Global Gaming Expo gets go-ahead
Event to open Tuesday, following shooting tragedy
Organizers of the Global Gaming Expo said early Monday the gaming industry’s largest convention and trade show, which had pre-conference events that began Sunday and Monday, would open as planned Tuesday despite the Strip shooting tragedy.
Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the sponsoring American Gaming Association, issued a statement Monday that the show would go on.
“The American Gaming Association and our Global Gaming Expo partner, Reed Exhibitions, are closely monitoring the horrific events that took place in Las Vegas earlier this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were affected and with the
SHOW
across the street.”
In that same session, Downtown Grand Chairman Seth Schorr will emphasize the value of being patient and learning from the past.
“In 2001, when Light opened in Bellagio, the first nightclub in a casino, and in 2002 if you didn’t have a nightclub, were you missing the boat? Fast forward to today, over 15 years later, you didn’t miss the boat even though you weren’t the first,” Schorr said.
Each gaming property has to find its own strategy to make it work for them, “and some won’t incorporate esports at all,” Schorr said.
Graboyes said there may be some similarities between the nightclub market and the esports market, but there are two major differences.
“The gamer market will continue to grow, but I don’t necessarily think this audience is as large in scope (as the nightclub audience),” he said. “And esports will be integrated with loyalty programs. … I don’t know that I would want to start over somewhere else.”
To build, or not to build?
There are also different perceptions about how to physically host esports events.
Matthew Bogan, a graduate of the UNLV master of architecture program, is slated to speak Thursday about how to incorporate the emergence of esports and skill-based gaming into casino design decisions.
Graboyes said that when he had started Gameco in 2014, operators assured him that they’d have a “dedicated area” before his machines entered their casino floor.
“Fast forward to today and there are very few of those dedicated space,” he said. “When we talk with operators, we say that we would not recommended an esports or show game-only space, but instead an area of the floor that’s dedicated to attracting and entertaining this new customer that we’re all going for.”
And when it comes to hosting esports tournaments, Hai Ng, co-founder of Spawn Point North America Inc. esports consulting and events company, said some operators are under the impression that they have to wait until they have the perfect space.
“I wouldn’t say it doesn’t help,” Ng said. “A fancy car is still a fancy car. But we’ve done events out of a room that used to be a poker room. We had a fire code restriction of 160 people, and we killed it. We didn’t have any specialized equipment, but we rolled in TVS and also set up stations for people to set up their own equipment.”
Ng is set to speak during a session Wednesday called “The Height of Gaming: A Successful Live Esports Event.”
“Last year the crossover between regulated gaming and esports was really just starting,” Ng said.
But since then, esports has gained momentum, globally, and in Las Vegas.
“At last year’s G2E the question of whether it is going to become legal to bet on esports was still in the air. However, that question is answered this year.”
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Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @Journalistnikki on Twitter.