By Daniel Rothberg, Las Vegas Sun

What would the “Moneyball” casino look like?

As a doctoral candidate studying big data at UNLV, Ray Cho has given some thought to this question. Cho, who has 20 years of experience in the hotel industry, works as an analyst manager at American Casino & Entertainment Properties.

With advancements in computing and machine learning, businesses across different industries are exploring how to better use data to increase performance, revenue and customer satisfaction. Oftentimes, the issues are less technical and more political. It’s one thing to crunch the numbers. It’s another to get management to act on them. This is especially true when data contradict operating procedures entrenched as industry standards.

“If a team of analysts was building a casino on its own, it would look a lot different,” Cho said.

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