Casino industry consultants form C3 Gaming consortium

C3 Gaming, an international network of boutique consultancies specializing in the casino/gaming industry, has launched in Las Vegas.

C3 Gaming brings together 19 boutique consultancies focusing on gaming and hospitality. The firms’ specialized industry expertise spans management consulting, digital marketing, market research, human resources, and design and architecture. The consortium includes consultants in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

“This network brings together nearly two dozen independent consultants that can be combined to form teams of experts to address a wide variety of issues, including traditional feasibility studies, operational reviews, table game integrity, database analysis, and financial forecasting as well as emerging disciplines such as online wagering and social gaming," said Andrew Klebanow, co-founder and principal at C3.

According to the firm’s website, C3 can provide vetted and experienced industry experts that form the most appropriate team for a given project. The traditional consulting model, in contrast, would provide generalist consultants and a “limited perspective & product.”

“It is simply not feasible for a single consulting company to employ such a diverse group of experts with experience in so many disciplines,” Klebanow said.

C3 will also provide a free monthly report that tracks data for US commercial gaming, including slot, table, online gaming, and sports betting data. The company will add proprietary research and analysis to compare and benchmark each state.

Co-founder Andrew Klebanow brings than 40 years of experience in the casino industry, including 20 years as a gaming consultant. Klebanow previously spent 14 years at Global Market Advisors, a Las Vegas-based gaming and hospitality market research and consulting firm, where he was a partner. He has also spent six years running his independent management consultancy Klebanow Consulting.

Before that he worked for over two decades in the gaming and hospitality industry, holding senior marketing roles at Sam’s Town Hotel and Alliance Gaming Corporation. Klebanow has a master’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and a bachelor’s degree from New York University.

Klebanow is joined by co-founders and principals Lawrence Shen and Gerard Parisi.

Shen is a strategy and finance consultant focusing on gaming and hospitality. He has run his consulting firm Advantage Partners Consulting for the last year. Before that, he spent three years at Caesars Entertainment Corporation, where he was a manager of strategic finance & business analysis.

Shen was also previously an investment analyst at Clocktower Group and Ebner Financial Group, and a PhD candidate and research assistant at Duke University. He holds a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Duke and a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering and mathematics from Southeast University, China. Shen is also a chartered financial analyst.

Parisi has more than 15 years of experience in gaming industry consulting, business development, and financial services. He previously spent five years as a senior analyst at Global Market Advisors, where he was a colleague of Klebanow’s. Prior to that, Parisi spent four years as director of business development at MCO Advantage, an insurance claims management software firm. He also previously worked in equity research at Longbow Research and retirement planning at Wachovia Securities Financial Network. Earlier in his career, Parisi was a business development analyst at UBS and KeyBank.

Parisi holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Ohio State University.