GME3: Snowbirds Skip the Strip, Moe’ Tech/Moe’ Problems & Teacher Feature

June tourist numbers show Las Vegas feeling the freeze as Canadian snowbirds stay home; Premier Scott Moe is battling a wave of AI deepfakes that hijack his likeness for crypto scams; and Ontario teacher Megan Conte just endured a week-long lockout from Instagram after an erroneous “child exploitation” flag erased 15 years of memories. This week’s GME3 unpacks why Canadian arrivals to Sin City have plunged 15 percent, how regulators are chasing phantom fraudsters behind Moe’s bogus ads, and what Conte’s ordeal tells us about Meta’s automated moderation. Read the full stories below!

Gambling

Snowbirds Skip the Strip

Las Vegas’s six-month visitor slump is now firmly in double-digit territory, and a sharp drop-off in Canadians is a key culprit, as reported by Tom Nightingale in Canadian Gaming Business. June data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority show overall traffic down 11.3 % year-over-year to 3.1 million, the first double-digit fall in more than four years. Canadians normally account for only about 3.6 % of arrivals, yet their absence is outsized: LVCVA chief Steve Hill says Canadian visitation is down roughly 15 % for the first half of 2025, while June deplanements at Harry Reid International Airport fell by about one-third versus last year.

The chill mirrors colder cross-border politics. President Trump’s tariff escalation – including the recent order lifting certain duties on Canadian goods to 35 % – and rhetoric about Canada as the “51st state” have soured sentiment. Statistics Canada reports that total Canadian trips to the U.S. dropped 22.1 % in June. Airlines are adjusting accordingly: Air Canada has axed some U.S. routes and trimmed Las Vegas service, with executives signalling they will restore capacity only when demand improves.

Casino operators feel the pinch. Caesars’ CEO Tom Reeg said missing room nights are “significantly” Canadian despite their small share of the overall pie, and MGM boss Bill Hornbuckle noted the decline was already evident during the hockey-heavy spring. Both expect the slide to be temporary but concede the market is “leaking” for now.

The flip side is a boost for domestic venues. VICI Properties, landlord to eight Alberta casinos, told investors those properties are enjoying an “uptick,” suggesting Canadians deterred from Las Vegas are redirecting their play closer to home.

Media

Moe’ Tech/Moe’ Problems

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says artificial-intelligence “deepfakes” that splice his face and voice into online cryptocurrency ads are proliferating despite repeated warnings. The bogus videos – which have also featured other well-known figures such as former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney – pitch investment schemes Moe insists he would never endorse. According to posts on the premier’s official social-media channels, provincial officials are working with regulators and law enforcement to trace the creators, but Moe admits the anonymous, cross-border nature of the frauds makes takedowns difficult and prevention even harder.

This is not Moe’s first brush with deepfake promotion: he flagged similar scams in March, after which Saskatchewan’s Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority began issuing public alerts. The watchdog urges residents to verify that any firm soliciting money is registered in the province and reminds them that legitimate investments will never rely on celebrity or political endorsements delivered via social-media ads. While the government pursues the perpetrators, Moe’s office is asking the public to report suspicious content so that platforms and authorities can move quickly to block future impersonations.

Entertainment

Teacher Feature

Ontario history teacher Megan Conte temporarily lost 15 years’ worth of photos, messages and professional contacts when Instagram suddenly suspended her account on 26 July for alleged “child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.” With no clear way to reach a human moderator, Conte spent days navigating Meta’s automated appeals process before resorting to an unusual workaround: paying to verify her mother’s account so she could use a text-chat support feature. Even then, her account remained locked until CBC Toronto asked Meta for comment; hours later, the platform restored her access and issued an apology, admitting it had “got this wrong.”

Conte’s ordeal highlights growing frustration with social-media moderation that relies heavily on artificial-intelligence filters. Brittany Watson of Peterborough faced a similar unexplained ban in May and has since gathered more than 34,000 signatures on a “People over Platforms” petition calling for stricter oversight of AI moderation tools. Tech analyst Carmi Levy notes that, with more than three billion users, Meta cannot feasibly staff enough human reviewers, yet its automated systems routinely make harmful mistakes: “It is automation run amok.”

Meta says it combines “people and technology” to enforce community standards and claims it has not seen a rise in wrongful suspensions, but users like Conte and Watson say the current process is opaque and emotionally taxing. Without legislation requiring human review or clearer accountability, affected users have limited recourse when an algorithm mislabels their content. And, as Conte warns, the next mistaken takedown could happen to anyone.