The annual iGaming North America conference returns to Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood on the famed Las Vegas Strip, April 5 to 7 and features a “who’s who” of decision-makers from the live and online gaming arenas, including PocketFives.

It all gets underway on Tuesday, April 5 at 1 pm with opening remarks from Sue Schneider, the founder of eGamingBrokerage.com. Directly afterwards, the first of many scheduled sessions will begin. Poker players would be very interested to hear the first group of panelists: Amaya Vice President of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser and Caesars Acquisition Company Senior Vice President Michael D. Cohen. Amaya owns PokerStars and Full Tilt.

Cohen and Hollreiser will discuss “The New Deal,” which, according to IGNA’s website tackles how PokerStars, which just returned to the US in New Jersey, will affect its US competition. “Even among rivals, there’s a sense that PokerStars’ US return could be a communal good,” the conference’s website explains. “How so? Can the new stakeholders work together for the good of the industry?”

“The question of whether PokerStars’ entrance into regulated iGaming in the US will be a game-changer will soon have some answers given their launch in New Jersey in mid-March,” Schneider said. “With the conversation between these two executives, we’ll explore the landscape in the US and what the path forward may be for state-regulated online gaming.”

A little later on Tuesday, WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage and Pala Interactive COO Michael O’Malley will discuss player ecosystems in the first part of a two-part panel. The pair will examine questions like “What’s it like [on a casino floor]? What’s management at risk of being oblivious to? And what do the players think about what’s being done for their supposed benefit?”

On Wednesday, longtime poker player Jimmy ‘gobboboy’ Fricke, gaming consultant Ed Miller, and Destination Poker Services CEO Steven McLoughlin, who used to work with PokerTracker and Two Plus Two, will reboot the player ecosystem discussion, specifically “Growing Traffic and Doing Right by the Players.” As the agenda for the Thursday session reads, “Prepare to hear debates over key issues such as customer service, third-party tools, and the lopsided shark-to-minnow ratio.”

Other speakers over the course of the three-day event include WSOP.com Head of Online Poker Bill Rini, Narus Advisors partner and Online Poker Report front man Chris Grove, Tropicana Entertainment Vice President of Online and Internet Marketing Luisa Woods, Agentmarco LLC founder Marco Valerio, PokerStars Poker Evangelist Lee Jones, and 888 US Marketing Manager Chris Capra.

The conference’s list of attendees this year includes companies like 888, Amaya, BetConstruct, Caesars, the Delaware State Lottery, Foxwoods, GamblingCompliance, IGT, MGM, Neteller, NYX, Pala Interactive, PayNearMe, Paysafe, Resorts, and William Hill. There will be plenty of focus on online gambling in emerging markets like New York and Pennsylvania, which could be the next two US states to green-light the industry.

Also at the gathering, the annual iGNA Awards will be doled out. Categories include best marketing campaign, operator of the year, best social gaming operator, best payments system, best fantasy sports provider, best platform supplier, and best innovation in North American iGaming. Last year, winners included Tropicana, DraftKings, and Gamesys.