Yen-Soon Kim (Hospitality), Daniel Sahl (International Gaming Institute), and SJ Kim (Entertainment Engineering & Design) organized the 8th International XR-Metaverse Conference, hosted at UNLV. This annual immersive tech event revolved around the captivating themes of XR and the Metaverse. Its primary goal was to forge connections between…

Marta Soligo (Hospitality; Office of Economic Development) was interviewed by the Las Vegas Weekly. She shared with journalist Jason R. Latham some insights on current tourism trends in Las Vegas and aspects such as the experience economy, the term "bleisure" (business + leisure travel), and economic diversification.  

Brett Abarbanel (International Gaming Institute; Hospitality) was interviewed by Luke Burbank of CBS Sunday Morning, for a feature segment on how Las Vegas evolved from Sin City to a sports and entertainment hub and home to Super Bowl LVIII. 

Jungsun Kim and Anthony Lucas (both Hospitality) recently had their article, "Perceptions and Acceptance of Cashless Gambling Technology: An Empirical Study of U.S. and Australian Consumers," published in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. The study explored whether the six constructs in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of…

The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board presented Joseph Daniel Lema (Hospitality) with a Fulbright Specialist Program Award. Lema will complete a project at Tourism & Hospitality Association of Guyana in Guyana that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions,…

Brett Abarbanel (International Gaming Institute; Hospitality) was named one of the 25 People to Watch in 2024 by Global Gaming Business, one of the world's leading gambling and gaming industry trade magazines. Honorees are recognized for their past accomplishments and their upcoming potential actions that will have a big impact on gaming in 2024…

Tiange Xu (Hospitality) received a $5,000 research stipend award from the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling for his research exploring the intersection of gambling behaviors and cryptocurrency trading among a large census-based sample of US adults. His mentor for the project is Shane Kraus (Psychology).

Mana Azizsoltani (Hospitality) was awarded a $5,000 research grant from the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. The grant will fund a comprehensive study that seeks to assess the measurement invariance of the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), which is one of the key diagnosis tools for problem gambling. 

Marta Soligo (Office of Economic Development; Hospitality) was interviewed by Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's leading newspaper in business and financial information, on the topic of tourism diversification in Las Vegas and Formula 1. Soligo described the ongoing research on spectator sports in Southern Nevada she is conducting with the UNLV Office…

Amanda Belarmino (Hospitality), along with coauthors Fatemeh (Nasim) Binesh (Ph.D.2022) and Yunmei (Mabel) Bai, recently had their article, "Exploring which factors impact restaurant willingness-to-pay by menu course," published in the Journal of Foodservice Business Research. The article examines how food quality, service quality, ambiance,…

On Nov. 10, Marta Soligo (Office of Economic Development and Hospitality) was invited as a guest speaker by the University of Insubria in Italy. She shared her research on film induced tourism, sustainability, and social justice with the students of the course of Destination Management and Marketing. During her lecture, Soligo explained the…

Bo Bernhard and Marta Soligo (both Office of Economic Development and Hospitality) were interviewed by the Las Vegas-Review Journal on the role of the "fun economy" in Southern Nevada. Focusing on the intersection between tourism, entertainment, and sports, they highlighted the importance of economic diversification in Las Vegas. While reflecting…