The gambling industry is notorious for being slow to innovate—in the past, that is. Now, ask any gaming veteran or executive, and they will say that the industry is ripe for innovation and ready for that spark of creativity. And since we like to make things easier for you guys, we’re featuring innovators and their ideas that are about to shake up the industry.

The first innovator who piqued our interest is Dan Morgan, who developed a technology that could pave the way for the creation of an offline gambling environment.

In 1994, Lee Iacocca, who was known for heading Chrysler Corp., put forward an idea. And that idea was in-flight gambling. At the time, Iacocca said gambling on airplanes has the potential of becoming a cash cow, with the possibility of generating $1 billion a year for a single airline, if only someone could figure out how to make it work. Of course, U.S. law prohibits domestic carriers from providing gaming on any flights within the country or internationally, but if we put that aside for a moment, the idea—admit it—has merit.

There have been efforts to bring real money gambling to the sky. The World Poker Fund Holdings Inc. (WPFH), for instance, recently acquired a 49 percent stake in the online gaming assets of Universal Entertainment Group in hopes of netting $143 million in annual in-flight gaming and online revenue from their “initial offerings.”