Kasra received his master’s in Hotel Administration from UNLV in 2010. During this time, he 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. After his master’s, Kasra worked in the industry for several years, applying his data-driven techniques to the online and digital landscapes for two of the largest casino-hotel companies in the world.

Currently, for his Ph.D. dissertation and his role at IGI, he explores the implications of payment modernization for the gambling industry; specifically, his research utilizes machine learning to uncover behavioral insights and creates early detection algorithms that assist both industry operators and regulators in responsible gambling efforts as they pertain to payments.