Noah Acres remembers attending a precursor to the Global Gaming Expo when he was just 13 years old. After his 16th consecutive G2E, he’s still excited by the gathering, especially this year’s, after the 2020 event had to be conducted online.
“Lower attendance was not an issue for us,” he said. “While the show was smaller and we’re missing most of the international attendees, most of those who showed up are incredibly enthusiastic.”
This year’s G2E, the first in-person since 2019 because of the pandemic and the largest U.S. gaming show, wrapped up Thursday. Although attendance and the number of exhibitors appeared to be down from previous years due to COVID travel restrictions and other factors, American Gaming Association Vice President Casey Clark said the show exceeded his expectations. He said AGA would not have final registration and exhibitor numbers for a week or two, but participation in the three days of panel discussions and keynote presentations was “a major success.”
“This is my fifth G2E, including the virtual one,” he said. “Every education session I went into had 30 to 100 people, and the keynotes were all crowded. I think people were really engaged in the content.”
This year’s schedule eliminated education sessions on the show’s last day, which Clark said came from the decision to emphasize quality over quantity.
Attendees and exhibitors interviewed by CDC Gaming generally gave the show high marks.
Ashley Pastino, talent acquisition manager for Penn Interactive-Barstool Sportsbook, was attending her first G2E to be a speaker at one of the panel discussions.
“I’m new to the industry,” Pastino said, “so (G2E) is learning about different parts of the industry.” She also took part in a networking event at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. She toured the Raiders’ facilities and made connections with others in the industry.
“There are so many people across this business that I just haven’t seen,” said Jonathan Michaels, Sightline Payments’ vice president of strategic development and government affairs. “You can catch up, you can talk business. At the end of the day, gaming is a small business world and those relationships matter. Being able to have those meetings in-person, it’s incredible.”
Earlier this year, Sightline announced it had reached fintech unicorn status, achieving a valuation of more than $1 billion through its latest funding round. Michaels said G2E was an opportunity to celebrate the milestone.
Caroline Ponseti, a director at the advocacy and public affairs firm the Herald Group
“I had a number of my peers at the CEO level come up and say they see Sightline everywhere,” Michaels said. “The press and social media and buzz around this property is palpable and the ability to utilize G2E to continue to springboard that growth and meet all those people is important.”
For Caroline Ponseti, a director at the advocacy and public affairs firm the Herald Group, her fourth G2E was an opportunity to connect with current clients and seek new partners. Ponseti, who was in charge of AGA’s public relations for two G2Es, said this was her first time attending as a consultant.
The best part of the event was reconnecting with everyone, Ponseti said. “I get to see the reporters I worked with throughout the year. I get to see my former colleagues. … It’s truly like a reunion everywhere.”
Despite the lower-than-usual attendance, Ponseti thought the energy on the expo floor “was amazing throughout the entire show.”
Noah Acres, of Acres Manufacturing, said he accompanied his father, Gaming Hall of Fame member John Acres, to several tradeshows where Acres Gaming had booths. He recalled a show at the MGM Grand Garden, where he helped himself to a couple of buckets of quarters that had been left out so attendees could play demo slot machines. He took his bounty to the arcade. This year, he enjoyed Aruze’s Claw machine and found good sports-betting ideas in a number of booths.
Signs touting Acres Manufacturing’s Foundation casino system seemed to be everywhere around the expo, but the company didn’t sign up for a booth, because of uncertainty over the pandemic.
“Late in the summer, we decided to buy up as much of the show advertising as possible,” Acres said. “I think we’re one of the most-talked-about companies emerging from G2E, despite having no floor presence.”
George Heavy Runner, attending his third G2E, said he appreciated the event’s COVID vaccination-verification requirement and mask mandate. He’s chairman of the board of directors of Siyeh Corp., which operates Glacier Peaks Casino in Montana, along with other tribal interests, such as a hotel, grocery store, and water system.
The AGA’s Clark said this year’s G2E generated an energy that people haven’t felt during the time they couldn’t gather together.
“Any reduction in numbers is largely reflective of international attendees, companies that just couldn’t get here,” Clark said. “What we saw, at least in registration before the show, was that roughly the same number of key buyers were coming. This is probably a much more business-focused environment.”
Todd Jaron, slot performance manager in Aurora, Ill., for Penn National Gaming, said seeing new technologies on the floor is an important part of G2E, but some of the usual exhibitors were absent. He’s attended about 15 G2Es and noticed that the number of booths this year was down and the giveaways were less than usual.
Mike Wabschall, director of game design at Everi Holdings, said the displays at his 11th G2E confirmed that several slot companies are “doing a lot of really interesting stuff. This can be a somewhat static industry where there’s not a lot of change from year to year, but it’s what sticks with the player,” he said, adding that this year’s show demonstrates the current popularity of cash on reels and features that encourage player persistence.
One thing he missed at this year’s show was the chance to meet as many players, who can attend the show, in person. While various slot influencers with large YouTube followings attended, few “Joe Public” players were on the floor, Wabschall said.
“It’s always great to meet our customers and meet our competitors and talk shop. But for me, we always want to meet the players and see how they’re responding to all the hard work our teams do.”
Based on various accounts, G2E’s fabled after-hours gatherings and networking opportunities remained in vogue.
“I went to five different events (Wednesday) night,” Clark said. “Tradition matters, and some of these people have had these events for a long time. It’s something people look forward to for a long time and part of what makes this a unique and fun week.”
