways to be the first to market also essential in Tribal gaming?

Being first to market is a double-edged sword. It could be successful or challenging, but either way it works out in my opinion. When you’re first to market and you have a new solution, the team is doing all the troubleshooting. The team is doing everything to make integrations work or anything of that nature. Being innovative is something that, as an organization, you’re going to experience together and push through challenges.

How do Tribal gaming operators view AI and is it more of a concern or a positive right now?

I believe right now it’s more of a concern. The hypotheticals, even the ethics behind AI, those are some of the things we should be thinking about. AI has a lot of positives, and it also has a lot of negatives. In order to utilize it, we have to understand it, trust but verify. At the end of the day, it’s important for organizations to have policies set in place about what type of data we’re going to allow, but I think for marketing teams and the slot area, it’s a great tool to ease the lives of your workers.

Was AI a main takeaway for you from the IGA conference in San Diego in April?

From IGA, there was certainly a lot of AI and cybersecurity, but it’s also where gaming is going here in the future because of the political climate. I found a lot of Tribes are concerned about the political climate, its impact on Tribal gaming and what it’s going to do to our communities. That was definitely the temperature I got from attending the conference.

Could you also touch on concerns surrounding cloud-based gaming, as you had mentioned in a previous interview with Gaming America?

My concern is: to truly have cloud-based gaming, I would feel more comfortable having a secondary internet service provider (ISP). For us here in the community, we have our own telecom company, which is where we get all of our connections to the outside.

For me to feel confident, I would want a secondary solution so we can manufacture the same infrastructure we would carry up in the cloud. The other part is what would be the temperature of my community and dealing with data sovereignty? At my level, that’s not something where I’m willing to say, ‘oh yeah, we’re just going to go ahead and I’m going to make that decision for the community.’

It needs to be a collaborative decision and one community entities should also buy into, so we’re all practicing the same tools more effectively.

What should guests look forward to from Gila River throughout the remainder of 2025?

Well, for 2025, I feel like we’re already into 2026, to be honest. The biggest thing I’m looking forward to is implementing and turning over a couple of suites we are putting that smart technology in. I want to showcase how it could work in our environment to our executive team, and hopefully some of our guests get an opportunity to stay in those smart hospitality rooms and give us some feedback on it. Being in this role, it’s important to be innovative.

Sometimes you have to go into other people’s lane, so to speak, but also remain collaborative and share your ideas with your colleagues. Just to sit with them and say, ‘hey, I had this idea, what is your take on it?’ because you’re the subject matter expert in hotel operations for example. And as you sit down and talk with them, you realize everything you may be presenting to them is a dollar sign.

You don’t realize that if you have the opportunity to have a TV in your restroom or music available, and your temperature set to preference, that you can actually upsell those rooms. I had no idea because I just focus on gaming and the floor, my network team and things like that, but I had never put myself into that realm and I’m glad I did. They just opened up Pandora’s box and now I have to slow down because my team, every time I come back from something, they’re saying ‘what are we working on now!?’

Carlos Mendez

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