Having run one of the earliest gambling B2B magazines and once lived the life of a rock star, Roger Gros is undeniably a legend in the industry. In this interview, we speak to him about his journey from music to publishing, what led him to branch into iGaming affiliation 12 years ago and why he has no plans to retire.
Born in the 1950s, iGamingPlayer.com and Global Gaming Business (GGB) magazine founder Roger Gros had a very different childhood from today’s kids. Back then, Elvis Presley was still well and alive, Led Zeppelin hadn’t formed yet, and the Internet existed only in science fiction.
With a father working for the government, Gros moved around a lot, from his hometown of New York City to Georgia, then to Washington for high school. But one thing never changed: he wanted to be a rockstar.
Like many cool kids of his generation, Gros was a hippie. He had long hair, loved the Beatles and played music. In the turbulent 1960s, as the US ramped up its involvement in the Vietnam War, Gros enrolled at universities to avoid conscription. He studied liberal arts and journalism at several colleges, though he never completed a single degree.
We used to perform on a TV show that featured all the bands in Argentina. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time
Roger Gros
From rock ’n’ roll
Gros has played in two bands. While in Washington, he befriended an Argentine who later took him and his friends to Argentina, where Gros got his first taste of life as a rockstar.
“The band was called Susquehanna, named after the Susquehanna River. We played around Buenos Aires and all over the country,” he recalls. “We used to perform on a TV show that featured all the bands in Argentina. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time.”
For a while, Susquehanna looked set to continue its music career in London, but the management fell apart. Gros moved to Atlantic City and met the love of his life, Beck Kingman-Gros – now his partner in the iGamingPlayer brand and former COO of GGB magazine.
With one of Beck’s friends, Gros started a new band called the Magnets, which played across the Northeastern US from 1975 to 1994. Although tracks from Susquehanna have been lost to time, Gros has uploaded 49 original songs from the Magnets to SoundCloud, spanning genres from country to electronic rock.
To gambling publishing
When Gros had his first child, he knew he “had to get serious about making a living,” so in 1979 he became a dealer at the second casino to open in Atlantic City. But the job was soul-crushing.
“I really didn’t like it. They had me working six days a week, nine or ten hours a day. You had to stand the whole time except for a few breaks here and there,” Gros says.
The frustration led Gros to look for alternative gigs. Noticing that there was often “a little newsletter called Casino Journal going through the dealer’s lounge,” he contacted Glenn Fine at the publication. With a background in journalism and a burning passion to write stories, Gros was hired immediately. Meanwhile, he switched to the Golden Nugget casino, then run by Steve Wynn, who proved to be a great boss and taught Gros everything about making a happy customer.
Eventually, Gros started working for Casino Journal full-time in the mid 1980s. Meanwhile, he launched the consumer-facing Casino Player magazine with Fine to expand their business scope. Editing those two publications marked the third and fourth decades of his life.
When competitor International Gaming & Wagering Business magazine (IGWB) bought out Casino Journal in 2000, Gros quit due to a negative experience with the new owner’s executives. He joined the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) to help organise its early conferences.
One day, Frank Fahrenkopf, then president of the American Gaming Association (AGA), approached Gros and suggested he run a magazine to publicise the organisation and G2E. With three young children, Gros made the bold decision to take on the challenge, and the rest was history.
“GGB instantly became the most important magazine because we were the official publication of the AGA,” Gros says. “Everybody knew they had to advertise with us, so it took off very quickly. That was also when I had to move from Atlantic City to Las Vegas.”
I saw how important affiliates were in Europe, so I figured I’d get a jump on the US market and get involved right away
Roger Gros
An affiliate, too
Having attended ICE every year since 2000, Gros saw firsthand “how the iGaming area kept growing, from being a small part of the show to, obviously, now dominating it”.
“When iGaming became legal in New Jersey in 2013, I had also been to the affiliate show Clarion put on. I saw how important affiliates were in Europe, so I figured I’d get a jump on the US market and get involved right away,” he recalls. The iGamingPlayer.com brand was the second affiliate to gain a licence in New Jersey. Now 12 years on, the brand has expanded to every iGaming and sports betting jurisdiction in North America, covering a full range of topics including blackjack, poker, horse racing, iLottery and more.
Despite the growing popularity of sports betting, Gros insists that iCasinos – though only legal in seven states – are more important than sports betting.
“This is because iCasinos are really the profitable end of the business, both for casinos themselves and for affiliates. In contrast, sports betting doesn’t bring in much money,” he explains. “We’ve got some great writers who help us, and usually two out of three stories are focused on sporting events, but we still dedicate a lot of space to the casino side of things.”
iCasinos are really the profitable end of the business, both for casinos themselves and for affiliates
Roger Gros
Gros is also concerned about the growing number of states increasing taxes on sports betting. Just this July, Illinois Democrats announced a plan to hike the tax rate on sports betting licensees to 25%, which rises to 50% after the first 20 million wagers. Apart from the revenue impact, he worries that the move could potentially “drive people back to the black or grey market,” where player protection is poor at best.
Never retiring
Another focus for iGamingPlayer.com has been Canada, which Gros finds similar to the US market.
“We are in the process of figuring out whether we need a licence there, but we are already operating and generating revenue from Ontario. I think Alberta will come online soon, too, so we are definitely going to focus more on Canada,” he says.
In a previous iGBA interview, BettingUSA founder Mike Murphy said he had avoided partnering with sweepstakes casinos due to their largely offshore nature. Gros agrees, saying “it’s not a good idea to drive players to those sites,” as they don’t offer responsible gambling tools and there’s no guarantee deposits will be returned if the business shuts down.
Am I going to stop running the magazine? No, this is my last business. I’m hoping iGamingPlayer becomes a big success soon
Roger Gros
“Same goes for the prediction markets,” Gros adds. “It hasn’t really worked out yet for affiliates either. There’s no clear structure for how affiliates would even work with companies like Kalshi.”
Now 74 and having largely stepped back from GGB’s day-to-day operations, Roger and his wife work most days on the iGamingPlayer brand. When asked if they ever plan to retire, Gros’s answer is a firm no.
“Am I going to stop running the magazine? No, this is my last business. I’m hoping iGamingPlayer becomes a big success soon. I enjoy learning something new every day,” Gros says. But he also acknowledges that as an “old guy” without deep technical knowledge, he’s now looking for investment and bringing in more marketing and tech talent to grow the brand.
Although Gros is no longer active in the music scene, the years he’s spent in the gambling industry – from a casino dealer to a leading publisher, and from Atlantic City to Las Vegas – have carried the same restless energy. He may not be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but he’s certainly earned his place in the industry’s equivalent for the way he’s shaped the scene over the past half-century.