Dr. Kasra Ghaharian is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, International Gaming Institute. Dr. Ghaharian’s research interests include machine learning, consumer protection, and payments modernization in the gambling field.

Dr. Ghaharian completed his Ph.D. and M.S. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. His Ph.D. research explored the implications of payment modernization for the gambling industry specifically, for his dissertation he applied machine learning to payments transaction data to characterize gamblers and identify payment-related behavioral risk indicators. During his Master’s Dr. Ghaharian published “A Mathematical Approach for Optimizing the Casino Slot Floor: A Linear Programming Application,” the first study to apply mathematical methods to the age-old task of optimizing the casino floor. Prior to beginning his Ph.D, Dr. Ghaharian worked in industry for several years at two of the largest casino-hotel companies in the world.