The TV in the American Gaming Association executive headquarters at the Global Gaming Expo flashed news updates on the Las Vegas massacre.
At the event’s first keynote presentation, a moment of silence replaced the planned cheery greeting. One session speaker told a harrowing tale of a friend who nearly died of a bullet fired from a hotel room 32 floors above the Strip.
National Indian Gaming Association chairman Ernie Stevens admitted to being shaken by Sunday night’s mass shooting of concert-goers outside Mandalay Bay Casino.
“I’m taught I have to be a warrior, I have to be tough,” Stevens said at a Monday morning session featuring tribal chairmen. “But I have to tell you, I snuggled next to my wife last night, knowing I was safe.”
Throughout the first day of G2E, the shooting was a topic of conversation, shock and reflection.
“It’s hard to stand up here, considering what happened,” said Phyllis Gilland, senior vice president and general counsel at American Casino & Entertainment properties, as she launched the Expo’s first formal session at 9 a.m. “But Las Vegas is a strong community.”
Giving the keynote presentation on ‘The Power of Networking for Game-Changing Career Growth,’ Roberta Perry decided against opening on stage as “my usual cheerleader self.”
Instead, the executive with Edwards Technologies Inc. and Roberta Perry & Associates asked attendees to turn to their left and greet their neighbor, then turn to their right and do the same.
“Tragedy happens,” she said. “It happens in our lives and our communities.
“But there are two things I know. No. 1 is there is more good than evil, and No. 2, it’s the American way to come together and support each other,” she said, citing the hurricanes in Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico in addition to the shooting.
“It’s the power of networking and working individually that (means) each of us can change the world,” she said.
The toll from Sunday night’s shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival outside Mandalay Bay Casino rose throughout the day. Authorities said at least 58 people were killed and 515 injured in the worse mass shooting in U.S. history. Police said the shooter, identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nev., killed himself in his 32nd-floor hotel room.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were affected, and with the people of Las Vegas and Nevada,” said a statement by AGA president and CEO Geoff Freeman and Hervé Sedky, president of Reed Exhibitions, AGA’s partner in G2E. “The gaming industry is a tight-knit community, and Las Vegas is the beating heart of our operations. The AGA and Reed Exhibitions will offer our full assistance as the city recovers, and we will strive to honor the victims of this tragic event.”
Brian Cladoosby, president of the National Congress of American Indians, told one session about Melinda Brockie, a member of the Lummi tribe in Washington state who was among the more than 500 injured Sunday night. The bullet went through one jaw and her tongue before going out through her other jaw. She nearly bled to death before doctors got to her.
Cladoosby said Brockie’s husband, Travis, texted him early Monday morning to rush to the hospital, where Cladoosby stayed until 4 a.m.
“We’re leaders, and we have to be strong, but I’m really emotionally torn up to know that there’s going to be 58 people who won’t be going home to their wife, their husband or their kids,” Cladoosby said. “Sitting there and watching a husband be torn up with his 9- and 5-year-old sons back in Washington and him getting a text from his wife saying, ‘They’re not doing anything for me. I’m dying and I love you…’”
He said Melinda Brockie left the hospital and is expected to recover, although her rehabilitation will likely be lengthy.
Security at concerts and other large gatherings was a focus of many G2E attendees even before the massacre.
Gary Litzau, director of marketing for Shooting Star Casino in northern Minnesota, said his casinos staff talked about tightening concert security months ago.
“We don’t want to make customers feel it’s a bad thing to have their backpacks checked,” he said. “We need to be more proactive.”
Litzau said he wanted to go to Sunday’s festival, but couldn’t get tickets.
MGM Resorts International chairman and CEO Jim Murren issued this statement: “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of last night’s shooting, their families, and those still fighting for their lives. We are working with law enforcement and will continue to do all we can to help all of those involved.”
Adam Berger, an attorney with Duane Morris LLP in Cherry Hill, N.J., who is attending G2E, said the shooting could lead hotels to be more cautious about what guests bring onto the property. Police said Paddock had at least 10 weapons in his hotel room and used a hammer or similar tool to break out the room windows.
Berger said closer checks of customers’ luggage would slow the check-in process and some people might decide to stay elsewhere with fewer security protocols. Some visitors might object to what they see as an intrusion of privacy, he said.
Heather Ohuafi, marketing director for Odawa Casino in Michigan, said gaming operations must find a way to balance privacy concerns and guest protection. She noted that fliers accepted the stringent precautions that airports instituted in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Warwick Bartlett, CEO of Global Betting & Betting Consultants on the Isle of Man, said he sees tight security on table games and casino floors in the United States but not in other casino operations.
“Now that has to change,” he said. Otherwise, people will be too frightened to go to large gatherings.
Britain has experience numerous terrorist attacks dating to the 1970s and the country has instituted airport-like security checks such as metal detectors and bag checks at concerts.
“People welcome it,” Bartlett said. “It makes them feel more secure.”
