Casino Enterprise Management

Despite the current economic downturn, January’s inaugural International Gaming Expo (IGE) saw a total of 16,692 visitors from 126 territories travel to London in order to check out the latest and best in the world of low-stake and remote gaming, lotteries, betting and land-based casino products. The new show was staged across the entire ground floor of the capital’s Earls Court 1 and 2 exhibition halls.

Nothing made bigger news at the 2008 Global Gaming Expo than the road-to-Damascus moment evidently experienced by Gary Loveman. As CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment, he engineered a buyout of Caesars Entertainment and then an LBO by private-equity funds Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management. Those moves left Harrah’s wobbling under $27 billion in debt just as credit markets tightened and consumer spending went south.

For the 350 participants who made the trip to Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, Calif., Sept. 8–10, CasinoFestTM7 promised to be an educational experience unequalled in the industry. It certainly lived up to that promise. Read on for more highlights, a timeline, and star venders who showcased their products at the first-ever gaming expo.

This September gaming executives from across the country will find an unparalleled training experience nestled among Temecula’s rolling mountains and lush valleys. Casino Enterprise Management is bringing its latest training conference, CasinoFest™7, to Southern California, offering more groundbreaking sessions, more tracks and more learning experiences than ever before.

It’s 17 years old, and like most things, the National Indian Gaming Association’s annual tradeshow and convention keeps getting better with age. This year, NIGA had a record-breaking turnout at its annual tradeshow, making Indian Gaming ’08  one of the most important and talked-about Indian gaming shows in the country.

More people than ever before visited one of the casino industry’s largest events, the International Casino Exhibition (ICE), in late January to witness some of the sector’s latest and best innovations. The three-day show took place at London’s Earls Court Exhibition Centre with organizer Clarion Gaming revealing that attendance hit an all-time high to continue ICE’s record of sustained growth for the eighth consecutive year.

It started as a simple idea and has grown into so much more. Last year’s inaugural Great Women of Gaming Conference, Award Ceremony, Banquet & Gala brought together female gaming executives from across the country to share in an event unlike any other.

From a bright future for casinos to a murky future for online gaming, the American Gaming Association offered a detailed look ahead at 2008 and beyond. Also read up on many other facets and companies at the biggest gaming trade show, G2E 2007.

Our aim for CasinoFest™4, held Sept. 24–26 at the Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino, was to be bigger and better than ever. And we accomplished that by having a greater variety of speakers, additional tracks with pressing industry topics, and more opportunities to network with other industry professionals.

CasinoFest3 can best be summed up as a step outside the ordinary conference circuit. Held May 14-16 at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn., the Casino Enterprise Management-produced conference gave attendees the best possible education for their time and money by providing world-class speakers who presented pertinent information relative to attendees’ varied learning needs.