Organizers of the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention credited San Diego for boosting attendance at this year’s show. Now they look to build on that next when it returns to the southern California coastal city.
IGA hosted a webinar Wednesday to recap the show earlier this month and presented the final numbers for attendees and trade-show participation. Some 7,500 people attended the four-day event at the San Diego Convention Center, up 10% from the 2024 show in Anaheim.
“It wasn’t just a trade show, but a statement. At a time of political uncertainty and economic pressure, this event arranged the direction, energy, and a renewed purpose,” Conference Chair Victor Rocha said in the recap, saying some tribes couldn’t come because of a reduction in federal funding. “Our job is to understand where the industry is going for people to navigate the future with some type of certainty, especially right now with so much uncertainty.”
IGA Executive Director Jason Giles called it a good trade show, though a nervous one to pull off at a time of a possible shutdown of the federal government weeks before the show, which would have been bad for attendance. Normally, the show has 35 to 50 federal speakers who bring even more support people with them; this year none were allowed to attend, Giles said. All of the uncertainty prevented the attendance from being even higher than 7,500.
Giles said the San Diego conference avoided the pitfall of the effects of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and a slowdown in travel. IGA also has educational sessions at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in October.
“We dodged a whole bunch of bullets.” In pointing to G2E, Rocha said, “It might be great, because the dollar is weakening and international travel (is cheaper). The question is do they want to come? I wanted to go to a show in London in July for IGB, but what is it going to cost now? I’m used to the pound and dollar being so close to each other.”
Giles said currency fluctuations are felt in flights and hotels.
“A lot of people are saying they don’t feel like coming. They don’t like the attitude of America and the way this Administration has started off,” Rocha said. “They’re voting with their dollars. Vegas is going to get smashed without those Canadian travelers and it’s already showing.”
As for San Diego, Rocha said they set up an entire track of educational sessions for the National Indian Gaming Commission, but even they were unable to come. IGA created a Zoom room with a landline for their presentations instead, funded by FanDuel and DraftKings at a cost of $5,000.
“You gotta keep moving forward,” said Ed Gallo, director of sales and attendee programs for Clarion Events North America. “Things get in the way and you just jump over them.”
Gallo reminded Rocha and Giles that the attendance topped Anaheim and was still on par with past trade shows in San Diego, even surpassing one year. “No more doom and gloom,” Gallo said. “Let’s forge ahead. We’re winning here.”
Rocha agreed that hosting the conference in San Diego over Anaheim was a “big deal.” IGA will return to San Diego in 2026.
Giles said they got the exhibitors in Anaheim, but not the attendance that Clarion said was around 6,800 a year ago, instead of the 7,400 reported at the time. It’s difficult to beat the Gaslamp Quarter hotel and restaurant district in San Diego, he noted.
“We thought it was great,” Gallo said. “It’s a breath of fresh air going back to San Diego and (Anaheim) is never happening again. We’re good to go with San Diego and Vegas is our other option (in 2027). Vegas even pulls more than San Diego at times. There was a lot of buzz, which was different from Anaheim. The education content was killer and people spoke to me about how they can get involved. Everyone had interactive stuff going on and saw people smiling, testing games, and looking at demos. People were engaged and it’s a credit to the exhibitors.”
The show had nearly 400 exhibitors and the tradeshow floor was one of its largest at 100,000 square feet. There were 101 new exhibitors, the Digital Play Summit on the floor did well, and IGA launched TribalBond, a meeting-based platform limited to 10 companies, but will be expanded in 2026. It was developed to provide structured meetings among tribal casino operators and solution providers.
“Not one person complained,” Gallo said. “Everybody was happy with the quality that they were introduced to.”
Brian Sullivan, vice president of Gaming, America, for Clarion Events North America, said the week included parties on boats and San Diego Padres games, dinners, and other social events beyond the convention floor.
“I was trying to take a breath after the show, because it was such a success,” Sullivan said.
Gallo said they hope to get to 10,000 to 12,000 attendees in the future.
“Let’s do this together,” he said. “We just have to focus more on the meetings. TribalBond is going to explode. It’s about reaching out to tribes about how to bring more people with job titles from the tribe. The California tribes send 30 people. The Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods from Connecticut where we’re from bring five. How can we get them to bring 10? For people who don’t come to the show, why don’t they come? Simple questions, but we need answers. If we can get this to 10,000 people, do you know how big this show would be? That’s G2E numbers you’re talking sizewise for the floor.”
Rocha said there should be more economic and governmental certainty next year that will help drive up attendance. “I want it to be a midway, where there’s excitement like a carnival, and not like a tradeshow,” Rocha said. “I think we’re close to achieving that on the floor. I remember walking away on Thursday being happy and exhausted.”
Sullivan suggested maybe there’s something like a special welcome to attract more tribal members from the East Coast.
